Fenner v. American Surety Co. of New York

156 S.W.2d 279
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 6, 1941
DocketNo. 2332
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 156 S.W.2d 279 (Fenner v. American Surety Co. of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fenner v. American Surety Co. of New York, 156 S.W.2d 279 (Tex. Ct. App. 1941).

Opinion

RICE, Chief Justice.

This suit was instituted in one of the district courts of Dallas county by the American Surety Company of New York, as plaintiff, against Fenner & Beane, a partnership, and numerous others as members of the partnership, as defendants, seeking recovery of certain' sums of money which it was alleged Carl A. Lundelius, an employee of the American National Bank of Austin, Texas, unlawfully abstracted from said bank and paid to Fenner & Beane, and which sums of money the defendants were alleged to have received in bad'faith. The claim of plaintiff was based upon the fact that it had executed to the American National Bank a fidelity bond which rendered it liable to the bank for the money so abstracted by Lundelius; that it had discharged its obligation to the bank and was subrogated to the latter’s legal rights in the premises.

This case has been twice tried in the district court of Dallas county. In the first trial, resulting in a judgment for the plaintiff, the cause was submitted to the jury on the theory of.negligence; that is, that there was evidence to support the view that the defendant partnership’s agents in [282]*282charge of its Austin branch were in possession of such facts and circumstances as would put a person of reasonable prudence upon inquiry as to whether Lundelius wrongfully abstracted from the bank the funds with which he operated, and that such inquiry, diligently pursued, would have disclosed that he had done so. On appeal (opinion reported in 97 S.W.2d 741) the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals reversed and remanded the cause, holding that it was tried upon an erroneous theory, pointing out that under the Negotiable Instruments Act (§ 56, Article 5935, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.Stats.) the test in negotiable instruments cases is good faith, and not diligence or negligence. The Supreme Court (133 Tex. 37, 125 S.W.2d 258) affirmed the judgment of the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals and directed that upon another trial the issue of bad faith should be submitted to the jury, if warranted by the pleadings and the evidence.

The pleadings of the parties having been amended, this case was again tried; the evidence on the second trial, we infer, being substantially the same as that developed on the first trial. The issues submitted to the jury .on the theory of bad faith were warranted by the pleadings and the evidence, and, being answered favorably to the plaintiff, judgment was rendered against the defendants in favor of plaintiff for the amount of money unlawfully abstracted from the bank by Lundelius and paid to Fenner & Beane, less certain credits, the amount of the judgment, including interest, being $43,-544.35. From this judgment an appeal was perfected to the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals, and this case was thereafter, by order of the Supreme Court, transferred to this court.

The material facts relevant to this appeal, together with the general rules of law applicable thereto, have been so clearly and so succinctly set forth in the opin-' ion of the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals, and also in the opinion of the Supreme Court, that it is deemed unnecessary to do more than refer to these opinions.

In its charge the trial court defined the term “bad faith” as follows: “You are instructed that the term ‘bad faith’, as used in this charge, means that the person taking the instrument must have had knowledge of such substantial facts and circumstances as to create in his mind a suspicion that there was something wrong with the title of the person from whom he takes it, to the instrument itself, or to the money represented by such instrument, combined with an intentional disregard of and refusal on the part of the taker of the instrument to learn the facts from the means of knowledge which he knows are at hand.”

By numerous assignments of error, on which are predicated.twenty-four propositions of law, appellants attack the correctness of the foregoing definition. In our opinion, this definition is not subject to the criticisms made, and we therefore overrule these assignments of error.

Article 5935, Section 56, provides: “To constitute notice of an infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating the same, the person to whom it is negotiated must have had actual knowledge of the infirmity or defect, or knowledge of such facts that his action in taking the instrument amounted to bad faith.”

In the first appeal of this case, 133 Tex. 37, 125 S.W.2d 258, 260, the Supreme Court says: “The controlling principle applicable in the present case is stated in West v. First Baptist Church of Taft, 123 Tex. 388, 71 S.W.2d 1090, 1097, as follows: ‘The consummation of the purchase of a negotiable instrument with knowledge of suspicious circumstances sufficient only to put an ordinarily prudent person upon inquiry would convict the purchaser of negligence, not of dishonesty. To serve as evidence to support a finding of bad faith, the unheeded suspicious circumstances must be of a substantial character and so strong that bad faith rather than merely negligence can reasonably be inferred from them.’ ”

The Supreme Court further said: “There is substantial testimony in the present record from which it may be inferred reasonably in the light of surrounding circumstances that the purchaser of the paper acted in dishonest disregard of the rights of the bank.”

The term “bad faith”, as used in Section 56, Article 5935, Vernon’s Ann. Civ.Stats., has not been defined by statute; “but left as a question of fact under the peculiar circumstances of each case; bad faith, like fraud, not being capable of exact definition.” Joyce Defenses to Commercial Paper, 2nd Ed., par. 695, p. 980.

It appears to have been decided by the great weight of authority that wilful ignorance is the equivalent of bad faith; and that bad faith may be shown by a wilful disregard of and refusal to learn the [283]*283facts when available and at hand. Joyce Defenses to Commercial Paper, 2nd Ed., § 694, p. 976; In re Hopper-Morgan Co., D.C., 156 F. 525, and authorities cited on page 530.

In the case of Murray v. Lardner, 2 Wall. 110, 121, 17 L.Ed. 857, the Supreme Court of the United States said: “The rule may perhaps be said to resolve itself into a question of honesty or dishonesty, for guilty knowledge and wilful ignorance alike involve the result of had faith. They are the same in effect. Where there is no fraud there can be no question. The circumstances mentioned, and others of a kindred character, while inconclusive in themselves, are admissible in evidence, and fraud established, whether by direct or circumstantial evidence, is fatal to the title of the holder.” See, also, West v. First Baptist Church of Taft, 123 Tex. 388, 71 S.W.2d 1090; Daniel v. Spaeth, Tex.Civ.App., 168 S.W. 509; Hotchkiss v. National Shoe & Leather Bank, 21 Wall. 354, 22 L.Ed. 645, 649; First Nat. Bank v. Stover, 21 N.M. 453, 155 P. 905, L.R.A.1916D, 1280, Ann.Cas.1918B, 145; 1 Daniel Nego. Inst., 6th Ed., § 776; Jones v. Gordon, L.R. 2 App.Cas. 627; Kentucky Rock Asphalt Co. v. Mazza’s Adm’r, 264 Ky. 158, 94 S.W.2d 316

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jinhui Chen v. Jodi Johnson and Joseph Johnson
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
Canfield v. Bank One, Texas, N.A.
51 S.W.3d 828 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Goudie v. HNG Oil Co.
711 S.W.2d 716 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Marshall v. Miller
707 S.W.2d 231 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Chapa v. Hernandez
587 S.W.2d 778 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Texas Utilities Fuel Co. v. Clayton
579 S.W.2d 303 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Phlegm v. Pacific Employers Insurance Company
453 S.W.2d 320 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)
Walter E. Heller & Company v. Barnes
412 S.W.2d 747 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1967)
Housing Authority of City of Dallas v. Hubbell
325 S.W.2d 880 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1959)
Century Indemnity Co. v. First National Bank of Longview
272 S.W.2d 150 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1954)
Forbes v. Hejkal
271 S.W.2d 435 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1954)
Citizens Bridge Co. v. Guerra
258 S.W.2d 64 (Texas Supreme Court, 1953)
Clary v. Morgan Motor Co.
246 S.W.2d 936 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Davis v. Union Supply Co.
185 F.2d 968 (Fifth Circuit, 1950)
Citizens State Bank v. Western Union Telegraph Co.
172 F.2d 950 (Fifth Circuit, 1949)
Antone v. Stiles
177 S.W.2d 246 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1944)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 S.W.2d 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fenner-v-american-surety-co-of-new-york-texapp-1941.