Bishop v. United States

16 F.2d 406, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3866
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided November 29, 1926·No. Nos. 7493, 7517·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

KENYON, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs in-error (hereafter termed defendants) were convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado upon the second and fourth counts of an indictment charging violation of section 5209, Rev. Stat. of the United States (Comp. Stat. § 9772), by misapplication of funds of the Globe National Bank of Denver. The second count of the indictment recited that defendants were officers and directors of the Globe 'National' Bank of Denver, and that on the 14th day of September, 1924, they unlawfully, willfully, and fraudulently misapplied, not for the use, benefit, or advantage of the bank, certain moneys, funds, and credits to the use, benefit, and advantage of themselves and one W. G. Birkhauser and with the intent to injure and defraud said bank, knowingly, willfully, and fraudulently applied the sum of $1,000 of the moneys, funds, and credits of said bank, being the proceeds of two bonds left by one Joseph T. Russell with said member bank for collection, to the payment of a certain promissory note in the sum of $11,000 held by said bank, which had been thereto[407]*407fore executed by W. G. Birkhauser in favor •of said bank, and which note was in truth and in fact the obligation of defendants; that said promissory note obligation, by virtue of this and other payments made thereon, was canceled, surrendered, and delivered to said Birkhauser as fully paid, and that, by reason of said payment and application of the moneys, funds, and credits of the bank made on said promissory note obligation, said sum of $1,000 was wholly lost to said member bank. The fourth count charges further misapplication of bank fluids, viz. that the Globe National Bank held for collection certain notes executed by the Rocky Mountain Osteopathic Hospital Association. Some of these notes had been sold by the bank to various parties; $2,500 worth of the notes were alleged to be the property of Eva E. Benedict; one note for $500 was alleged to be the property of Thomas and Mary Mee. It is charged that defendants on September 14, 1925, “then and there, with intent on their part then and there to injure and defraud said member bank,” willfully, unlawfully, and fraudulently applied the money collected upon these notes by the bank as part payment upon a certain $14,000 promissory note, which had theretofore been executed by R. C. Bradshaw in favor of said bank as an accommodation for the defendants; that by reason of such payment and others the said note of Bradshaw was canceled, surrendered, and delivered to him as fully paid, and it is -alleged that the bank thereby lost the said $3,000.

The facts as disclosed by the evidence seem to be as follows:

In January, 1925, Frank L. Bishop, with certain associates, purchased from Mr. Staley, then president of the Globe National Bank, and his associates, a controlling interest in the bank. To bring this about he obtained two accommodation notes, one in the sum of $11,000, signed by W. G. Birkhauser, .and one in the amount of $14,000, signed by R. C. Bradshaw, who was the father-in-law of defendant Will E. Bishop. These notes purported to be collateralized by negotiable securities. Defendant Will P. Bishop became vice president of the Globe National Bank in January, 1925, after these notes were given. Later defendant Prank L. Bishop became the vice chairman of its board of directors. The Globe National Bank was later merged with the Home Savings & Merchants Bank. Certain promissory notes executed by the Rocky Mountain Osteopathic Hospital Association were held for collection by the bank. $2,500 of these notes, which .had been sold by the bank to Eva P. Benedict, and one of $5,000, which had been sold to Thomas and Mary Mee, were paid by the Hospital Association to the bank, and the money received therefor was applied on the Bradshaw accommodation note. Joseph T. Russell, a customer of the bank, owned two $500 bonds issued by the city of Denver. He turned these over to the bank for collection. The city treasurer made a check payable to the bank for the amount due, viz. $1,030. Russell took the check, saw it was payable to the bank, gave it to defendant Prank L. Bishop, and asked him to purchase for him a real estate first mortgage. Prank L. Bishop took the cheek, and had the bank issue in lieu thereof a cashier’s cheek for $1,000, payable to “ourselves.” This check was on September 14, 1925, given to the discount teller by defendant Will P. Bishop who directed him to apply the same as part payment on the Birkhauser note.

As to the Bradshaw note, the $3,000 collected upon the Benedict and Mee notes was applied thereon at the same time. On September 18, 1925, the day before the bank closed, the collateral on the Bradshaw and Birkhauser notes was sold. The notes were marked paid, and delivered to defendant Will P. Bishop. Bradshaw and Birkhauser received absolutely nothing on the notes given to the bank. They were purely accommodation paper, and evidently made for the benefit of the defendants. The evidence shows that the money collected for Russell, the Mees, and Benedict went into the general funds of the bank. Many questions are raised by plaintiffs in error. We take them up in the order which seems to us logical.

Demurrers were filed to the indictment by each of the defendants, which were sustained as to the first and third counts, and overruled as to the second and fourth. The second count refers to what may be termed “the Birkhauser transaction,” and the fourth count to what may be termed “the Bradshaw transaction.” The demurrers challenged these two counts, .on the ground that the indictment did not charge the alleged misapplications were without the consent of Russell, the Mees, and Eva P. Benedict; that the money collected by the bank belonged to these individuals; and that the indictment shows on its face that the bank obtained an advantage from the application of the money rather than a loss. We think the court committed no error in overruling the demurrers to these two counts. The counts charge that the alleged misapplications were knowingly, willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, and fraudulently made, which negatives any idea that the claimed misapplication of the funds could [408]*408have been made with the consent of Russell, the Mees, or j¿va F. Benedict.

Nor do we think there is any merit in the proposition urged that the money collected did not become part of the bank funds. These counts allege that the notes and bonds had been left with the bank for collection. The moneys were collected and remained in the bank for a time. Clearly, as between these defendants and the bank, they became bank funds. Spencer v. United States (C. C. A.) 169 F. 562; United States v. Jenks et al. (D. C.) 264 F. 697; Donegan v. United States (C. C. A.) 296 F. 843; Williams v. United States (C. C. A.) 275 F. 129. If the defendants did on the 14th day of September, 1925, direct the application of the money collected on the Russell, Mees, and Benedict .notes to the payment of the Birkháuser and Bradshaw notes, they were directing, as far as they were concerned, the application of money which constituted bank funds to the payment of notes which had been taken for their benefit. We are satisfied that each of these two counts of the indictment contains every element of the offense intended to be charged, and that they are not subject to the objections raised by the demurrer. Evans v. United States, 153 U. S. 584, 14 S. Ct. 934, 38 L. Ed. 830; Cochran & Sayre v. United States, 157 U. S. 286, 15 S. Ct. 628, 39 L. Ed. 704.

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Bishop v. United States, 16 F.2d 406, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3866 (8th Cir. 1926).

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