First City National Bank of Oxford v. Long-Lewis Hardware Co.

363 So. 2d 762, 1977 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 607
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 14, 1977
DocketCiv. 1212
StatusPublished

This text of 363 So. 2d 762 (First City National Bank of Oxford v. Long-Lewis Hardware Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First City National Bank of Oxford v. Long-Lewis Hardware Co., 363 So. 2d 762, 1977 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 607 (Ala. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinions

BRADLEY, Judge.

This appeal arises out of a civil action in the Circuit Court of Calhoun County. Appellee, Long-Lewis Hardware Company, recovered damages on the basis of a statement made by an employee of First City National Bank of Oxford, Alabama to a representative of Long-Lewis concerning a check drawn on the appellant bank by a third person. After the presentation of evidence by both parties, Long-Lewis’ claim for damages was submitted to a jury. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of Long-Lewis in the amount of $6,150.40. From the judgment entered on Long-Lewis’ cause of action the bank appeals.

The record before us reveals the following facts. Bonnie Reese purchased a new car from Long-Lewis Ford in Bessemer, Alabama. At that time Mrs. Reese informed the salesman for Long-Lewis that she had obtained a loan with the First City National Bank of Oxford in order to pay the automobile’s purchase price of $5,380.00. The following day the salesman for Long-Lewis went to Oxford to finalize the financing of the transaction between Mrs. Reese and Long-Lewis. The salesman was instructed by his supervisor to obtain a certified check from the bank for the payment of the automobile; however, he returned to Bessemer without obtaining a certified check because the arrangements for the loan had not actually been completed.

Two days after her initial contact with Long-Lewis, Mrs. Reese returned to the firm’s automobile sales lot with a bank deposit slip for the sum of $5,680.00 and a security agreement signed by First City National Bank demonstrating that she had in fact obtained a loan from the bank. Upon showing these documents to the sales manager for Long-Lewis, she asked to write a personal check for the purchase price of the car. The sales manager then telephoned the bank and was informed by a bank employee that the account of Mrs. Reese contained sufficient funds to cover her check. In reliance on this information, Long-Lewis accepted a personal check from Mrs. Reese in the amount of $5,680.00.1

When the cheek reached First City Bank several days later, it was dishonored. Upon learning that Mrs. Reese’s check had been dishonored, the sales manager for Long-Lewis again telephoned the bank and spoke to the same employee with whom the sales manager had had his earlier conversation. During this conversation, the bank employee informed the sales manager that the funds from the loan had originally been deposited in Mrs. Reese’s account. However, he stated that the bank had subsequently learned that Mrs. Reese had: (1) misrepresented the purchase price of the automobile to the bank; and (2) told the bank that she had never had any personal property repossessed, when in fact she had been subjected to two prior repossessions. The bank employee further informed the sales manager that as a result of these misrepresentations by Mrs. Reese, First City National had (pursuant to its security agreement with her) applied the funds from her account to the balance due on her loan with the bank. Thus, the sales manager for Long-Lewis learned that the funds on which the check to Long-Lewis was drawn had been removed.

Subsequent efforts by Long-Lewis to recover the sales price of the automobile from the bank were unsuccessful. Moreover, Mrs. Reese disappeared and Long-Lewis never recovered the automobile in question.

As a consequence of these events, Long-Lewis brought a civil action for fraud and misrepresentation against First City National Bank. After a trial on the merits of [765]*765the suit, judgment was rendered for Long-Lewis and First City National appeals.

The bank’s initial argument is that since the bank never accepted the check issued by Mrs. Reese to Long-Lewis, it incurred no liability on the instrument and therefore the jury’s verdict was incorrect.

The Uniform Commercial Code, Title 7, section 3-409(1), Code of Alabama 1975, provides that a “drawee is not liable on [an] instrument until he accepts it.” Moreover, a check or draft is not accepted by a bank for payment unless the bank actually pays out on the instrument, U.C.C., Title 7, section 3-418; agrees to accept it in writing, U.C.C., Title 7, section 3-410; or indicates by certification that the instrument has been accepted, U.C.C., Title 7, section 3 — 411. None of these events occurred in the present case. Consequently, there was no acceptance by First City National of the check issued to Long-Lewis by Mrs. Reese. However, the suit by Long-Lewis against the bank is encompassed by the language of the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 7, section 3 — 409(2) which states that:

“Nothing in this section shall affect any liability in contract, tort or otherwise arising from any letter of credit or other obligation or representation which is not an acceptance.”

Of course, a bank employee’s representation that a drawer’s check is good applies only to the situation at that time and the law properly allows dishonor if the drawer’s account contains insufficient funds at the time the instrument is presented for payment, Peoples Bank in North Fort Myers v. Bob Lincoln, Inc., 13 U.C.C.Rep. 672, 283 So.2d 400 (Fla.App.1973); nevertheless, circumstances involving the issuing of a check and its subsequent dishonor may give rise to an independent cause of action. Peoples Bank in North Fort Myers v. Bob Lincoln, Inc., supra. See Union Bank v. Safanie, 5 Ariz. App. 342, 427 P.2d 146 (1967) (holding the bank liable on a complaint alleging fraud, negligence and estoppel). Indeed, comment 3 to section 3-409 states:

“Subsection (2) is new. It is intended to make it clear that this section does not in any way affect any liability which may arise apart from the instrument itself. The drawee who fails to accept may be liable to the drawer or to the holder for breach of the terms of a letter of credit or any other agreement by which he is obligated to accept. He may be liable in tort or upon any other basis because of his representation that he has accepted, or that he intends to accept. The section leaves unaffected any liability of any kind apart from the instrument.”

In the present case the trial court refused to give the bank’s proffered instructions as to its contention that the bank could be liable only if an acceptance of the instrument by the bank was in writing. We believe the court was correct in refusing to instruct the jury in this manner in view of the fact that Long-Lewis was not seeking to recover damages from the bank under section 3 — 409(1) or because of the latter’s refusal to accept the instrument.

Thus, the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code negating a drawee’s liability to the holder of a check unless the drawee has accepted the check in writing or certified it, was inapplicable in this instance since the suit by Long-Lewis was based on its contention that the bank’s liability exis ted apart from the check itself.

Accordingly, the second issue presented for review to this court involves whether the verdict rendered by the jury on behalf of Long-Lewis can be sustained on the basis of tort or contractual theories of liability arising apart from an action on the instrument itself.

As stated earlier, the initial complaint filed by Long-Lewis charged First City National Bank with fraud. The complaint was essentially an enumeration of the events which Long-Lewis claimed gave validity to its action.

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

Related

Georgia Bank & Trust Co. v. Hadarits
143 S.E.2d 627 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1965)
Union Bank v. Safanie
427 P.2d 146 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1967)
Peoples Bank in North Fort Myers v. Bob Lincoln, Inc.
283 So. 2d 400 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1973)
Hudson United Bank v. House of Supreme, Inc.
373 A.2d 438 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 1977)
First Nat. Bank of Ashland v. Prickett
95 So. 920 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1923)
King v. Porter
160 So. 101 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1935)
Bank of Guntersville v. Crayter
75 So. 7 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1917)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
363 So. 2d 762, 1977 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-city-national-bank-of-oxford-v-long-lewis-hardware-co-alacivapp-1977.