Burt v. North Philadelphia Trust Co.

45 Pa. Super. 320, 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 40
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 3, 1911
DocketAppeal, No. 118
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 45 Pa. Super. 320 (Burt v. North Philadelphia Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burt v. North Philadelphia Trust Co., 45 Pa. Super. 320, 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 40 (Pa. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Opinion by

Morrison, J.,

This is an action of trespass brought to recover damages for the refusal of the defendant company to pay checks drawn by the plaintiff against his deposit with it, and for paying the money by the defendant to another party.

On July 14, 1904, the plaintiff was a depositor in the defendant company. A dispute arose as to the amount and ownership of his deposit. Afterwards he drew several checks against his deposit, payment of which were refused. A year after payment of the last check was refused he sued the defendant in assumpsit and declared for the amount of his deposit, with interest. That suit was begun on August 31, 1905, and final judgment was entered therein on October 9, 1905, for $474.67, being the amount of the plaintiff’s claim with interest, and this judgment and costs were paid by the defendant.

On November 13, 1905, the plaintiff began a suit in trespass for damages alleged to have been caused by the refusal of the defendant company, to pay on demand the same money recovered in the above action of assumpsit. This latter suit was tried in common pleas No. 1 of Philadelphia county, and on February 17, 1910, a verdict rendered in favor of the plaintiff for $483.50. Before verdict defendant’s counsel moved the court to instruct the jury that, “Under all the evidence the verdict must be for the defendant.” This point was refused and the case went to the jury. After verdict defendant moved for judgment non obstante veredicto upon the whole record. The court dismissed this motion and judgment was entered for the plaintiff upon the verdict. To this action of the court a bill of exceptions was sealed at request of defendant’s counsel, and the defendant appealed.

• The trial and final judgment in the assumpsit case settled the question that the defendant was in the wrong in refusing to pay plaintiff’s checks and in paying over his deposits to another party, and we do not propose to discuss the merits of that case. That judgment established the fact that the defendant had money of the plaintiff [323]*323which it refused to pay on his orders and demand and that he was entitled at least to recover damages equal to the amount of his money and interest thereon and he might have recovered in that suit any damages he may have suffered by reason of the breach of duty by the defendant company. At the trial of the trespass case both plaintiff and defendant put in evidence the full record of the trial and judgment in assumpsit between the present plaintiff and defendant, in common pleas of Philadelphia county at No. 5147, June Term, 1905. The declaration, in the latter case claimed the money deposited with the defendant company by the plaintiff and interest thereon, and the result was a judgment for the plaintiff for $474.67. The declaration contained no count for damages other than the amount of money on deposit and interest thereon from July 28, 1904. At the trial and here it was conceded that the said assumpsit suit and the present trespass case are between the same parties, and that the cause of action in both cases grew out of the refusal of the defendant company to pay the same money on deposit with it on plaintiff’s demand.

The single assignment of error is: “The Court below erred in dismissing the defendant’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto upon the whole record, as follows,” etc., quoting the motion.

The single question raised for our decision is, Could the plaintiff sue in assumpsit for his money on deposit with the defendant company and recover a final judgment for the same, with interest as damages for its detention, and thereafter sue and recover in this action of trespass damages to his credit, or otherwise, for the refusal of the defendant to pay on his orders and demand the same money? We are without doubt that this question must be answered in the negative, and our purpose here will be to demonstrate as briefly as may be, from the text-writers and decided cases running back nearly to the Revolution, that the first judgment when put in evidence in the present case was a complete bar and the court should have directed [324]*324a verdict in favor of the defendant, and failing to do this, the court ought to have entered judgment for the defendant non obstante veredicto.

The principle here involved is that a plaintiff cannot bring two separate suits for one cause of action and carry both suits to final judgments. Decisions in all jurisdictions establish the principle that a plaintiff cannot try his suit in parts. There is no doubt about this rule. The principle has been stated in the text-books thus: “A controversy once determined, resulting in a final judgment upon the merits, by a tribunal having jurisdiction of the person and the subject-matter of the action, is conclusive of the cause of action and all the essential facts in said action against the parties, their personal representatives, assignees and privies in every other tribunal, and not only concludes such parties and their privies in a subsequent action based upon the same cause or causes, but in any action that may be instituted between them and their privies: ” 1 Herman on Estoppel, sec. 133.

“A judgment decides every matter which pertains to the cause of action or the defense set up, or which is involved in the measure of relief'to which the cause of action or defense entitles the party, even though such matter may not be set forth in the pleadings, so as to admit proof and call for an actual decision upon it. Whenever a matter is adjudicated and fully determined by a competent tribunal, it is considered forever at rest:” 1 Herman on Estoppel, sec. 125.

“Rejecting, therefore, all those portions of the pleading which describe the remedy or the relief demanded, the inquiry should be directed exclusively to the allegations of fact which set forth the primary right of the plaintiff and the wrong done by the defendant. If one such right alone, however comprehensive, is asserted, and if one such wrong alone, however complex, is complained of, but one cause of action is alleged:” Pomeroy’s .Code Remedies (4th ed.), sec. 351. When the plaintiff deposited his money with the defendant company and the latter [325]*325refused to pay the- same on demand, this constituted the breach of the depositor’s primary right, and was the “cause of action” on which the plaintiff’s remedial right is based. When this breach occurred the plaintiff’s remedial right resulted and the law gave him a remedy and it was one of two possible kinds of remedies. The relation between banker and depositor results in an implied contract between them. When that contract is broken the law provides a remedy for the breach. That remedy may be by an action in assumpsit or under our procedure an action of trespass. In any event, the remedy is by a suit against the bank. ■

The plaintiff’s cause of action was damages resulting from the refusal of the defendant company to pay his money on deposit with it on demand, and the plaintiff was bound to recover all of the damages he suffered thereby in one suit. Whether that suit should be in assumpsit or trespass on the case was at the option of the plaintiff. We think the authorities are uniform on this point. In First Nat. Bank of Tamaqua v. Shoemaker, 117 Pa. 94, the Supreme Court held: “That a depositor could sue the bank to recover damages for dishonoring his check, or he could bring an action in assumpsit to recover the amount of his deposit as for money had and received; ....

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Pa. Super. 320, 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burt-v-north-philadelphia-trust-co-pasuperct-1911.