Citizens Bank & Trust Co. v. Cook

121 So. 306, 9 La. App. 540, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 348
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 19, 1928
DocketNo. 3376
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 121 So. 306 (Citizens Bank & Trust Co. v. Cook) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Citizens Bank & Trust Co. v. Cook, 121 So. 306, 9 La. App. 540, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 348 (La. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

ODOM, J.

The defendant prosecutes this appeal from a judgment condemning him to pay to the plaintiff bank the sum of ONE THOUSAND ($1,000.00) DOLLARS, together with interest thereon.

The facts necessary to be stated at this time are that, on February 10, 1919, W. S. Willhite and his wife borrowed the sum of $1,000.00 from the defendant, Cook, and, as evidence of the debt, executed their promissory note for that sum, due one (1) year from its date, and, to secure said debt, mortgaged certain real property situated in Jackson Parish — the mortgage and the note being made payable to the said W. H. Cook. The note was not paid by Willhite when due, and was extended on two separate occasions. At some time, just prior to August 3, 1923, the defendant, Cook, pressed Willhite to pay the note. Willhite, being without means, arranged with the plaintiff bank to take up the noté for him, and notified Cook to call at the bank and get his money. Cook took the note to the bank, endorsed it “without recourse,” and was paid the face value thereof. That was on August 3, 1923, after the maturity of the note. The bank held the note until 1925, when it attempted to [541]*541collect it from Willhite by suit, but failed, because, previously, Willhite had been adjudged a bankrupt and had been discharged. The bank, it seems, scheduled its claim in the bankruptcy proceedings, but was paid nothing.

The plaintiff bank, by its present suit, is pursuing Cook for the amount which it paid him, together with interest thereon.

Cook presents two defenses; first, that the transaction which took place between him and the plaintiff bank on August 3, 1923, when he delivered the note and received face value therefor, was not a sale of the note, but constituted a payment thereof by the bank as the agent of Willhite, the maker; and second, that, if it be held that the transaction was a sale, then he was relieved of any obligation to the bank on account of his endorsement of the note, “without recourse.”

Taking up these defenses in the order stated, it is shown that Cook presented the note to the bank at the request of. Willhite, the maker, after Cook had informed him that he must pay it. There had been no previous negotiations between the bank and Cook. When Cook demanded payment of the note by Willhite, he, being unable to meet the obligation, asked Dud Holland to take up the note for him. Holland refused. Willhite then asked the plaintiff bank to take it up for him, and the bank agreed to do so. Whereupon Willhite saw Cook, according to Willhite’s testimony, and told him “to go to the bank and get his money, that I had made arrangements at the Citizens Bank and for him to go and get his money.” Willhite did not borrow any money from the bank, but merely got the bank to agree to take up and carry the note for him. Cook testified that he “saw Willhite about a month or ' so before the note was due, and. I told him I would have to have my money * * * I told him I would have to collect the note as I needed the money, and he told me he would make arrangements for me; for the money, and I saw him later on, down on the streets, and he told me to take that note around to the Citizens Bank & Trust Company and get my money * * ■* I carried the note around and he (meaning Breed, the cashier) paid off.”

He further testified that he did not intend to sell the note to the bank, but understood that the bank was paying it for Willhite.

Cook further stated that when he presented the note to Breed, the cashier, “I told him that Willhite told me to bring that note up here that I held against him and get the money, it amounted to something like $1,000.00,” and that the money was then and there paid to him.

He admits that he endorsed the note at the time and said, “I couldn’t tell you why I did that — ‘without recourse.’ Didn’t amount to anything, I didn’t think.”

The transaction was handled for the bank by Breed, the cashier. He testified that Willhite had no money in the bank at the time; that the note was not paid by the bank for Willhite, but was purchased by the bank from Cook at Willhite’s request.

Under the testimony, as above detailed, we hold that the transaction between Cook and the bank constituted a transfer and not a payment of the note. In determining whether transactions of this kind amount to a sale or whether they are payments of negotiable instruments, we must - look to the intent of the parties. That the plaintiff bank intended to purchase - the note in question is beyond dispute. Breed, the cashier, positively so testified, and his testimony is borne out by the facts that [542]*542Willhite did not request the bank to pay the note, but to take it up and carry it for him; that Willhite had no funds in the bank with which to pay it, and made no subsequent arrangements for a loan to replace the amount paid by the bank to Cook; and that Cook was required by Breed, the cashier, to endorse the note and that it was not marked paid, but was held by the bank for two years, when suit was filed to collect it.

As to Cook, he knew that the bank did not intend to pay the note, but was purchasing it, as evidenced by the fact that, when called upon he endorsed the note, which endorsement was necessary only for the purpose of a transfer, as the note was made payable to him or his order. There was no suggestion or intimation to him, either by Willhite, the maker, or Breed, the cashier, that the bank was paying the note. On the contrary, the acts and declarations of the parties and the surrounding circumstances, all go to show that Cook intended to sell and the bank intended to purchase the note.

If, however, the testimony left any doubt as to the intention of the parties, we should resolve that doubt in favor of the bank on the legal presumption that the transaction was intended as a transfer and not as a payment.

In Wing vs. Union Central Life Insurance Company, 181 Mo. App. 381, 168 S. W. 917, and in Cantrell vs. Davidson, 180 Mo. App. 410, 168 S. W. 271, it was held that where a stranger to a note pays his money therefor and takes it up, the presumption is that he has bought; it.

“If a bill or note is paid after its maturity by a stranger to the paper, it will in general be held to be a purchase and not a payment of the instrument.” 8 C. J. 588.

Under the Negotiable Instruments Law, Act 64 of 1904, Section 30, if a note is payable to order, it is negotiable by endorsement of the holder, completed by delivery. The requirements for the transfer of this note were fulfilled. The note was payable to Cook and he endorsed it and delivered it to the bank. In the absence of an express agreement that the note was to be paid, he can not, under the circumstances, be heard to say that this was a payment and not a sale of the note.

Cook’s plea that his endorsement “without recourse” released him from any obligation to the bank is equally unavailing. He sold the note to the bank, a good faith purchaser, for a sound consideration, the full face value thereof. By that sale, he warranted that the note was what it purported to be and that he had “no knowledge of any fact which would impair the validity of the endorsement or render it valueless.” Negotiable Instruments Law, Act 64 of 1904, Section 65.

The note on its face purported to be a mortgage note. It bears on its face the legend “Ne Varietur,” “Identified with Act of Mortgage. Executed before me this 10 day of February, 1919. Robbie D. Ramsey, Dy. C. D. C. and ex-officio Notary Public.”

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Bluebook (online)
121 So. 306, 9 La. App. 540, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 348, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/citizens-bank-trust-co-v-cook-lactapp-1928.