Culhane v. Swords Co.

281 Ill. App. 185, 1935 Ill. App. LEXIS 528
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 6, 1935
DocketGen. No. 8,867
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 281 Ill. App. 185 (Culhane v. Swords Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Culhane v. Swords Co., 281 Ill. App. 185, 1935 Ill. App. LEXIS 528 (Ill. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Huffman

delivered the opinion of the court.

This was a suit on two notes, brought by appellant against appellee. One note was for $20,000. No controversy existed regarding appellee’s liability on this note. The second note was for $50,000, executed on behalf of appellee by S. E. Smith and Thos. H. Connors, its vice presidents.

At the time the Rockford National Bank, of which appellant is receiver, suspended business, appellee had on deposit therein to its credit the sum of $16,790.28. Appellant in this suit sought to apply an offset for the above amount against the $50,000 note, .thus leaving a balance claimed due thereon of $33,209.72. Appellee denied liability upon the $50,000 note and claimed that its set-off should be allowed against the $20,000 note. The cause was heard before the court, without a jury. The court gave judgment in favor of appellant and against appellee for the sum of $3,777.47. The judgment was rendered upon the $20,000 note after allowing appellee a set-off for its bank deposit, and including in such judgment the interest due at the time of rendition thereof. The court found that appellee was not liable upon the $50,000 note, and appellant has prosecuted this appeal from the above judgment of the trial court.

An examination of this record presents a most unusual situation, and one that is difficult to solve. It contains many inconsistent transactions which are left unexplained.

Mr. Dennis F. Swords was president of appellee corporation. He negotiated with the First National Bank of Chicago, through the Rockford National Bank, for the purchase of 7,025 shares of the common stock and 125 shares of the preferred stock of the National Refrigeration Corporation. He had had an individual deposit account of $175,000 in the Central Trust Company of Chicago. It appears that he had expected to pay for the above stock from that account. Upon making arrangements for the purchase of this stock, it was discovered that the above account in the Central Trust Company was exhausted. The Rockford National Bank procured the stock for Mr. Swords from the First National Bank of Chicago, paying therefor a purchase price of $54,941.66. This purchase was completed by the Rockford National Bank by having the First National Bank of Chicago send to it the stock and charge its account at that bank with the purchase price therefor.

The transaction is first reflected upon the books of the Rockford National Bank under date of November 4, 1930, .upon which date the said Dennis F. Swords gave his individual note to the Rockford National Bank for the sum of $54,941.66, representing the purchase price of said stock. Subsequently, and on November 14, 1930, the records of the bank disclose a shifting of this liability from Swords to appellee corporation. This was accomplished by crediting Swords with the payment of his note and entering upon the liability ledger sheet of appellee corporation a debit for said amount, which is evidenced by its note No. 26,676. This note was signed by Smith and Connors, as above stated. While it bore date of November 4, 1930, it did not appear upon the note journal sheet of said bank as having come into the bank, until November 14,1930. These two notes were held by the bank and the liability was switched back and forth between Swords and appellee company a number of times. Long subsequent to the above dates, the note of Swords for $54,941.66 was split into two notes, one for $50,000 and one for $4,941.66. This last named note was paid by Swords through appellee corporation and charged to his personal account therewith. A new note of appellee came into the possession of the Rockford National Bank, in the sum of $50,000, representing the same indebtedness as evidenced by the original transaction above set out. The note transactions as carried on by the bank will be discussed later, it being the purpose at this time to identify the subject matter of this litigation.

Appellee filed seven pleas to which, appellant filed replications. The first plea was the general issue. The second plea was to the effect that appellee was indebted to appellant upon only the $20,000 note and that as against this note appellee was entitled to a set-off of $16,739.90, because of money which it had on deposit in the bank at the time it suspended business, and averred that it was in no manner indebted to appellant because of the $50,000 note. The third plea set up that the $50,000 note was executed without consideration and denied that apppellee ever received any consideration for such note. It alleged that it was an individual transaction of D. F. Swords and that any consideration therefor that might have passed was received by him. To this plea appellant replied that appellee did receive valuable consideration therefor because of the fact that appellee received from appellant the stock of the National Refrigeration Corporation and alleged that appellee took and used same for its own benefit. The fourth plea denied the right and authority of Smith and Connors to sign the name of appellee to the $50,000 note. To this plea appellant replied double, first, that Smith and Connors were authorized to sign the note; and second, that it had been the habit and custom of appellee in dealing with this bank, for Smith and Connors to sign appellee’s notes in the manner in which this one was signed, and that the bank relied upon this custom in accepting this note. The fifth plea set up the purpose of the corporate existence of appellee and alleged that no power was granted to it by its charter nor by any power incident to the expressed powers, giving it the right to make accommodation contracts such as this one, or to become a guarantor or surety or otherwise lend its credit as in this case. The plea again denied any consideration or benefits received by appellee, and averred that the note as signed by Smith and Connors was solely for the purpose of lending credit to D. F. Swords as an individual, and that appellant bank had knowledge of this fact. The plea further alleges the act of Smith and Connors in signing the corporate note was ultra vires and not binding on appellee. The sixth plea was the plea of the general issue, sworn to. The seventh plea alleged that Smith and Connors at the instance of appellant and D. F. Swords, executed the $50,000 note and in so doing were induced by fraud and undue means; that it represented the personal indebtedness of D. F. Swords; denied any consideration therefor passing to appellee; averred that appellant and Swords fraudulently interchanged the note of D. F. Swords and that of appellee corporation in the assets of said bank, from time to time, for the purpose of concealing facts from the national bank examiners, and for the purpose of misrepresenting the true status of the personal account of D. F. Swords with said bank; and further averred that the interchange of these notes in the assets of the bank was done not only for the purpose of misleading the bank examiners, but for the additional purpose of falsely and fraudulently misrepresenting the financial condition of D. F. Swords to the creditors and stockholders of appellee corporation. The plea set up and alleged various shifting or interchange of the note of D. F.

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Bluebook (online)
281 Ill. App. 185, 1935 Ill. App. LEXIS 528, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/culhane-v-swords-co-illappct-1935.