Burch v. Fair Park Nat. Bank

264 S.W.2d 188, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 1864
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1954
DocketNo. 14753
StatusPublished

This text of 264 S.W.2d 188 (Burch v. Fair Park Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burch v. Fair Park Nat. Bank, 264 S.W.2d 188, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 1864 (Tex. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

CRAMER, Justice.

Appellant Burch filed this suit in the trial court against appellee Bank and' George W. Tyler (not a party to this appeal), alleging he and Tyler had from about April 1, 1951, been partners under the trade name of B & T Motors, in Dallas; that on two occasions prior to the opening of the bank account with appellee Bank, the partnership had its account with another Bank in Dallas and that their manner of handling' the account with such other Bank was that Burch, and only Burch, signed all checks; that the partnership bought and sold second hand automobiles; Tyler handled the purchase and sale and Burch the office and financial end; and that when a car was purchased, Burch would sign a check on the partnership account at the closing; or if he was not available, Tyler would draw a draft with all title papers attached, ‘ and Burch, when the draft was presented, would, if all papers .were in order, then sign a check on the partnership account to pay the draft. Burch further alleged that at the time the account was opened with ap-pellee Bank on October 19, 1951, he talked with Mr. Cartwright, Vice President and. Cashier of the Bank, advising him he-wanted the account handled the same way as it had been handled with the other Bank;, that Cartwright agreed thereto before, and at the time, the account was opened. That thereafter the Bank honored a number of [189]*189checks signed by Tyler, alone, on the said partnership account: Burch sought recovery from the Bank on four of such checks (totaling $6,389.70) on which the partnership sustained a loss (and on which Burch had theretofore recovered a judgment against Tyler). This theory of the case was, upon a trial before the court without a jury, fully sustained by Burch’s evidence.

Appellee Bank defended by denying the existence of such an agreement as Burch claimed to have made with the Bank; further that Burch knew and authorized each of the checks in controversy and knew Tyler was making withdrawals from the partnership account; that Burch ratified and approved such transactions and accepted the benefits thereunder; that Burch was estopped to deny the Bank’s authority to honor such withdrawals; and that the partnership and Burch individually received the benefit of each transaction complained of and neither the partnership nor Burch sustained individually any loss damage therefrom.

The court, without a jury, having heard all the evidence, made the following findings of fact:

“1. Burch and Tyler were partners in the business of buying and selling used cars before and after the opening of the account with defendant Bank; and Tyler primarily did the trading for the firm. 2. The Bank knew of this partnership arrangement, both from prior dealings and by advices from the partners at and prior to the opening of the account. 3. Burch knew Tyler was buying cars for and on behalf of the partnership and was paying for them with checks and drafts drawn by him alone on the partnership account in the Fair Park National Bank, and Burch acquiesced therein and ratified the several transactions, and turned some of those cars in the course of the partnership business. 4. Each and every transaction complained of by plaintiff in this cause was a partnership transaction, duly authorized, and in each case the partnership received the benefits thereof. No damage to the partnership resulted therefrom. The paying of the Tyler checks by the Bank forms no legitimate basis for Burch’s claim against the Bank; his claim resulted from Tyler’s activities independent of the payment of checks by the bank that were signed only by Tyler. Burch sought no recovery of Tyler in this cause.”

On such findings the court entered judgment for appellee Bank. Burch duly perfected this appeal and here briefs nine points of error, in substance: Error of the trial court in finding as a fact, (1) that Burch knew Tyler was signing checks on and authorizing withdrawals from the partnership account; (2) that Burch acquiesced and ratified Tyler’s said transactions wherein Tyler had signed partnership checks; (3) that each transaction was a partnership transaction and duly authorized; (4) that the partnership received the benefits of such transactions; the findings are not supported by any evidence and are against the great preponderance of the evidence; that the trial court erred in finding as a fact (5) that the partnership received the benefit of the transactions because “ * * * such finding of fact is refuted by law and principle and is in fact a question of law and involves a conclusion of law rather than a conclusion of fact, and the conclusion reached by the court is in derogation to the law.” (6) That Burch’s claim “ * * * resulted from Tyler’s activities independent of the payment of the checks by the Bank which were signed by Tyler, for the reason that such finding is not supported by fact or law.” (7) “The judgment of the trial court is against the weight of the evidence and in fact not supported by sufficient evidence and therefore erroneous.” (8) “The judgment of the trial court is against and not supported by the law, and therefore erroneous.” (9) “The trial court erred in its judgment that the appellant herein take nothing by reason of his action and that the uncontroverted evidence adduced showed that the defendant, Fair Park Na[190]*190tional Bank, was in receipt of a declaration procured at their request and filed with said Bank no later than the 11th day of November, 1951, which declaration provided that only the appellant herein would have the right to draw on the partnership account with the said Bank, and that in spite of said agreement and contrary to same the defendant Bank honored two drafts drawn, one on November 14, 1951, in the amount of $1,075, and one drawn on November 16, 1951, in the amount of $1,-514.70, each being drawn by the defendant George W. Tyler and the same being directly contrary to the declaration filed with the defendant Bank, and therefore the judgment rendered by the trial court is contrary to such uncontradicted and controlling evidence.”

All points will be considered together.

The only question, raised by the points was whether the Bank’s evidence controverting the evidence of Burch, was sufficient to make a question of fact for the trial judge and, if so, whether the findings are so against the preponderance of the evidence as to make them manifestly unjust.

Appellant Burch in his brief states:

“Appellant further testified that the instruments in question, on which this suit was based are as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
264 S.W.2d 188, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 1864, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burch-v-fair-park-nat-bank-texapp-1954.