Clements v. Citizens' Bank of Bonneville

9 S.W.2d 569, 177 Ark. 1085, 1928 Ark. LEXIS 256
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 1, 1928
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 9 S.W.2d 569 (Clements v. Citizens' Bank of Bonneville) 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
Clements v. Citizens' Bank of Bonneville, 9 S.W.2d 569, 177 Ark. 1085, 1928 Ark. LEXIS 256 (Ark. 1928).

Opinion

Mehaeey, J.

This suit -Was begun in the Logan Circuit Court by Charles Clements, appellant, to recover from the Citizens’ Blank of Booneville and Charles X. Williams, cashier, on the following contract:

“To Charles Clements,

248 Boyleston St.,

Boston, Mass.

“We, the Citizens’ Bank, guarantee the payment of .a sum not to exceed $1,000 (one thousand dollars) payment for monument Clements No. 60772, purchased by the Booneville Marble and Granite Works of Booneville, Arkansas, on the 'following conditions: That the monument be cut strictly in accordance with the blue-print approved by the said Booneville Marble and Granite Works and submitted, to the above Chas. Clements for the execution of the same. Further, that this amount shall cover all expenses connected with the purchase of material of which the monument is to be cut, also the material for a marker ordered this date. All monument and marker to be loaded on cars at Boston, Massachusetts.

“The Citizens’ Bank undertakes that the purchase price for this work is not due until a period of sixty days from date of invoice with bill of lading.

“Citizens’ Bank,

“By Chas. X. Williams, Cashier.”

The case was appealed to this court, and is reported in 172 Ark. 1023, 291 S. W. 439.

It is unnecessary to set out the testimony in detail. The case was tried and submitted to the jury under instructions by the court, and the jury returned a verdict for the Citizens’ Bank of Booneville. This court held, when the case was here on appeal before:

“If the contract of guaranty is for the hank’s own protection, or is incidental to the transaction of its own business or for its own benefit, it may give a guaranty.”

However, unless it is for the bank’s protection, or is incidental to the transaction of its own business or for its benefit, it would not have authority to give a guaranty.

It was held on former appeal that § 700 of Crawford & Moses’ Digest, prohibiting officers or employees from indorsing, selling, pledging or hypothecating any notes, bonds or any other obligations, etc., until authority was given 'by the board of directors and a written record made, was applicable to the guaranty in this case, the court holding that there was no reason why the officers of the bank should be prohibited from transacting the business enumerated without getting authority from the board and yet permit the cashier to bind the bank by guaranteeing the debt of another.

The law was settled on the' former appeal, and the court submitted the question of the bank’s liability under the facts proved to the jury, and there is no objection to the instructions given by the court so far as the liability of the bank is concerned. Appellant’s only objection to the instructions is that the court erred in directing a verdict for Williams, the cashier. Therefore the only question for this court, so far as the liability of the bank is concerned, is the question whether there is any substantial evidence to sustain the verdict.

While the circumstances indicate that the officers of the bank had permitted the cashier to manage the affairs of the bank just as he saw proper, yet the question as to whether they had given him the authority mentioned in the statute and made la record of it as required 'by law, was properly submitted to the jury, and there is substantial evidence to support the verdict, and it is therefore binding on this court.

It is contended, however, by the appellant that the court erred in directing a verdict for Williams, the cashier. The court instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the cashier on the theory that the cause of action against Mm was 'barred in three years, and no suit was begun against him until something like four years. As to whether the action was barred against the cashier, depends upon the nature of his liability. When an agent makes a contract for a principal which he has no authority to make, or a contract in excess of his authority, and, because of either not having authority or exceeding his authority, does not bind the principal, he is bound himself. Some courts have held that an action may be maintained against him on the contract on the theory that he intended to bind some one by the contract, and, if he did not bind the principal, he would bind himself. But the great weight of authority is to the effect that, wMle the agent is liable, he is not liable on the contract. It is said by a text-writer:

“Whether the agent can be held liable upon the contract itself which he has, without authority, assumed to make, is a question which has been much discussed and upon which the cases cannot be entirely reconciled. It would seem, however, that this question is one which must be determined largely by the circumstances of each case. Where the promise is made in the name of a principal who might have authorized it and as his contract, the better opinion is that the agent cannot be held liable upon it, but only in an action based upon the deceit, or upon the contract of warranty or indemnity, even in the case of a written contract, where the assumed relation of agency appears upon the face of it. Some courts have indeed manifested a disposition in this latter case to reject the words referring to the alleged principal as mere sur-plusage, and to hold the agent liable upon the remainder as upon his own contract. This, however, as has been well said, is rather to make a new contract f or the parties than to construe the one which they have made for themselves.” Mechem on Agency, 2d edition, vol. 1, 1023,-4.

“The proper remedy ag-ainst an agent by a third party, with whom the agent has dealt, where the agent acts without, or in excess of, his authority, is an action of assumpsit upon bis expressed or implied "warranty of authority, or, in a proper ease, an action of trespass on the case for fraud and deceit, and in some jurisdictions the latter is held to-be the only remedy in such cases.” 2 C. J. 892.

“'Some of the authorities hold that, in all written contracts, except specialties, if the pretended agent has so worded the instrument as to make it appear that he is acting ¡for or on behalf of another, and not himself— having no authority to do so — he hinds himself personally, and mil he liable in an action on the contract itself, for the reason that he must have intended to bind some one; and, if he was unauthorized to bind the principal, he is estopped to deny that he intended to .bind himself, as in that case no one whatever would be 'bound. But the objection to this doctrine is that it would require the court to make a new contract for the parties, or one into which they have not themselves entered; and the courts now generally repudiate it. While the decisions are not uniform, the great weight of modem authority is that the agent is not personally bound on the contract itself, and cannot 'be held liable in an action thereon.” LeRoy v. Jacobosky, 136 N. C. 443, 48 S. E. 796, 67 L. R. A. 977.

In discussing the liability of agents under circumstances like this, the Wisconsin court said:

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Bluebook (online)
9 S.W.2d 569, 177 Ark. 1085, 1928 Ark. LEXIS 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clements-v-citizens-bank-of-bonneville-ark-1928.