Bank of Willow Lakes v. Syverson

178 N.W. 989, 43 S.D. 295, 1920 S.D. LEXIS 107
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 25, 1920
DocketFile No. 4699
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 178 N.W. 989 (Bank of Willow Lakes v. Syverson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bank of Willow Lakes v. Syverson, 178 N.W. 989, 43 S.D. 295, 1920 S.D. LEXIS 107 (S.D. 1920).

Opinion

SMITH, J.

[1] In this case there are 55 assignments of error, accompanied by an additional assignment of insufficiency of the evidence, embracing 20 particulars; the former covering 16 pages and the latter 13 pages of appellant’s brief. It is manifestly impossible to consider such assignments separately, without disregarding the reasonable limitations which must attend judicial decisions. We have considered them all, but shall refer only to those which we deem controlling and decisive of the rights of the parties.

In 1908, the Bank of Willow Lakes had a capital stock of $S,0OO; 30 shares were owned by E. A. Syverson, 10 shares by-Walter G. Syverson, and 10 shares by M. G. Anderson. E. A. Syverson was president of the bank, and the three men named constituted its board of directors. In 1909, through stock dividends, the capitalization was increased to $10,000, doubling the amount of stock held by each of the three stockholders. W. G. [299]*299Syverson was cashier, and J. F. Flindt assistant cashier. In June, 1909, the bank made application to the defendant surety company for a schedule bond, covering W. G. Syverson, cashier, and John F. Flindt, asistant cashier, as employes of the bank, each in the sum of $5,000. The application was accompanied by the personal application and declaration of the cashier and assistant cashier. The applications were accepted, and a bond issued. The application contained provisions for' renewal of the bond from year to year, and provided that upon renewal the liability thereunder would be and continue as if the bond had been originally written for a term including the period of such renewal. The bond was renewed annually until April 21, 1913, at which time the bond sued upon was issued, without any renewal of the original application. By this bond the surety company covenanted :

“To make good * * * any loss which the employer may sustain by reason of any act of personal dishonesty, forgery, theft, larceny, embezzlement, wrongful conversion or abstraction, on the part of any employe * * * in any position in the employer’s service.”

It also contains the further provision:

“The employer may, at any time, transfer any and every employe for whom the company is or may become, during the continuance of this bond, surety hereunder, from one position to another, and shift such employes about at pleasure, without notice to the company, and the company shall be liable and remain-liable to the employer for any loss occasioned by such employes as fully and to the same extent as if no transfer had been made.”

In 1911 the defendants W. G. Syverson and John Fredrick Flindt purchased and became owners of 80 shares of the bank stock; W. G. Syverson was elected president of the bank, and Flindt cashier, while Syverson, Flindt, and one Anderson, who owtaed the remaining 20 shares of stock, became the board of directors.

[2] Appellant’s first and main contention seems to be that the change of official positions of Walter G. Syverson and Flindt, and their exclusive management and control of the business of the bank, effected through their purchase and ownership of a majority of the stock,-worked such a change in the hazard assumed by the indemnitor as to release it from all liability. The [300]*300case of Farmers’ & Merchants’ Bank v. U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 28 S. D. 315, 133 N. W. 247, 36 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1152, is chiefly relied upon to sustain this contention. Appellants’ argument proceeds upn the theory that Syverson and Flindt, as majority stockholders, having elected themselves as majority directors, and, as majority directors having elected themselves cashier and assistant cashier, are no longer employes, within the meaning of the bond, but have become, in substance and fact, the owners and managers of the bank itself. Under the provisions of the policy, the election of Syverson and Flindt as directors, or as cashier and assistant cashier, or to any other position in the bank, without notice, was expressly consented to by the insurer, and therefore such changes could in no manner affect its liability for their acts as “employes.” The only remaining condition (not referred to in the applications or policy) which can'be claimed to affect the hazard is that which is involved in and might result from changes of stock ownership. The defense therefore ultimately rests upon the fact that Syverson and Flindt, as owners of a majority of the stock, have caused themselves to be elected to positions which gave them complete control and mastery of the affairs of the bank, and wholly relieved them' from any supervision or control of their acts.

It must be- assumed that the indemnitor, by consenting that the employes whose integrity is guaranteed by its bond might at any time be shifted from one position to another at pleasure, without notice to the company, and that the company should remain liable as fully and to the same extent as if no transfer had been made, either assumed that such change in itself involved no increase of hazard, or that it intended to wfaive any increased hazard which might be supposed to arise from such changes. Under this provision of the policy, the mode in which such changes might be accomplished would seem to have been considered wholly immaterial, for the reason that neither the application nor the policy contains any provision which limits either the conditions upon or the means through which such changes might be effected, one of which was a possible change in stock ownership. It is clear that changes in offices or positions of employes effected by the acts of majority stockholders other than such officers and employes themse-ves would not change or affect the liability of the insurer. Neither the application nor the policy contains any [301]*301provision, express or implied, which contemplates that any increase in the hazard might arise, should the majority holders of stock see fit to elect themselves to official positions and assume actual and exclusive control of the business of the bank. 'Certainly such a situation is one which, if it was deemed material as affecting the hazard, cannot be assumed to have been overlooked by the guaranty company in the preparation of its applications and bond forms.

(A'n examination of the bond in this case discloses numerous and minute provisions and conditions, both present and prospective, intended to safeguard the insurer against increased hazards ; but nowhere do we find, either in the application or policy any conditions attending, or even any reference to, changes in stock ownership. Must we not assume that the company did not consider possible changes of stock ownership as affecting the hazard involved, even though the same men whose integrity was guaranteed, and who constituted a majority of the stockholders, should choose to place themselves in active management and control of the affairs of the bank? May we not assume that the bonding company considered the hazard lessened rather than increased, when persons holding a majority of the stock, and therefore most heavily interested in the success or failure of the business, should themselves choose to assume direct.

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Bluebook (online)
178 N.W. 989, 43 S.D. 295, 1920 S.D. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-willow-lakes-v-syverson-sd-1920.