Andrew v. Pilot Mound Savings Bank

245 N.W. 399, 215 Iowa 290
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 22, 1932
DocketNo. 41540.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 245 N.W. 399 (Andrew v. Pilot Mound Savings Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrew v. Pilot Mound Savings Bank, 245 N.W. 399, 215 Iowa 290 (iowa 1932).

Opinion

Kindig, J.

— This appeal involves the question whether the appellant Roy Hinman is entitled to be paid before depositors from the assets of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank now held by the appel *291 lee, as receiver thereof. Before September 16, 1931, the Pilot Mound Savings Bank, of Pilot Mound, Iowa, was a banking corporation duly organized and operated as such. On the morning of September 16 in that year, the bank did not open its doors because of insolvency. Thereupon the appellee, L. A. Andrew, was duly appointed the receiver thereof, and is now' liquidating the hank’s business. Until 3:30 P. M. of September 15, the'appellant Roy Hinman had on deposit in the bank a checking account of $444.61, and in addition thereto he held up to that time a certificate of deposit issued by that institution payable to him in the amount of $1,174.52.

At about 3:30 in the afternoon of September 15, in the year in question, the appellant exchanged his certificate of deposit in the aforesaid bank for a draft on the First- National Bank of Boone, for $1,174.52. Although the certificate of deposit was .thus exchanged for the draft, the appellant did not in any way change his checking deposit in the Pilot Mound Savings Bank. So, when the .Pilot Mound Bank failed to open its doors on September 16, the appellant had a checking account therein for $444.61 and a draft drawn upon the First National: Bank, at Boone, payable to himself in the sum of $1,174.52. '

It is claimed, therefore', by the appellant that he is entitled to a preference in the assets of. the Pilot Mound Savings Bank now held by the appellee receiver in the amount of the aforesaid draft. Such preference is claimed upon two theories: First, that at the time the draft was obtained, the president of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank orally assigned to the appellant in the amount of. the draft certain assets of said bank then in the First -National Bank of Boone; and, second, that- under the provisions of Section 9239-cl of the 1931 Code, the appellant is entitled to a preference on the amount represented by the draft. If there were no oral assignment to appellant of the funds in question, and if the statute above -named does not apply to the facts in this case, then the appellant is not entitled to the preference which he claims.

I. According to the stipulation of'facts, a Mr. Crouch, who was president and manager of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank, told the appellant on September 15, 1931, that the bank had sufficient cash with which to pay the certificate of deposit above named. The appellant was then attempting to cash the certificate of deposit. Crouch, the president of the last-named bank, after telling appellant of the cash on hand, stated that the hank did-not care “to deplete” *292 its “cash reserve to the extent of paying the certificate.” Then the president suggested that the appellant take a draft on the First National Bank in Boone, where the Pilot Mound Savings Bank, according to Mr. Crouch, “had a reserve.” In reply, the appellant told the president that he desired to discharge some personal obligations and therefore wanted the cash. Hence, according to the stipulation of facts, the president of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank then declared that the appellant “could promptly get his money through the draft at the First National Bank in Boone.”

Further, according to the stipulation, it appears that the aforesaid president then stated to appellant that a draft “operated as an assignment of that much of the” Pilot Mound Savings Bank’s “funds in the” First National Bank of Boone, on which bank the draft was to be drawn. Whereupon, the appellant accepted the draft and immediately went to Boone, a few miles from Pilot Mound, in the same county, to cash the draft at the First National Bank. When appellant arrived at the Boone bank, it was after business hours, and the institution was closed for the day. Had he arrived during business hours on that day, the Boone bank, for all that appears, would have cashed the draft.

As before suggested, on September 16, the Boone bank refused to cash the draft because the Pilot Mound Bank had then closed its doors. An oral assignment, if any there is, must be found in the statement of the president of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank that the draft “operated as an assignment.” There is no other oral statement of the president or anyone else that could in any way amount to an assignment of any funds in the Boone bank to the appellant. But the officer of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank, when declaring that the draft operated as an assignment, merely stated his own conclusion. See Versteeg v. Hoeven, 214 Iowa 92. Perhaps he was mistaken about the legal effect of the draft, but, however that may be, neither this officer nor the appellant made any contract except that contained in the draft itself. Neither party contemplated a contract extraneous to the draft. Obviously there is nothing in the record indicating the existence of an independent oral agreement for an assignment of funds in the Boone Bank. Whatever assignment there was to be. arose, if at all, under the draft itself. Nothing else was contemplated by either the bank or appellant. At no time did the appellant and the Pilot Mound Savings Bank understand that there was a contract in addition to the draft.

*293 Under the facts and circumstances revealed in the record, it was not contemplated by appellant and the Pilot Mound Savings Bank that there was to be an assignment pro tanto of the institution’s funds in the Boone bank, unless it arose through the draft. The draft itself did not amount to an assignment pro tanto of thé Pilot Mound Savings Bank’s funds in the Boone bank. Leach v. Mechanics Savings Bank, 202 Iowa 899; Leach v. Battle Creek Savings Bank, 203 Iowa 507; Leach v. Iowa State Savings Bank, 204 Iowa 497. •

Consequently, under the entire record, it is apparent that the appellant is not entitled to a preference because of an oral assignment of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank’s funds in the Boone bank.

II. Section 9239-cl of the 1931 Code, relied upon by-the appellant, contains the following provisions:

“Any draft drawn and issued by any bank or trust company prior to its failure or closing and given in payment of clearings and any money paid in the usual course of business to any bank, or trust company for the purchase of a draft for the bona fide transfer of funds shall be a preferred claim against the assets of. the bank or trust company.” (The italics are ours.)

That section, the appellant argues, entitles him to a preference over depositors because the draft in question was purchased by him with money paid the Pilot Mound Savings Bank “in the usual course of business” “for the bona fide transfer of funds.” See Andrew v. Savings Bank of Larchwood, 214 Iowa 204; Andrew v. Farmers State Bank of Grand River, 212 Iowa 1375. Money was thus paid, the appellant asserts, because in purchasing the draft he first cashed the certificate of deposit. When cashing the certificate of deposit, the appellant maintains that he in effect, although not actually, first drew the amount of the certificate out of the Pilot Mound Savings Bank and then afterward purchased the draft therewith. Whether this is true or not, we now neither decide nor suggest.

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Related

Iiams v. Andrew
247 N.W. 277 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
245 N.W. 399, 215 Iowa 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrew-v-pilot-mound-savings-bank-iowa-1932.