Brand v. Farmers Mut. Protective Ass'n

95 S.W.2d 994, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 706
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 17, 1936·No. No. 8230.·Published

Opinion

BLAIR, Justice.

Appellant, E. C. Brand, state banking commissioner, sued appellee the Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas for $2,500, alleged to have been withdrawn in cash by appellee from the Cameron State Bank on December 17, .1931, at a time when appellee knew that said bank was insolvent. In answer appellee denied withdrawal of any cash on said date, but alleged that on said date it made a loan of $2,500 to R. L. Batte, a stockholder of said bank, and gave him a check for that amount on its account in the bank; and that Batte obtained no cash on the check, but in the regular course of business of the bank applied the amount of the check to his indebtedness to the bank on December 17, 1931.

By cross-action appellee further alleged that said bank, G. T. Graves, J. C. Tucker, R. L. Batte, P. S. Graves, and Jud C. Davis, all officials of the bank, had executed to appellee an agreement guaranteeing repayment of all of its deposits in the bank; and appellee prayed for judgment against said parties in the event judgment was against it in favor of appellant banking commissioner.

By supplemental petition, filed June 11, 1934, the date of the trial below, appellant alleged for the first time that the check transaction between appellee and Batte was a fraudulent transaction and a conspiracy to withdraw the $2,500 from the account of appellee, and to give appellee a preference over other depositors of the insolvent bank. To all of these pleadings, appellee pleaded among others, the following defenses :

1. That appellee had no knowledge of the insolvency of the bank when the check-transaction occurred.

2. In the alternative, that the pleadings of June 11, 1934, set up for the first time a cause of action for fraud and conspiracy in connection with the check transaction between appellee and Batte, and that such cause of - action was barred by the two-year statute of limitation.

3. That because of certain acts and conduct, which will hereinafter be related, the banking commissioner was estopped to assert that the $2,500 was wrongfully withdrawn or was an asset of the insolvent bank.

A trial to the court without a jury resulted in-judgment that the banking commissioner take nothing by his suit against’ appellee, and that appellee take nothing by its cross-action on the guaranty agreement.

*996 It will be noted that appellant pleaded for the first time on June 11, 1934, that the check transaction between appellee and Batte on December 17, 1931, was fraudulent and was a conspiracy to withdraw the $2,500, and to prefer appellee as a creditor of the insolvent bank. This cause of action was clearly barred by the two-year statute of limitation (Rev. St. 1925, art. 5526), and need not be further noticed in this suit.

Appellant presents three propositions based upon one assignment, to the effect that the undisputed evidence showed that at the time of the check transaction between appellee and Batte, on December •17, 1931, the Cameron State Bank was insolvent; that appellee knew that it was insolvent; and that the effect of the check transaction was to create a preference in favor of appellee of the funds of said insolvent bank.

Appellant did not request the trial court to file findings of fact or conclusions of law, and his above propositions cannot be sustained for the reason that they question only one theory upon which’ the judgment may have been rendered, and appellee association asserted several separate and distinct defenses to the claim of the banking commissioner, some of which are not attacked by appellant, and are fully sustained by the evidence.

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Brand v. Farmers Mut. Protective Ass'n, 95 S.W.2d 994, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 706 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

95 S.W.2d 994 (Brand v. Farmers Mut. Protective Ass'n) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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