First State Bank of Corpus Christi v. Von Boeckmann-Jones Co.

359 S.W.2d 171, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2624
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 27, 1962
Docket10982
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 359 S.W.2d 171 (First State Bank of Corpus Christi v. Von Boeckmann-Jones Co.) 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
First State Bank of Corpus Christi v. Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., 359 S.W.2d 171, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2624 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

HUGHES, Justice.

This is a venue case in which appellee, Von Boeckmann-Jones Company, seeks to sustain venue in Travis County of its suit against appellant corporation, the First State Bank of Corpus Christi, under subdivisions 7 and 23 of Art. 1995, Vernon’s Ann. Civ.St.

Subdivision 7 provides, in part, that in all cases of fraud, suit may be brought in the county where the fraud was committed, and subdivision 23 provides, in part, that suits against a private corporation may be brought in the county in which the cause of action or part thereof arose.

The cause of action asserted by appellee is based on fraud. It is our opinion that venue of this suit was properly laid in Travis County under both subdivisions 7 and 23, supra.

The plea of privilege filed by appellant to be sued in Nueces County was overruled.

In November, 1959, appellee made a contract with Thankmar Welker, Jr. by which appellee agreed to print and bind a “1961 Oil and Gas Industries Directory”. 1 The appellant Bank was advancing funds to Mr. Welker to enable him to compile data for the directory. The Bank “approved” appellee’s contract and “assured” it that the cost of printing the directory would be paid. Appellee commenced printing the directory and by September 6, 1960, had expended about $6,800.00 in so doing. During this period of work on the directory appellee was *173 “given the impression” by Mr. W. S. Byrnes, Vice President of appellant Bank, that there were sufficient orders for the directory in possession of the Bank to pay the debt of Mr. Welker to the Bank as well as for the cost of printing the directory. On July 11, 1960, as testified by Mr. Frank Evans, Secretary for appellee, Mr. Byrnes told Mr. Evans that the Bank had sufficient collateral to pay the account of appellee.

On August 19, 1960, Mr. Werner Jessen, appellee’s President, wrote the Bank as follows :

“It is our understanding with Mr. Welker that your bank is holding the signed bonafmd orders for an Oil Directory which Mr. Welker is having us print. Mr. Welker assured us yesterday that he had sufficient signed orders in your possession to take care of all expenses pertaining to our part of printing this directory. He also told us he would talk to you on Monday, the 22nd, regarding our visit and have you give us a letter acknowledging this arrangement and assuring us that our total cost of producing this directory will come out of Mr. Welker’s account first.
“As our cost of doing this Directory will be approximately $20,000.00 we would like to know the total number of signed bonafied orders you are holding and to whom the payment of these orders is made out.”

No reply was made by the Bank to this letter, at least not before the telephone conversation of September 6, 1960. On this day Mr. Kent Rider, Vice President of ap-pellee corporation, in Austin, Travis County, placed a telephone call for and talked with Mr. W. S. Byrnes, appellant’s Vice President, in Corpus Christi in Nueces County.

The representations made by Mr. Byrnes during this telephone conversation constitute the sole basis for appellee’s suit based on fraud.

Present in appellee’s office on September 6, with Mr. Rider when he made the telephone call to Mr. Byrnes were Mr. Welker, Mr. Evans and Mr. Jessen. Just prior to this call Mr. Rider stated to Mr. Welker, “ * * * We needed to come into my office and discuss whether or not we would continue with this contract, or whether we would terminate it here, because it was much easier to lose what we already had in it than to continue on and complete the contract and be worse off.”

We now quote from the testimony of Mr. Rider regarding this call:

“A When Mr. Byrnes came on the phone and identified himself as W. S. Byrnes — I believe are his initials — I told him my name and my position with the Von Boeckmann-Jones Company, and that at that instant, on September 6, 1960, seated around my desk were Mr. Thankmar Welker, Mr. Frank Evans, and Mr. Werner Jessen, and that the purpose of my call was to determine how much in the way of signed orders for collateral were being held by his bank, the First State Bank of Corpus Christi, Texas, for the Von Boeckmann-Jones Company as an assist to retiring the obligation of Thankmar Welker.
“Q And what did Mr. Byrnes reply?
“A Mr. Byrnes replied that at that time there was something in excess of $36,000 — I believe the figures were $36,-360, in signed, approved, accepted orders from Thankmar Welker in the First State Bank, but of this amount $21,000 approximately were being held by the bank to retire Thankmar Welker’s obligation to the First State Bank of Corpus Christi, Texas.
“Q And what about the balance,— what did Mr. Byrnes say was being done — was specifically being done by his bank, if anything, with the balance of those accounts?
*174 “A That $15,360 were being held for the Von Boeckmann-Jones Company.
“Q Did you say anything to Mr. Byrnes on the occasion of that September 6, 1960, phone call about the present position of the Von Boeckmann-Jones Company with regard to continuing under that contract?
“A Yes. That unless we had an assurance that there were orders being held for us on assignment or as collateral, that as of that date and as of that hour, on September 6, 1960, that we would do no more work toward the completion of the 1961 Oil and Gas Directory.
“Q You made this statement to Mr. Byrnes ?
“A I did, sir.”

Mr. Rider also testified that relying upon the information given him by Mr. Byrnes the printing and binding of the directory was completed.

The testimony of Mr. Rider did not go undisputed. Appellant contends that its Mr. Byrnes was talking about two kinds of orders in his conversation with Mr. Rider (1) a signed bona fide order assigned to the Bank as collateral for its debt and (2) an unsigned, unassigned list of orders which were “earmarked” as security for appellee. We quote from the testimony of Mr. Byrnes:

“A My recollection of the call, Mr. Rider stated that Mr. Welker was in his office, and he had called to determine whether or not Mr. Welker had brought a list of some $15,000 — verified the fact that Welker had brought a list to the bank that they had requested Welker to do.
“Q What type of list?
“A A list of $15,000 of accounts.
“Q Well, what did you say?
“A I told him that — oh, I think Mr. Rider at the time also wanted to know what his indebtedness was to the bank and what collateral was there in the bank. And I told him we had this list that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
359 S.W.2d 171, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 2624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-state-bank-of-corpus-christi-v-von-boeckmann-jones-co-texapp-1962.