Cook v. Western Trust & Savings Bank

30 P.2d 1006, 137 Cal. App. 436, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 803
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 19, 1934
DocketDocket No. 5086.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 30 P.2d 1006 (Cook v. Western Trust & Savings Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cook v. Western Trust & Savings Bank, 30 P.2d 1006, 137 Cal. App. 436, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 803 (Cal. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

PLUMMER, J.

This action was begun by the plaintiff to recover of and from the defendant certain moneys received by the defendant from the Shell Oil Company, royalties belonging to the plaintiff by reason of her ownership in and to certain premises or units in and to certain premises operated by the Shell Oil Company in the extraction of oil and other hydrocarbon products. The entire tract of land included 20 acres. It appears from the record, however, that the plaintiff’s interest related only to a certain 5 acres thereof, being 1095/2500ths part of the *438 5 acres. The land originally belonged to a man by the name of Coseboom. Coseboom had made a contract with Walter H. Cook for the purchase of an interest in said 5-acre tract and in the royalty of the oils produced therefrom, the agreement with Cook providing that the deeds from Coseboom should go directly to those who should purchase from Cook. The record shows that on April 3, 1923, Cook transferred his interest in the lands, rents and royalties referred to herein to his mother and father. On the sixth day of April, 1923, an attachment was issued against Walter H. Cook, garnishment process was served upon the defendant herein, to which the defendant replied, ‘ ‘ This bank has no funds or personal property in hand belonging to Walter H. Cook. He has a prospective interest in and to a certain contract for real estate not yet available.” No attachment ^was levied upon the real estate or upon the interest or alleged interest of Walter H. Cook, in or to the same, or to any products, rents or royalties to be derived therefrom.

On June 21, 1923, by a written instrument, the plaintiff became the owner of the interest in and to said 5-acre tract, and the rents, issues and royalties to be obtained from the operation thereof, in the proportion set out in the complaint. On December 20, 1923, Coseboom executed a grant deed conveying to the plaintiff title to said 1095/2500ths interest in said 5 acres, and a like interest in and to 24% per cent of the lessors’ interest in and to the rents and royalties accruing under the lease. This deed was executed in the office of the defendant bank, the acknowledgment being taken 'by the trust officer of the bank. The first moneys under the royalty belonging to the plaintiff were paid to .the bank on the fifteenth day of December, 1923, in the sum of $657. Thereafter, payments continued to be made to the bank by the Shell Oil Company, and as the value of the oil belonging to the plaintiff, or her interest therein from time to time, in various sums aggregating in all $10,800, the first of these moneys referred to being received by the bank, as stated, on December 15, 1923, and the last sum on April 15, 1925. All of these moneys were received, as shown by the record, long after the garnishment served upon the defendant bank in the case of the suit of House v. Cook on April 6, 1923, at which time the *439 defendant had no moneys nor any property whatsoever in its possession belonging to Walter H. Cook. The money so received by the defendant was kepjt in its possession until on or about February 10, 1928, until after the determination of the action entitled “House v. Cook”, in favor of the defendant. After this action was begun it appears from the record that it was not brought to trial until after the determination of the action of House v. Cook to which we have just referred.

On or about the ninth day of April, 1928, the defendant paid into court and deposited with the clerk thereof the sum of $10,800. This payment was made pursuant to the following order of the superior court, in which the action was pending: “It is now therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that the Western Trust and Savings Bank deposit with L. E. Lampton, county clerk, the sum of $10,800.00, but that the said defendant, Western Trust and Savings Bank, shall not at this time be dismissed from said action nor discharged from all liability to the plaintiff or interveners, but that the liability, if any, over and above said sum of $10,800.00, shall be determined at the trial of the above entitled action.”

The interveners referred to abandoned their complaints, and the question before the trial court was simply the amount of interest or damages to which the plaintiff was entitled.

The record which we have just set forth shows that the payment of $10,800 was not made under any theory that the defendant would be relieved from any existing liabil-° ity to pay interest on account of having withheld from the plaintiff the various amounts received by it from time to time from the Shell Oil Company, for the uses and benefit of the plaintiff.

The first point made by the appellant in its objection to the allowance of interest is that recovery of interest is not sought by the complaint in this action. In making this contention the appellant draws a wrong inference from the plaintiff’s pleadings in this action. The complaint, as originally filed, sets forth the amount of money to which the plaintiff claims to be entitled, and that demand has been made therefor, the refusal of the defendant, and concludes with the prayer that the defendant be required to *440 account for all moneys received from the Shell Oil Company, for a judgment fixing the amount of her interest therein, with interest thereon at 7 per cent per annum, and also for costs. The amount of the interest, of course, would be only a mere matter of calculation. The eases cited by the appellant in support of the contention that the pleadings do not put in issue the question of interest, do not sustain the appellant’s contention.

In the case of Parkford v. Union Drilling etc. Co., 118 Cal. 538 [5 Pac. (2d) 440], decided by this court, no reference is made to interest in any part of the pleadings. Further, it may be observed that the amount to be recovered was not a matter of mere calculation. The opinion in the Parkford case shows that it involved the value of supplies and work done in the drilling- of an oil well to a considerable depth in excess of that specified in the written Contract.

In the case of Burks v. Weast, 67 Cal. App. 745 [228 Pac. 541], decided by this court, the point decided was that in an action for the balance due for goods, wares and merchandise sold and delivered, the beginning of the suit constitutes a demand, and that interest allowed from an earlier date was erroneous.

In the instant case there is no controversy as to the date of the receipt of the different sums paid as royalty by the Shell Oil Company, which were apportioned to the interest in the property belonging to the plaintiff in this action. These various items became due and payable to the plaintiff immediately upon their receipt. The attachment referred to by the appellant and relied upon in argument, shows that no interest of the plaintiff was ever covered thereby, nor was any interest owned therein by any of the predecessors of the plaintiff covered by the garnishee process served upon the defendant.

“Where money or property belonging to another is not paid or turned over to the person entitled to receive it at the time it should be paid or turned over, interest is generally allowed for such wrongful withholding thereof”. (33 C. J. 203; secs.

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Related

Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Blade
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68 P.2d 985 (California Court of Appeal, 1937)

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Bluebook (online)
30 P.2d 1006, 137 Cal. App. 436, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 803, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cook-v-western-trust-savings-bank-calctapp-1934.