Brown v. Fitzgerald

39 F.2d 870, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 4168
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 8, 1930
DocketNo. 6014
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 39 F.2d 870 (Brown v. Fitzgerald) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Fitzgerald, 39 F.2d 870, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 4168 (9th Cir. 1930).

Opinion

WILBUR, Circuit Judge.

The appellant is in custody under an extradition warrant issued by the Governor of California upon the requisition of the Governor of Washington upon an indictment alleging, or attempting to allege, the commission of a felony in violation of the provisions of section 56 of the State Banking Act of Washington passed in 1917 (Laws of Washington, 1917, p. 299, § 56, now embodied in Remington’s Comp. Stats, of Washington of 1922, § 3263). This section is as follows:

“Every person who shall knowingly subscribe to or make or cause to be made any false statement or false entry in the books of any bank or trust company or shall knowingly subscribe to or exhibit any false or fictitious paper or security, instrument or paper, with the intent to deceive any person authorized to examine into the affairs of any bank or trust company or shall make, state or publish any false statement of the amount of the assets or liabilities of any bank or trust company shall be guilty of a felony.”

The indictment is in five counts, each of which alleges in general terms the violation of such section as follows:

“H. P. Brown is accused by the grand jury of Grays Harbor County, duly impaneled and sworn, by this indictment, of the crime of knowingly subscribing to or exhibiting a false and fictitious paper or instrument with the intent to deceive a person authorized to examine into the affairs of a banking organization existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Washington.”

After this general allegation the first count of the indictment states that on the 10th day of January, 1927, the appellant filed with Hayes & Hayes, Inc., bankers, a certain paper purporting to be a financial statement of appellant’s assets and liabilities as of the date December 31,1926, wherein he falsely stated his assets to be $1,005,118.52, whereas in fact they were worth $900,000 less than that amount. It is specifically alleged that this statement was made with the intention of deceiving the bank examiners authorized to examine into the affairs of such banking corporation. The second count alleged the making of similar false and fraudulent statement for a similar purpose as to the assets and liabilities of the Independence Logging Company, wherein the liabilities were understated over $750,000. The third count deals with the statement of the Hump-tulips Driving Company wherein the assets of the corporation were overstated over $100,-000 and the liabilities understated more than $100,000. The fourth count contained similar allegations with reference to River Logging Company, and the fifth count with reference to the Humptulips Logging Company. [2,3] The appellant claims that the indictment does not substantially allege an offense against the laws of the state of Washington. His contention is based upon two propositions; first, that the statute only applies to officers of the bank; and, second, that it only applies to statements as to the financial condition of the bank. The appellee, on the other hand, contends that the statute applies to every person who makes a false statement with the intention of deceiving the bank examiners with reference to the affairs of a bank under examination. As the purpose [872]*872of this law is to prevent the deception of the bank examiner in his inquiries made for the purpose of ascertaining the financial condition of a bank, it is immaterial to the purpose sought to be attained by the statute whether the falsehood or false statement is made by an officer or employee of the bank or by some other person. It is obvious, however, that the false statement must have some bearing upon the condition of the bank- which is the subject of the bank examiner’s inquiry in order to come within the condemnation of the statute. A false statement designed to deceive the bank examiner upon some subject other than the financial condition of the bank or of the assets of the bank would not come within the purview of the statute. A false statement concerning the financial responsibility of a bank’s debtor, made for the purpose of deceiving the bank examiner with reference to the resources of the bank when he examines its condition, would come within the letter and the spirit of the prohibition of the statute. The appellant points out that it is npt alleged in the indictment that the false statements therein set out were made for the purpose of securing credit with the bank. He also points out that the offense of making a false statement for the purpose of securing credit from a bank is punishable by another statute of Washington (section 2620, Remington’s Comp. Stats, of Washington). While it is true that section 2620 of Remington’s Code deals with the crime of furnishing a false statement with the intent of thereby obtaining credit or financial rating, the offense charged in the indictment is the filing of a false statement with the intent of deceiving the bank examiner, which is or may be quite distinct from the false statement denounced in section 3263, supra, now under consideration. The question of whether or not a false instrument filed with the bank concerning the financial condition of individuals and corporations other than the bank itself is filed therewith with the intention of deceiving the bank examiner as to the condition of the bank is a question of fact. If the statements exhibited, or intended to be exhibited, to the bank examiner, relate primarily to the financial affairs of other corporations and individuals than the bank itself, it does not follow as a matter of law that such statements do not come within the purview of the law. The question is one of fact. It is not specifically charged in the indictment that the appellant, or the corporations whose financial condition he misrepresented in the statements above referred to, were debtors of the bank, or that the false statements alleged were made to the bank for the purpose of deceiving the bank examiner as to the value of obligations to the bank which depended upon the solvency of its debtors, although it may be inferred from the allegation as to the appellant’s intent to deceive the bank examiner that such is the claim of the state authorities.

A direct allegation that the purpose of the appellant in filing the false statements with the bank was to deceive the bank examiner with reference to the condition of the bank would have been appropriate and desirable, and perhaps necessary, but upon ha^ beas corpus the scope of the inquiry as to whether the person is a fugitive from justice charged with crime is limited. Where there is an effort to set forth substantially a crime under a law of the demanding state, the court of the state of asylum will not inquire'into the technical niceties of the allegations in an indictment charging crime. The indictment in the ease at bar follows the language of the statute. Such an indictment is ordinarily sufficient under the laws of the state of Washington. Schilling v. Territory of Washington, 2 Wash. T. 283, 5 P. 926. Whether or not in this case the indictment, in addition to alleging the ultimate facts of the alleged crime in the terms of the statute denouncing the crime, must also allege, under section 3263, supra, of the Remington’s Code of Washington, that that intended deception of the bank examiner was with relation to the financial affairs of the bank under examination, is, we think, a question of the technical nicety of pleading to be properly solved by the courts of the state in which the prosecution is pending. See, in this regard, a recent decision by the Court of Appeals of New York, People ex rel. Hayes v. McLaughlin, 247 N. Y. 238, 160 N. E. 357, 358, which deals with the duty of the courts of the state of asylum.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Petition of Blackburn
701 P.2d 715 (Montana Supreme Court, 1985)
In Re Katcher
243 P.2d 785 (California Supreme Court, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 F.2d 870, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 4168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-fitzgerald-ca9-1930.