Central Trust Co. v. Hahn-Jacobsen Co.

33 N.E. 388, 33 N.E.2d 388, 20 Ohio Law. Abs. 433, 4 Ohio Op. 509, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1007
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 16, 1935
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 33 N.E. 388 (Central Trust Co. v. Hahn-Jacobsen Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Trust Co. v. Hahn-Jacobsen Co., 33 N.E. 388, 33 N.E.2d 388, 20 Ohio Law. Abs. 433, 4 Ohio Op. 509, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1007 (Ohio Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

OPINION

By ROSS, PJ.

There are certain outstanding facts and conclusions apparent from the foregoing statement.

Peters was employed to collect the amount due plaintiff from the insurance company in New York. Payment of this debt was made to the duly accredited agent of the plaintiff. Peters received payment of the account and his estate is responsible therefor.

This is not such a case as was developed in Central Trust Co. v Backsman, 3 OO 546, (198 NE 730; 50 Oh Ap 512; 19 Abs 541) for there payment was made by the bank to a person not the agent of the drawee. The drawer of the check indebted to the plaintiff was fully justified in transmitting same to the attorney for plaintiff. Such payment if made in cash would have been a payment certainly. However, solely because the attorney was not authorized specifically to indorse plaintiff’s name upon the check, it is asserted that the indorsement has been forged. If the endorse[435]*435ment was a forgery in the true sense of the term, then the check has never been paid and the money is still in the drawee bank and the debtor still owes the original debt.

Now it would seem that from what has been said that there has been no forgery of the indorsement of plaintiff, and that plaintiff should not be permitted to recover from the bank. That there is respectable authority for this conclusion is apparent from the citations and quotations immediately following.

In the case of Bailey v United States, 13 Fed. (2nd) 325, an attorney employed to collect a claim against the United States indorsed his client’s name on a draft payable to his client alone. The attorney had no express authority to do this. On page 326 of the opinion the court say:

“If, therefore, express authority was needed, the question whether the plaintiff in error was vested with such authority, or honestly though mistakenly, believed that he had such authority, was for the jury. On the other hand, if the plaintiff in error had implied authority to indorse the check or draft arising out of his employment, there was no forgery of the indorsement, no uttering or publishing of the forged indorsement, and no offense against the laws of the United States, whatever crime may have been committed against the laws of the state.
“We think the latter view is the correct one. The plaintiff in error was employed as an attorney to collect certain claims against the government; he had undoubtedly authority to receive payment in cash or money, and, having received instead a check payable to his client, under the great weight of authority he had implied authority to indorse and cash the check. Thus, In Re Brashear (D. C.) 275 F. 481, a dividend check was issued on the depository by a trustee in bankruptcy, countersigned by the referee, and made payable to the creditor, and it was held tl\at an indorsement of the check by the attorney for the creditor in the name of the creditor constituted an acquittance by the creditor to the trustee in bankruptcy and to the depository.

“In Brown v Grimes, 74 Ind. App. 655, 129 NE 483, the court said: ‘It is a well-established rule of law. that an attorney who has a claim for collection has no right, in the absence of special authority, to accept in settlement anything but money. This rule is made in law in this state by statutory enactment. * * * Under this rule, appellant’s said attorney had no authority to receive the check as payment, nor could he by his indorsement impose a new contract liability upon'appellant, who was his client; but, having taken the check in due course of his employment, he had implied authority to make a formal indorsement in behalf-of his client for the purpose of making the collection and receiving the money. Having by indorsement of the check received the money thereon. Underwood had by this means effected the purpose for which he had been employed. He had collected, and had in his possession for appellant, in money, the full amount of the judgment he had been employed to collect. We therefore hold that the acceptance and indorsement of the check by appellant’s attorney, and the receipt by said attorney of the proceeds of such check, under the peculiar facts of this case, amounted to a payment of the judgment. The conclusion we have reached is in accordance with the great weight of authority’ — citing many cases. See, also, National Bank v Old Town Bank, 112 F. 726, 50 C.C.A. 443; National Fire Ins. Co. v Eastern Building & Loan Assn., 63 Neb. 698; 88 NW 863.

“Should a suit be instituted against the government to recover the amount of the check or draft, we have little doubt that the paid check or draft, indorsed as it is, would constitute a full and complete defense.”

In commenting on this opinion, the court in United States v Prussian, 42 Fed. (2nd) / 854, 856, say:

“The indorsement was without authority. The second power of attorney expressly prohibited such indorsement, and it is of no importance that the first was more general or did not prohibit in express words such indorsement. Bailey v United States, 13 F. (2d) 325 (C.C.A. 9), is relied upon by the appellant, but it is distinguishable. There it was held there was no testimony showing that the defendant’s authority was in any way specifically restricted under his general authority as attorney at law retained to collect a claim. He had authority to receive cash in payment of the claim, and he had the implied authority to indorse and cash the check. At bar, there was a studied effort to imitate Malcolm S. Mackay’s handwriting, as a comparison of this with his own admitted handwriting shows. Malcolm S. Mackay’s name was signed in a small regular handwriting, and appellant’s name was signed in a large flowing handwriting, showing his habitual signature. It points out by these different signatures, an effort to deceive. To be sure, [436]*436the appellant made explanation as to this, but the jury apparently decided against it.”

In National Bank v Old Town Bank, 112 Fed., 726, 728, the court say:

“There appears a tendency to relax the strict limitation of implied authority to meet the necessity of prompt action in modern business methods, particularly when client and attorney are at considerable distance from each other. After all, the question of authority must depend, as Mr. Mechera. observes, largely upon circumstances; and ‘authority to do a given act carries with it an implied authority to do those things which are necessary in order to accomplish the main end, and what is necessary must be determined in many cases by reference to the particular facts.’ Mechem, Ag., §816. In the case at bar, Fairman, the attorney of the legatees, alone was authorized to receive from the executors the amount coming to the distributees. It was also his duty to take only money in payment of the claims.”

The second paragraph of the syllabus of this case is:

“An attorney employed by a number of legatees and heirs of an estate, who resided in several different states, to act for them in the settlement of the estate, arid authorized to collect and receive their shares, retained to assist him in a law firm in the city where the estate was being administered, and agreed with such firm on the fee to be charged, and its division.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 N.E. 388, 33 N.E.2d 388, 20 Ohio Law. Abs. 433, 4 Ohio Op. 509, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1007, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-trust-co-v-hahn-jacobsen-co-ohioctapp-1935.