Farrell v. First Nat. Bank

263 F. 778, 1920 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1283
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 17, 1920
DocketNo. 5132
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 263 F. 778 (Farrell v. First Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farrell v. First Nat. Bank, 263 F. 778, 1920 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1283 (E.D. Pa. 1920).

Opinion

THOMPSON, District Judge.

From the plaintiffs’ statement of claim and the affidavit of defense, the relevant facts for the purposes of this rule may be stated as follows:

The plaintiffs are engaged at Boston in the purchase and sale of commercial paper. The plaintiffs in 1910 opened a Philadelphia office, and placed one M. T. Snyder in charge as their Philadelphia agent for the sale of commercial paper in Philadelphia and vicinity. On March 22, 1910, the plaintiffs opened an account with the Merchants’ National Bank of Philadelphia, which was subsequently merged, into the First National Bank of Philadelphia, the"’ defendant, and the defendant took over this account. The account was opened and always stood in the name of Weil, Farrell & Co., and when it was opened they filed with the bank a power of attorney which authorized Snyder to draw upon the account, but in no event in excess of $1,000 at any one time, and to manage and make settlement of the account. Snyder continued to make deposits in and draw checks upon the account within the limitations of the power of attorney until the month of April, 1915. On April 25, 1915, the account showed, a balance in favor of the plaintiffs of $89.09. The plaintiffs, during the whole period of the transactions in question, had an account with the Girard National Bank of Philadelphia, and up to April 25, 1915, their agent, Snyder, deposited the proceeds of the sales by him of commercial paper in the Girard National Bank; the plaintiffs drawing direct on that account from their Boston office.

[780]*780Commencing on or about April 26, 1915, and continuing down to May 24, 1917, Snyder deposited in the defendant bank, to the credit pf the plaintiffs, checks, duebills, and drafts, the property of the plain- t tiffs, aggregating $3,182,247.93. He also deposited cash and checks, not the property of the plaintiffs, amounting to $36,767.10, and the defendant credited the plaintiffs with $35,000 derived from the purchase from SnjMer by the defendant of commercial paper to that amount on option to- return tire paper. The defendant, having exercised the option, debited the plaintiffs’ account with that amount. The total sum credited to plaintiffs’ account from April 26, 1915, to May 24, 1917, was $3,254,015.03. In April, 1915, Snyder had opened a speculative account with F. P. Ristine & Co., a firm of stockbrokers in Philadelphia, and in order to use the plaintiffs’ money for that purpose, he deposited the proceeds of many of the notes sold by him with the defendant bank. He withdrew from the defendant bank checks in excess of $1,000, the limitation in the power of attorney, aggregating $3,161,981.64.

Part of the said amount thus drawn out by him was deposited with the Girard National Bank to the plaintiffs’ credit and part used for his speculative account. The sales of notes from which the funds used in the speculative account were derived were not reported by Snyder to plaintiffs for a few days, and, in order to cover his transactions, he would take the proceeds derived from later sales of paper and deposit them with the Girard National Bank, and report the deposit as the proceeds of earlier sales of paper. In this way he would always be a few days ahead with the sales of paper, and for these few days would have the use of the money collected. The items deposited with the Girard National Bank did not coincide with the advices Snyder had given the plaintiffs by telegraph of his sales, and, in order to cover up such discrepancies, the plan Snyder carried out was as follows:

He would deposit checks representing the proceeds of later sales, adding a check either on the defendant bank or some other bank, in which he had a private account, to make up the necessary total, and would hand the officer of the bank two deposit slips, one setting out the items deposited and the total and the other setting out merely the total. The latter, purporting to be a duplicate of the former, was stamped and initialed by the receiving teller and handed back to Snyder, who would then enter on it false items representing the sales concerning which he had advised plaintiff, and forward the deposit slip to them along with his report giving the details of each item of sale.'

During the whole period from April, 1910, to May 23, 1917, excepting for the first month, the plaintiffs had no knowledge that the account with the defendant bank was being used by Snyder, and 'regarded it as a dormant and inactive account, but did not so inform the defendant. On the latter date, through a request by letter from the defendant for confirmation of Snyder’s action in having paper belonging to the plaintiffs carried by the bank on option, one of the plaintiffs went to Philadelphia and learned of the condition of affairs.

A recapitulation of the figures upon which the plaintiffs’ claim is based is as follows:

[781]*781Amount to the credit of account on April 26, 1915.............$ 89.09
Deposits between April 26, 1915, and May 24, 1917, inclusive.... 3,254,015.03 $3,254,104.12
"Withdrawals by Snyder.
(a) Checks in excess of $1,000 which reached Weil, Farrell & Co. by deposits in their account in the Girard National Bank................. $2,803,052.18
(b) Checks for less than $1,000 which reached Weil, Farrell & Co. by deposits in their account in the Girard National Bank........ 27,042.61
(c) Check to take up duebill for notes purchased by defendant on option to return and option exercised................................. 17,500.00
(d) Checks' to take up paper on option to other banks and option exercised................ 101,938.38
(e) Checks to take up drafts deposited to plaintiffs’ credit in the Girard National Bank.... 51,741.18
(f) Checks in amounts not exceeding $1,000...... 34,304.20
(g) Chock to take up due bill for notes purchased by defendant on option to return and option exercised ................................. 5,000.00
<h) Charge against defendant’s account upon delivery to the plaintiffs by the defendant of notes aggregating $80,000 sold under option by Snyder to the defendant to take up credit to the plaintiffs in the bank to that amount upon delivery of the said notes to the plaintiffs ...................................... 30,023.61
Total ............................... . 3,160,602.16
Which, deducted from the total deposits, leaves a difference of.. $ 93,501.96
The difference of $93,501.96 which is the amount for which the plaintiffs sue is made up as follows:
Thirty-five checks, each in excess of $1,000, drawn either to Snyder’s personal order or to the order of cashiei'’s checks, or New York drafts, or the Pennsylvania Company, all for his personal use .......................................................... $92,750.00
Balance admitted by the defendant to be on hand May 24, 1917____ 751.96
Total....................................................$93,501.96

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Bluebook (online)
263 F. 778, 1920 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farrell-v-first-nat-bank-paed-1920.