Evans v. First National Bank

295 N.W. 381, 138 Neb. 727, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 207
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 10, 1940
DocketNo. 30884
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 295 N.W. 381 (Evans v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. First National Bank, 295 N.W. 381, 138 Neb. 727, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 207 (Neb. 1940).

Opinions

Paine, J.

Plaintiff brings an action for damages against a bank and its president for having sold her a mortgage by false and fraudulent representations. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against the bank for $2,041.11. Motion for new trial being overruled, the bank appealed. Case dismissed as to defendant Bonham.

Plaintiff in her amended petition charges that the First National Bank of Fairbury and the Fairbury Savings Bank had identical places of business, and that the Savings Bank was controlled, dominated and managed by the First National Bank, and Luther Bonham was president of both banks; that on December 29, 1929, the defendants, acting through said Savings Bank, and as owners thereof, sold her a note for $1,500, executed by Lee J. Cramb, guardian of George H. Cramb, an insane person, which note was represented to be secured by a first lien on the northeast quarter of section 22, township 2, range 1, in Jefferson county, Nebraska, and it was further represented by president Bonham, and those acting under and for him and the bank, that said note was a safe and sound investment, and [729]*729could be resold at any time for its full face value, together with accrued interest thereon, and that it would be impossible for the plaintiff to place her funds in a better investment; that she believed these statements and representations to be true; that she relied upon and acted thereon, and purchased said note and paid the full sum of $1,500 therefor solely in reliance upon the representations of the defendants.

Plaintiff further alleges that said $1,500 note was not secured by a first mortgage on said land, in that said land was the homestead of George H. Cramb and Elizabeth T. Cramb, his wife, and the wife did not sign, execute, or acknowledge said mortgage; that defendants, as part of said scheme to defraud, paid or caused to be paid the first seven coupons attached to said note, thereby concealing defects therein, and plaintiff did not at any time see said note, or know the form or contents thereof, or how the same was executed or indorsed.

Plaintiff further alleges that said note was not secured in any way; that it was not a good, safe investment, and that by reason thereof the plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of $1,500 and interest. Attached to the amended petition as exhibit A is a copy of said mortgage, showing the same to have been executed only by Lee J. Cramb as guardian of George H. Cramb, an insane or incompetent person, the mortgagee being the Fairbury Savings Bank.

The defendant Luther Bonham in his answer admits that he was president of the Fairbury Savings Bank, which bank owned two notes, one for $1,500 and one for $3,500, which notes were secured by a first mortgage on the land heretofore described, executed by Lee J. Cramb as guardian of George H. Cramb, an incompetent person.

Defendant Bonham further alleges that on December 29, 1929, the Fairbury Savings Bank sold the $1,500 note to the plaintiff, and the $3,500 note to Henrietta Hoopes and S. M. Bailey, trustees of the estate of Norman Cherry, and that said notes when transferred were indorsed without recourse upon the Fairbury Savings Bank; that previous to [730]*730September 1, 1929, George H. Cramb became of unsound mind, and his son, Lee J. Cramb, was duly appointed his guardian; that it was impossible to renew the $10,000-mort-gage then outstanding upon certain lands belonging to George H. Cramb without leave of the district court for Jeiferson county, and that regular proceedings were conducted and leave granted to the guardian by the court to mortgage all of George H. Cramb’s property; that pursuant to- the court order $5,000 was loaned upon one quarter of land and $5,000 was loaned upon another quarter of land in Jefferson county; that the-Fairbury Savings Bank and its officers acted in good faith, and relied upon the order of the district court, and upon the advice of its legal counsel; that Elizabeth T. Cramb, the wife of George H. Cramb, participated in all of the negotiations leading up to the making of said loan. Defendant Bonham denies that he participated in the actual making of the loan, or the sale and transfer of the note and mortgage to the plaintiff, and that he made no representations in regard to the same.

The First National Bank of Fairbury files its separate answer; admits that it is a banking corporation, and that Luther. Bonham is its president, and denies all other allegations in the petition, and for further answer admits that on or about December 24, 1929, the First National Bank" of Fairbury purchased the assets of the Fairbury Savings Bank, and assumed certain liabilities of said savings bank, and attaches to its answer exhibit A, which is a copy of the agreement made and entered into between the Fairbury Savings Bank and the First National Bank, executed for each party by Luther Bonham, president of each bank, one' of the provisions being that the First National Bank took over and assumed liabilities and obligations of the Fairbury Savings Bank at the close of business on December 23, 1929.

The plaintiff for reply denies each and every allegation in the answers of defendants not admitted; admits that there was indorsed, without plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, the words “without recourse,” but plaintiff, being unfamiliar with business transactions, did not examine said note, or [731]*731know of said indorsement, and charges that said pretended indorsement was vitiated by reason of the fraud set out in her petition, by which the defendants are estopped from claiming that the indorsement “without recourse” is a defense to this action.

The defendant First National Bank assigns 13 errors for the reversal of the judgment in this case. Many of these assignments of error set out rulings of the court in excluding several exhibits filed in the action in the district court for Jefferson county leading up to the issuance of the license to the guardian of George H. Cramb to mortgage the incompetent’s real estate, also excluding exhibits filed in the foreclosure proceedings, and withdrawing from the jury an inventory of the estate of George H. Cramb, deceased, signed by Elizabeth T. Cramb as executrix, in which inventory she sets out the land in the case at bar, and describes it as being subject to the mortgage herein. We do not find prejudicial error in any of these rulings.

It is charged that the court erred in giving instruction No. 1, in that it does not fairly and truly state the issues set up in the pleadings, and is an effort to emasculate the issues. This court has disapproved of the former practice of copying the entire pleadings into the instructions. First Nat. Bank v. Davis, 123 Neb. 304, 242 N. W. 655. Nor should the court insert in the instructions allegations of the pleadings which found no support in the evidence. Hutchinson v. Western Bridge & Construction Co., 97 Neb. 439, 150 N. W. 193. It is, however, proper for the trial court to present to the jury a simple and concise summary of the pleadings. Merritt v. Ash Grove Lime & Portland Cement Co., 136 Neb. 52, 285 N. W. 97. This first instruction, of nearly two pages, in the case at bar, appears to the court to fairly reflect in brief summary the proved allegations of the several pleadings, which covered some 13 pages in length, and in no way did this instruction No. 1 emasculate the issues in the case.

Another error assigned is in the court giving instruction No. 2, which reads as follows:

[732]

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Bluebook (online)
295 N.W. 381, 138 Neb. 727, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-first-national-bank-neb-1940.