Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank

173 F.2d 192, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 2830
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 18, 1949
DocketNo. 10819
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 173 F.2d 192 (Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Savings & Loan Ins. v. Third Nat. Bank, 173 F.2d 192, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 2830 (6th Cir. 1949).

Opinion

ALLEN, Circuit Judge.

Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation, hereinafter called the insurance «corporation, and the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, intervenor, hereinafter called the surety, appeal from a judgment of the District Court which limited the recovery of the insurance corporation to $12,766.32, and dismissed the action as to the surety.

The insurance corporation, pursuant to 12 U.S.C., § 1726(a), 12 U.S.C.A. § 1726(a), had insured the Fidelity Federal Savings and Loan Association of Nashville, Tennessee, hereinafter called the association, and after discovery of a -shortage in the association’s assets amounting to $32,051.35, due to defalcations of Virgil R. Hall, secretary and treasurer of the association, had contributed that amount to restore the impairment in the capital of the association. The association’s claims against the appellee, hereinafter called the bank, were duly assigned to the insurance corporation. The action sets up a claim of conversion by the bank of the association’s assets, breach of -the bank’s contract with the association, misrepresentations made to the insurance corporation’s examiners by the bank, its liability as a joint tort-feasor with Hall, and its acceptance of trust funds to reimburse itself for personal indebtedness of Hall. The surety filed an intervening petition praying for the recovery of $10,000 paid by it upon a "fidelity bond on Hall in favor of the association.

The District Court originally dismissed the action upon the ground of lack of jurisdiction, 60 F.Supp. 110, considering that the case was between citizens of the same state, and presented no violation of Federal law. This court reversed the judgment, 153 F.2d 678, holding that the allegations of the complaint, if proved, established a violation of the provisions of 12 U.S.C., § 1731(e) [now 18 U.S.C.A. § 1008], that civil sanctions lie for such violations, and that the case therefore arises under federal law.

While the claimed shortages amounted to over $50,000, the insurance corporation [194]*194limited -its prayer for recovery to the amount contributed, namely, $32,051.35. Upon the trial thé District Court granted recovery to the insurance corporation upon the third and fifth claims of the complaint only, totalling $12,766.32, and dismissed the action as to the surety company. The bank does not appeal from the judgment against it.

The appeal attacks so much of the judgment as disallows $18,484.13 of the recovery sought, and interest, and as dismisses the intervening petition of the surety.

The insurance corporation set up the following claims of relief in its complaint, as amended:

(1) For the sum of $10,000 because of the improper charge by the bank on September 20, 1940, of the unauthorized check dated September 10, 1940, against the association’s account, and the illegal conversion of this sum to pay the personal indebtedness of Hall to the bank.

(2) For the sum of $15,945.66 because of the improper charge-back by the bank on September 13, 1940, of the two checks dated September 10, 1940, which it had accepted as a deposit to the association’s account on September 10th or 11th.

(3) For the sum of $10,000 because of the improper charge by the bank on October 9, 1940, of the unauthorized check dated September, 26, 1940, against the association’s account, and the illegal conversion of this sum to pay the personal indebtedness of Hall to the bank.

(4) For, the sum of $11,456.83 for fraud and deceit of the bank practiced on the insurance corporation’s examiners in connection with the, 1940 examination and audit of the association in violation of the provisions of § 1731(e), 12 U.S.C. [now 18 U.S.C.A. § 1008], which sum was embezzled after the ■ insurance corporation was prevented from discovering Hall’s shortages by the bank’s false statement and certificate.

(5) For $3,000 on the Daniel Wakefield Hale note and mortgage belonging to the association which was taken as collateral by the bank for a personal loan to Hall.

(6) For $32,051.35 (limited by the testimony to $31,250.95) for the fraud, deceit and misrepresentation by the bank to the insurance corporation’s examiners, and the illegal course of conduct and dealings adopted by the bank with Hall in dealing with the funds, accounts and records of the association from July 12, 1939', to January 31, 1941, in violation of § 1731(e), 12 U.S. C. [now 18 U.S.C.A. § 1008].

(7) For the sum of $12,660.20 because of the improper charge-back of the Wrenne ■check against the association’s account on October 10, 1940, after the bank had accepted it as a deposit on September 27, 1940, and the bank’s actions in connection therewith.

A further claim for $3,029.25 was presented at the trial based upon the fact that the bank accepted the Alma Lewis check, on a forged and restricted endorsement, as a deposit to the Allen & Hall Realty Company’s account, and that the amount thereof was transferred on the same day .to the bank by check to pay Hall’s personal indebtedness.

The bank, in addition to general denials, ■claimed that certain of the deposits were conditional; that no damage was shown, and that the bank was absolved of liability because of the negligence of the association.

Appellant’s contention here is that the conceded facts establish the right of the insurance corporation to recover upon all of the claims set forth in the complaint. It urges that the following facts, on which it -bases its claims, are established by the evidence.

The association was organized in May, 1937, with Virgil R. Hall its secretary and treasurer and dominant executive officer. Neither the president nor any member of the board of directors ever checked Hall’s financial transactions. The minutes of the directors’ meetings, which were required to ■be held monthly, were often omitted and Hall would write them up from memory for the purpose of examination by the examiners of the insurance corporation. The association carried its chief bank account in the bank, and its signature card on file with the bank during the entire period provided that the authorized signature of the association, should be by Virgil R. Hall, with a counter-signature by G. A. Harring[195]*195ton, president, or J. L. Blakemore, vice-president.

During the same period Hall managed and in part owned the Allen & Hall Realty Company. The bank carried the account of Virgil R. Hall, Agent, the account of Allen & Hall Realty Company, and the account of the association, all of which were handled by D. W. Johnston, assistant vice-president and assistant cashier of the bank. Johnston and Hall were old acquaintances, both having come to Nashville from Dickson County, Tennessee. All transactions of the association with the bank that were not of a routine nature were handled by Johnston, and, in general, in accordance with the requests and instructions of Hall.

On July 13, 1939, the examiner of the insurance corporation, acting under the statute (12 U.S.C., § 1724 et seq., 12 U.S. C.A. § 1724 et seq.), came to the association’s office to audit its accounts. The bank gave the examiners a certificate dated July 13, 1939, showing the association’s balance in the bank at closing on July 12, 1939, to be $34,163.89.

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173 F.2d 192, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 2830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-savings-loan-ins-v-third-nat-bank-ca6-1949.