Andrew v. Union Savings Bank & Trust Co.

270 N.W. 465, 222 Iowa 881
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 15, 1936
DocketNo. 43627.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 270 N.W. 465 (Andrew v. Union Savings Bank & Trust Co.) 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. Union Savings Bank & Trust Co., 270 N.W. 465, 222 Iowa 881 (iowa 1936).

Opinion

Mitchell, J.

It is undisputed that Charles E. Eobeson, city treasurer; F. A. Hass, city clerk; John C. Witt, city attorney; Harry Ward, chief of police, (or their successors in office) are trustees of the Policemen’s Pension Fund of the City of Davenport; and that the first three, with Eichard Kelley, chief of the fire department, (or their successors in office) are trustees of the Firemen’s Pension Fund of said city, all under chapter 322, section 6310 et seq., and as trustees made the deposits hereinafter referred to.

The Union Savings Bank & Trust Company of Davenport, Iowa, closed its doors, and a receiver was appointed on December 28, 1932. At that time there was on deposit in said bank (including interest) $14,095.14 in the Policemen’s Pension Fund, and $1,476.91 in the Firemen’s Pension Fund, aggregating $15,572.05. These two accounts were treated as one fund and one claim in the receivership. No question as to this or the propriety of the proceedings to establish the claim has been raised by anyone.

For convenience we will speak of these two funds as the "Policemen’s Fund” and the "Firemen’s Fund”.

*883 After appointment of the receiver for the bank, claims were filed to compel the classification of these two accounts as preferred, and entitled to priority in payment, upon the ground that the money held in trust was deposited in a savings account by the trustees; that the bank had the right to require sixty days ’ notice in writing of its withdrawal, thus making it an illegal investment. The receiver denied that the claims were entitled to preference. An appeal was taken to the district court, which allowed the claims as preferred claims. The receiver, being dissatisfied, has appealed to this court.

It is stipulated that prior to the closing of the Union Savings Bank & Trust Company it had negotiated a loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of an amount to pay forty per cent of its general deposit liabilities, and an additional sum of approximately $800,000, to be used for the payment of preferred claims which might be determined to be payable in full. The receiver classified all claims and filed a report, then made application for instructions and an order of court as to payment of claims. The decree, among other things, found that there were sufficient funds to cover all claims for preference which might be subsequently allowed and which included the claims in the case at bar. Therefore, we are not confronted with the question of whether there was sufficient money to pay these claims, it being admitted that there was.

When these two accounts were opened in the Union Bank they were both designated by certain numbers, and from that date to the date of the closing of the bank they continued to be known by these same numbers. At the time that the accounts were opened, pass books were issued by the Union Bank. The original pass books do not seem to be in evidence, but those of the Policemen’s Fund covering the period from 1920 to the closing of the bank, were introduced in evidence. The first four of these pass books show that they were designated as being in the “savings” department, and in them were printed rules and regulations, Rule No. 9 being as follows:

“* * * This Bank reserves the right to withhold the payment of deposits until the expiration of sixty days’ notice given in writing by the depositor of his or her intention to withdraw his or her deposit. The Bank may, so far as it is found advisable, pay without notice any depositors who wish to withdraw *884 their deposits. Payments made from time to time by the Bank without notice shall not constitute a waiver of notice.”

This record shows that there was no change in the account known as the Policemen’s Fund from the time that it was first opened in 1910 until the Union Bank closed. It was designated by the same number and the bank book showed it was a continuous account. In addition to this there is the testimony of the city officials who had charge of the making of the deposits that there had been no change.

As to the Firemen’s Fund, pass books were also issued, but the original ones were not introduced in evidence. However, those showing deposits starting in 1920 and continuing thereafter, were produced. These pass books, until 1922, also contained a sixty-day withdrawal clause, being identical with the clause contained in the books covering the Policemen’s Fund that is set out in this opinion. There was no change in this account. It was designated by the same number and was a continuous account from the first deposit to the closing of the bank.

In the case of Andrew v. Iowa Savings Bank, 214 Iowa 105, 241 N. W. 412, 413, this court had before it a similar question, namely, whether or not a deposit made by the trustees of a pension fund in a bank is entitled to preference. Justice Albert, speaking for the court, said at pages 109, 110 :

"The turning point therefore in the determination of this ease, under the doctrine we have approved in the Wisconsin case [State v. McFetridge, 84 Wis. 473, 54 N. W. 1, 998, 20 L. R. A. 223], is whether or not these trustees were at all times in position to immediately withdraw this fund from the bank; or whether they had lost control of it for any length of time. If the latter be true, then under the holdings, this must be held to be an investment or a loan, and not a deposit.
"Turning to the record we find that the condition under which this money was turned over to the bank was that the bank was to pay four per cent interest semiannually, but it ‘ expressly reserved the right to have, as a condition precedent to the payment of any of the savings deposit, a sixty days ’ notice in writing from the depositor of his or her intention to withdraw his or her savings deposits, and no such deposits shall be payable either in whole or in part, prior to the expiration of the sixty days’ period of notice, unless at the option of the bank. * * * Payments *885 from time to time by the bank without notice shall not constitute a waiver of notice in any other case, or at any other times when notice is not expressly waived.’
“It is apparent, therefore, from this condition in the agreement that the control of this fund so left with the bank wholly passed out of the control of the trustees. True, they could draw all or any part thereof with the permission of the bank, but if the bank failed to give such permission they could not draw the same until they had given notice and sixty days had fully expired..
“In Baitinger v. Elmore, 208 Iowa 1342, 1344, 277 N. W. 344, 346, we had a fund in the hands of a savings bank placed there by a guardian under the same sixty-day restriction as existed in the ease at bar. We there said:
<<<*#* the guardian, jn effect, and without authority, invested the money of his ward in a savings deposit, and precluded himself from withdrawing it except on sixty days ’ notice. Thus far the case is not one of a mere temporary deposit of money payable on demand in thé exercise of ordinary care. The deposit was without authority of the court, and therefore, was wrongful.’ (Citing Andrew v. Sac County State Bank, 205 Iowa 1248, 218 N. W. 24; Andrew v.

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270 N.W. 465, 222 Iowa 881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrew-v-union-savings-bank-trust-co-iowa-1936.