Davenport v. Stone

62 N.W. 722, 104 Mich. 521, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 762
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 62 N.W. 722 (Davenport v. Stone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davenport v. Stone, 62 N.W. 722, 104 Mich. 521, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 762 (Mich. 1895).

Opinion

Grant, J.

This suit is brought against Stone, as the receiver of the bank, upon the following note:

“$1,500. Lansing, Mich., Mar. 1, ’93.
“Ninety days after date, I promise to pay to the order of Orlando F. Barnes fifteen hundred dollars, at the Central Michigan Savings Bank. Value received. Interest at 8 per cent, after maturity.
“John J. Bush."
Indorsed on the back: “Orlando F. Barnes," and “Payment guaranteed. Central Mich. Savings Bank, by Nelson Bradley, Cashier."

The plea was the general issue, with notice that, if the-cashier undertook to guarantee the payment of the note in the name of the bank, such guaranty was without authority of the bank or of its directors, and was therefore unauthorized, illegal, and void. Upon the trial it was. admitted by the parties:

“That for 10 years and upwards, last past, the Central Michigan Savings Bank was a banking corporation organized under the laws of this State; that on April 18, 1893, it became insolvent, and closed its doors; that on the 8th. day of May, 1893, defendant Stone was appointed to be, and ever since has been, receiver for said bank; that during all said time, up to such insolvency, one Nelson Bradley was its cashier; that in 1890 notes and bills of the-bank had been rediscounted through its cashier, Mr. Bradley, amounting to about $40,000, and this sum was-increased so that at the time the note in suit was dis-: counted they amounted to $100,000. The bank had all the time two departments, viz., a savings and a commercial. When plaintiffs commenced rediscounting for the-bank, and ever since, its capital stock was $65,000, and the surplus $68,000. The surplus at the time the note-in question was rediscounted was $100,000. August 11, 1890, John J. Bush presented his note for $1,500, at 90--days, indorsed by defendant Orlando F. Barnes, to the-Central Michigan Savings Bank, for discount. The bank discounted said note, paying the proceeds to Mr. Bush. On November 12, 1890, on maturity of the note above-mentioned, Mr. Bush presented to said bank his note, signed by himself and indorsed by defendant Barnes, for [523]*523the same amount as the former note, for the purpose of renewing the same for 90 days, paying to said bank the discount on the same. The last-named note was not entered upon the books of the Central Michigan Savings Bank, but Mr. Bradley, the cashier of said bank, indorsed the same as follows: ‘Payment guaranteed. Central Mich. Savings Bank, by Nelson Bradley, Cashier/ — and sent the same by mail to plaintiffs for rediscount, having previously had an understanding with plaintiffs by which plaintiffs had consented to rediscount some paper for the Central Michigan Savings Bank. Plaintiffs received said note by mail, with other notes, and discounted said notes; drawing its draft upon Detroit, payable to the order of Nelson Bradley, cashier, and mailing the same to the Central Michigan Savings Bank, at Lansing, Michigan. The proceeds’ of said Bush note, so discounted by plaintiffs, were used to pay the original note discounted by the Central Michigan Savings Bank August 11, 1890, and until said funds were received by the Central Michigan Savings Bank the said Bush note was carried by it as past due. Plaintiffs acted in entire good faith, supposing that they were rediscounting the paper for the Central Michigan Savings Bank in the ordinary way.”

Mr. Bradley, the cashier, testified that for five years prior to the suspension of the bank he was- its financial manager, and that the financial management of the bank was practically left to him by the board of directors. He testified that, besides himself, the president and one or two directors knew about the rediscount of paper by the bank, and there were six directors. No resolution was passed authorizing this rediscount. Plaintiffs testified that they were not aware who the officers of the bank were, besides Mr. Bradley, nor what amount of paper had been rediscounted, and that they took this note in the usual course of business.

1. It is claimed that this note was not in fact rediscounted paper. The note was presented to the Central Michigan Savings Bank by Mr. Bush in renewal of his former note. It was indorsed by the same party as the other. Bush paid the discount. It was tendered to and [524]*524accepted by tbe bank as a renewal, of tbe other note, and in its place. The new note became thereby the property of the bank. • It was sent to plaintiffs, as the note of the bank, for rediscount, under a parol understanding that they would rediscount paper for it. The money was forwarded to the bank, and it got the benefit of it. The acceptance of the new note and the discount constituted a new and binding contract between Bush and the bank. The latter could not maintain suit upon the old note, nor transfer it so as to give it any validity in the hands of the transferee. The facts that it was not surrendered,— the reason for which is wholly unexplained, — and that the new note was not entered upon the books of the bank, do not change the nature of the transaction. To hold that this is not rediscounted paper, and that plaintiffs are not entitled to protection as bona fide holders of such paper, would be a reproach upon our jurisprudence.

2. The directors intrusted the entire management of the bank to the cashier, Mr. Bradley. Therefore, neither the bank nor its receiver can now be heard to deny the authority of the cashier to do any of those acts which it or its directors might lawfully authorize the cashier to do. The rule is stated by Mr. Morse as follows:

“If the directors have for many years allowed the cashier to do, without interference, all the business of the bank, they are held thereby to have conferred upon him authority to do anything and everything on the corporate behalf which the charter or law does not absolutely prohibit and forbid a cashier to do, and so render illegal under all circumstances.” 1 Morse, Banks, § 165, par. c.

In such case the authority of the cashier will be presumed when the paper is in the hands of a bona fide holder for value, without notice of any defect in his authority. Id. § 165, par. b; Kimball v. Cleveland, 4 Mich. 606; Smith v. Lawson, 18 W. Va. 212, 227. In this last case many authorities are cited. Wild v. Bank, 3 Mason, [525]*525505; Houghton v. Bank, 26 Wis. 663, 670. And the indorsement by the cashier for the bank, though wrongful, will bind the bank, and estop it to deny his authority. 1 Morse, Banks, § 158, and par. d; Bird v. Daggett, 97 Mass. 494; Robb v. Bank, 41 Barb. 586; Bank of New York v. Muskingum Branch of Bank of Ohio, 29 N. Y. 619; Monument Nat. Bank v. Globe Works, 101 Mass. 57; Merchants’ Bank v. State Bank, 10 Wall. 604, 644.

3. It is claimed that the rediscount of paper is, in effect, a sale of the property of the bank, and that the cashier cannot do this except on extraordinary occasions, and when the requirements are such as do not admit of delay. Two authorities are cited to support this proposition. Bank v. Armstrong, 152 U. S. 346, 351. It is there said:

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Bluebook (online)
62 N.W. 722, 104 Mich. 521, 1895 Mich. LEXIS 762, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davenport-v-stone-mich-1895.