Drumm-Standish Commission Co. v. Farmers State Bank

297 P. 725, 132 Kan. 736, 1931 Kan. LEXIS 390
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedApril 11, 1931
DocketNo. 29,684
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 297 P. 725 (Drumm-Standish Commission Co. v. Farmers State Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drumm-Standish Commission Co. v. Farmers State Bank, 297 P. 725, 132 Kan. 736, 1931 Kan. LEXIS 390 (kan 1931).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hutchison, J.:

This was an action by the Drumm-Standish Commission Company, a corporation of Kansas City, Mo., against the Farmers State Bank of Neosho Falls, Kan., for conversion, in which judgment was rendered for the plaintiff, and the defendant appeals.

The petition alleged in detail a transaction with one W. Wiggins, or Walter Wiggins, of Neosho Falls, the town where the defendant bank was located, concerning the purchase of 120 head of cattle to be sold at auction by Wiggins at Downs, whereby the plaintiff company was to be paid the purchase price and commission and Wiggins was to have all the excess, if any; that they were sold for something less than the cost, but Wiggins received a draft for the amount of the sale; that Wiggins prior to this transaction had other business relations with plaintiff in the cattle business, and for the purpose of keeping plaintiff’s funds separate from his own consulted with the officers of the defendant bank and they suggested that he open a new account for that purpose in the name of W. Wiggins No. 2, which he did, depositing a draft then made on plaintiff; that the cashier of the defendant bank, knowing that Wiggins had received a draft for the sale of these cattle, asked him why he had not deposited the draft for collection, and Wiggins informed him that it all belonged to the plaintiff and he was waiting to get the balance and intended to remit the same to plaintiff; that the cashier agreed with him if he would deposit the draft in the bank for collection the proceeds would be placed in the special account of W. Wiggins No. 2 and be held by the bank for the use and benefit of the plaintiff; that relying upon that promise and agreement Wiggins deposited the draft in that special account and three days later asked the assistant cashier to prepare a check for the plaintiff for the balance of the special account, viz., $3,784.11, which was done, and it was signed by Wiggins and sent to plaintiff, who at once deposited it for collection, and when returned in due course to defendant bank it was protested and the funds used by the bank to pay obligations of Wiggins and his partner to another bank having the same president as the defendant bank.

The answer was a general denial.

[738]*738At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence before the court and jury the court overruled the demurrer of the defendant to the evidence •of the plaintiff. The only evidence offered by the defendant was a further cross-examination of Wiggins as to four checks issued by him prior to this transaction on this bank account No. 2, and the evidence of the president of the bank to the effect that a $600 item of deposit in Wiggins’ account No. 2, made some time prior to this transaction, was derived from a loan made to Wiggins personally in Emporia, which has been paid.

The court sustained the demurrer of the plaintiff to the evidence of the defendant and also the motion for judgment for the plaintiff and rendered judgment for plaintiff for the amount of the check with interest, and discharged the jury.

Appellant assigns as error the overruling of the demurrer of the defendant to the evidence of the plaintiff and sustaining the demurrer of plaintiff to the evidence of the defendant and the rendition of judgment for plaintiff, and urges particularly that the account W. Wiggins No. 2 was not a special account containing money belonging only to the plaintiff; that the 120 head of cattle sold at Downs, Kan., from which the deposit in question was derived, were sold outright by plaintiff to Wiggins, and that Wiggins was simply a debtor of the plaintiff and the fund derived from the sale of the cattle was his, not theirs; that there was no promise on the part of the bank to pay the proceeds of the draft to plaintiff, and that there were jury issues which should have been submitted to the jury.

Many authorities are cited by appellant to show that plaintiff could not rely upon the check which was sent it by Wiggins, yet both parties agree that this is not an action upon the check, but one for conversion. Of course, there was a jury issue made by the pleadings and litigants were entitled to a trial of those issues by a jury. But that right is lost if at the conclusion of the taking of testimony there is no conflict in the testimony given.

The only evidence offered by the defendant had reference to items in the account No. 2 which antedated the present transaction and had to do only with the nature and character of account No. 2. An action of this kind could be maintained if it were based on the first and only transaction of the kind. So the matter of the character of account No. 2 is only an incident to the main transaction, which was the making of a special deposit of the proceeds of these 120 cattle as belonging to the plaintiff and the promise and agree[739]*739ment of the officers of the bank to so receive it. The further cross-examination of the witness Wiggins was not out of harmony with his testimony in chief about- issuing checks on account No. 2 to himself and others for gasoline and other expenses in connection with work and business done for plaintiff.

The only other evidence offered by the defendant was that $600 some time ago went into this account No. 2 that did not come from the plaintiff. Would that render the account other than one of a special fund if it otherwise was? Appellant cites the opinion in the case of Saylors v. Bank, 99 Kan. 515, 163 Pac. 454, to show that the arrangement between a depositor and a bank about cashing his checks was in that case a jury issue. There was a controversy in that case as to what the agreement was. The bank claimed the original arrangement had been changed and the bank was not then going as far as it formerly had been going, and rebuttal evidence was used to meet the controverted point. There was no conflict of evidence in the case at bar along this or any other line. There was a similar conflict in the evidence in the case of Ballard v. Bank, 91 Kan. 91, 136 Pac. 935, cited by appellant. Even if $600 did get into account No. 2 which was not furnished by the plaintiff, such mingling of Wiggins’ individual funds with the special trust fund of the plaintiff would not change the character of the special fund so as to relieve the bank of its promise or agreement. Had it been the other way and the fund reduced by $600, withdrawn for individual use of Wiggins, the bank would still be liable for the balance in its hands, if it had made such a promise as alleged. (7 C. J. 646.)

The demurrer to the evidence of the defendant was properly sustained because the one item of evidence did not constitute any defense and there were no controverted facts to submit to the jury.

The remaining question is, Was there sufficient evidence to support the judgment? There was the evidence of Wiggins informing the cashier that the money represented by the draft did not belong to him but to the plaintiff after the cashier had asked him why he had not deposited the draft, and that the cashier said to him—

“Well, you put that money in here so we will get the use of it. . . . You take and deposit that money here, and I will give you my word of honor that it will never be molested.”

The following is part of the testimony of the assistant cashier:

“Wiggins came to the bank one morning, and said he wanted to send a draft or a cashier's check. I told him he could just send a check, and I pre[740]*740pared a check for him. Exhibit No.

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Bluebook (online)
297 P. 725, 132 Kan. 736, 1931 Kan. LEXIS 390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drumm-standish-commission-co-v-farmers-state-bank-kan-1931.