City National Bank v. McGraw

88 S.W.2d 846, 191 Ark. 927, 1935 Ark. LEXIS 403
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 2, 1935
Docket4-4062
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 88 S.W.2d 846 (City National Bank v. McGraw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City National Bank v. McGraw, 88 S.W.2d 846, 191 Ark. 927, 1935 Ark. LEXIS 403 (Ark. 1935).

Opinion

McHaney, J.

On July 16, 1929, appellee liad on deposit in appellant bank upwards of $22,000 in a savings account at 4 per cent, interest. On that date, the bank purchased for his account 22 bonds of $1,000 each of G. T. Cazort, paying therefor the sum of $22,282.26, which included the accrued interest on the bonds to that date. The bonds were secured by a deed of trust on approximately 4,000 acres of lands belonging to said Cazort, and also all the gas rights of both Mr. and Mrs. Cazort under the lands owned by them. The total amount. of the bond issue was $200,000, and appellant bank was the trustee of the bond issue. Gas in large quantities was produced from some of the lands in said mortgage and was sold to the Gas Company in Fort Smith. The royalties paid to Cazort by the gas company in previous years had amounted to more than $50,000. The royalties paid to the bank in 1929, from July to December amounted to $13,665.31. For the year 1930, the gas royalties amounted to $27,971.44, but thereafter the consumption of gas gradually declined until, in 1934, the royalties amounted to only $11,120.73. At the time that appellant bank invested appellee’s funds in said bonds, July 16, 1929, appellant Nakdimen wrote appellee a letter advising him of this fact as follows: “I have this day invested for you $22,000 bearing 6 per cent. The bond is dated May 1st, and the interest will be due semiannually, and the next interest will be due November 1st.

“I have charged your account with $22,282.26, the $282.26 being for accrued interest. In other words, the bond has been bearing interest since May 1st. We carried it for two and one-half months.”

Appellee did not reply to this letter in any way. On October 21, 1929, appellant, Nakdimen, for the bank, wrote appellee the following letter: “I have today credited your account- with $660, being interest for six months on Cazort bonds for $22,000, and herewith enclose duplicate deposit ticket covering same.” . On May 1, 1930, and on November 1, 1930, like letters were written to appellee by appellants advising- him of the collection of the interest in said sum and enclosing a duplicate deposit ticket to cover same. Appellee did not respond to any of these letters in any way. On January 2, 1931, appellee, who lived in Clarksville, was in Port Smith and received from the bank, at his request, a receipt for the bonds. He says that- on this occasion, appellant Nakdimen made certain statements to him regarding the value of the bonds, that they were as good as gold, being-secured by 4,000 acres of the best Arkansas River bottom lands and gas royalties that brought in from $40,000 to $50,000 a year, and that appellants promised him that at any time that he needed the money on the bonds he could get it. Thereafter, default was made in the payment of both principal and interest on some of the bonds, and certain of the bondholders instituted suit to foreclose in the Crawford Chancery Court, and appellee was made a defendant in this action. - After considerable delay, appellee filed an answer and cross-complaint. He alleged the ownership of the bonds and sought a. foreclosure thereof because of delinquencies in payment of interest and taxes, etc. His cross-complaint was against appellants in which he alleged that they had converted his funds on deposit in the bank and used same in purchasing the Cazort bonds; that this purchase was made by appellants without any authority or permission from him, and that he had been induced to acquiesce in the purchase by the false and fraudulent representations of Nakdimen made to him on January 2, 1931. He prayed judgment against appellants for the $22,000 with interest, and for a decree rescinding the agreement wrongfully procured from him by the fraudulent representations of appellants,' and the wrongful concealment of material facts from him with reference to the nature and value of the property securing said bonds.- Upon appellant’s motion, appellee elected to rely upon his cause of action against appellants rather than upon the security of the bonds, and the case was transferred to the Sebastian Chancery Court, where, upon a trial of the issues joined, a decree was rendered against appellants for the sum of $22,000, with interest.

For a reversal of the judgment, counsel for appellants make two contentions that we think deserve consideration. One is that appellants were authorized by appellee to make-the investment for him and the other is that the appellee, by his silence, must be held to have ratified the act of appellants in the making of the investment for him, even though done without his authority.

As to. the first proposition, that is, whether appellee authorized appellants, to make the investment, the evidence is in dispute. H. S. Nakdimen, son of appellant Nakdimen, and one of the officers in the bank, testified that appellee told his father in his presence to invest his money for him when he had anything good to invest in. Appellee had long been a customer of the bank and a long acquaintance and friend of appellant I. H. Nakdimen. The proof shows that he had great trust and confidence in Nakdimen’s ability and integrity. He had in the past purchased through appellants Liberty bonds, and had sold same through them. He had again invested through appellants, in what is called the 0 ’Leary bonds, which latter had 'been paid off through appellant bank, and the funds of appellee were deposited in a savings account at 4 per eent. As stated, these transactions had been handled for appellee by the bank and its president I. H. Nakdimen. Whether appellants had the authority from appellee to make this investment or not, it is undisputed that they thought they had the authority, for, immediately upon making the investments, they wrote appellee notifying him thereof. The trial court found on disputed evidence that appellants had no actual authority to invest these funds for appellee, and we cannot say that this finding is against the preponderance of the evidence, as appellee testified very positively that no such authority was given.

Now, as to the second point, we are of the opinion that it makes no difference under the circumstances of this case whether appellants had the actual authority to make the investment for appellee or not. Appellee admits receiving the letter dated July 16, 1929, advising him of the fact, and he admits that he did nothing to advise the appellants that the investment was not satisfactory to him. ' All of the circumstances tend to show that, on the contrary, it was satisfactory to- him. At the time this $200,000 loan ivas negotiated with Mr. Cazort, by the bank, it is undisputed in this record that the value of the property securing the indebtedness was greatly in excess thereof, and that it was considered as a good loan. Gas royalties on the land alone were thought to be amply sufficient to pay the principal and interest as it matured; In addition to this, the lands were thought to be of great value for farming purposes. There is nothing in this record to show that appellants negotiated-this loan with Mr. Cazort in any way except in the best of faith and with the honest opinion that the security was amply sufficient to pay the debt. • The fact is that the interest had been paid to the time of the bringing- of this - suit, and $49,000 of the principal had been retired, although some $60,000 in principal is in default.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
88 S.W.2d 846, 191 Ark. 927, 1935 Ark. LEXIS 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-national-bank-v-mcgraw-ark-1935.