City Nat. Bank of Galveston v. Young

237 S.W. 243, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 176
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 15, 1922
DocketNo. 279-3517
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 237 S.W. 243 (City Nat. Bank of Galveston v. Young) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City Nat. Bank of Galveston v. Young, 237 S.W. 243, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 176 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1922).

Opinion

HAMILTON, J.

This is an action to vacate a judgment rendered five years before the filing of the suit.

On January 4, 1912, plaintiff in error filed in the district court of Galveston county, Tex., omitting the caption, the following petition:

“The petition of the City National Bank of Galveston, a corporation, plaintiff, complaining of E. H. Young, defendant, respectfully represents:

“That plaintiff and defendant are residents of Galveston county, Tex.
“That heretofore, on, to wit, the 31st day of July, 1911, and on various days prior thereto, defendant became indebted to the Galveston National Bank in the sum of $159',434.50, the balance of the account hereto annexed, marked Exhibit A, and referred to as a part hereof.
“That on or about said date the Galveston National Bank assigned and transferred said claim and debt to the City National Bank of Galveston, which is now the holder and owner of said claim, whereby defendant became liable and promised to pay plaintiff the sum of $159,-434.50.”

Attached to this petition as Exhibit A was an itemized statement of -Young’s debits and credits with the bank, showing a balance due by him in the sum named in' the petition. Citation was issued, which was served on Young January 27, 1912. On December 7, 1912, plaintiff in error filed an amended petition, which, omitting caption, reads:

“Now comes the Qity National Bank of Galveston, duly incorporated, plaintiff, complaining of E. H. Young, defendant, and with leave of the court files this its first amended petition, in lieu of original petition 'filed January 24, 1912, and respectfully represents:
“That plaintiff and defendant are residents of Galveston county, Tex.
“That heretofore, to wit, on the 31st day of July A. D. 1911, and on various days prior thereto, defendant became indebted to the Galveston National Bank in the sum of $159,434.-50, the balance of the account hereto attached, marked Exhibit A, and referred to as a part hereof.
“That the Galveston National Bank was a National Banking Corporation, and under the National Banking Laws.
“That defendant was not lawfully entitled to draw the amount of the indebtedness sued for, and said amount was drawn and procured unlawfully and by fraud and misapplication of the funds and credits and property of said bank and the proceeds thereof.
“That on or about July 31, 1911, the Galveston National Bank assigned and transferred said claim and debt and all of its rights and remedies thereunder to plaintiff herein, and plaintiff is the owner and holder of said claim and debt and all rights and remedies thereto.
“Whereby defendant became liable and promised to pay plaintiff the sum of $159,434.50, together with interest thereon, but to pay the same or any part thereof defendant has wholly failed, to plaintiff’s damage in said sum.”

The exhibit referred to in the amended petition was not attached.

No answer was filed, and, on February 8, 1913, the court entered judgment by default, which, omitting formalities, is as follows:

“On this day came on to be heard the trial of the above cause, and plaintiff being represented by counsel, and defendant, though duly served with citation, having failed to appear and answer herein, wholly made default, and plaintiff having announced ready for trial, the cause proceeded, and the pleadings and proof having been heard and fully considered, and it appearing to the court that the defendant, E. H, Young, is indebted to the City National Bank of Galveston in the sum of $159,434.50, which sum plaintiff is entitled to recover from defendant, and it further appearing that said indebtedness was procured unlawfully and by misapplication of funds,- credit, and property of the Galveston National Bank, and that said indebtedness, together with all the rights of the Galveston National Bank, were transferred to the plaintiff, the City National Bank of Galveston:
“Now, therefore, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the City National Bank of Galveston, plaintiff herein, do have and recover of and for the said E. H. Young, defendant herein, the sum of $159,434.50.”

On March 18,1918, defendant in error filed this suit, attacking the above judgment as [245]*245void, and praying for judgment decreeing it void, on the ground that the amended petition set up a new cause of action of which he had no notice. The trial court sustained a general demurrer to defendant in error’s petition, and rendered judgment accordingly. Young appealed, and the Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the cause for trial. 223 S. W. 340.

The ground of the Court of Civil. Appeals’ holding is that the amended petition did set up a new cause of action authorizing “a more onerous judgment against defendant in error than could before have been rendered ■against him because originally the suit against him was a simple action for debt, while under the amendment it was, in effect, a cause of action founded upon a liability alleged to have ^arisen out of his willful and malicious injury to, or his larcenous conversion of, the bank’s property within the scope and meaning of paragraph 2, § 17a, of the amended federal Bankruptcy Act (U. S. Comp. St. § 9601). The portion of that act pertinent to this matter is as follows:

“A discharge in bankruptcy shall release a bankrupt from all of his provable debts, except such as: * * * (2) Are liabilities for obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations, or for willful and malicious injuries to the person or property of another,” etc.

[1] The cause of action, as alleged in the original petition, was for the balance of an account due by Young to the bank in the sum of $159,434.50. The account is attached to the petition showing daily debits and credits. The debit on August 1, 1911, was $167,991.84, and the credit on the same date was $8,557.33. The difference between these two leaves the real debit balance sued for, $159.434.51. The cause of action alleged in the amended petition is one for the balance of an account due by Young to the bank in the sum of $159,434.50. The balance of account alleged in the original petition to be due the bank by Young is the same balance of account alleged in the amended petition to be due the bank by Young. The fact that the statement referred to in the petition was not attached cannot create any doubt that the statement referred to is the same statement as that attached to the original petition.

[2] The allegation “that defendant was not lawfully entitled to draw the amount of the indebtedness sued for,” to our mind, can mean but one thing, namely: That the Galveston National Bank was not legally permitted to extend credit to Young in the amount of this balance. The allegation certainly does not charge defendant with any misconduct.

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

Related

Proctor v. Walker-Smith Co.
87 S.W.2d 828 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1935)
Economy Filling Station v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.
3 S.W.2d 832 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1928)
J. M. Radford Grocery Co. v. Halper
274 S.W. 1023 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1925)
Higginbotham-Bartlett Co. v. Powell
270 S.W. 193 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 S.W. 243, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-nat-bank-of-galveston-v-young-texcommnapp-1922.