First State Bank & Trust Co. of Edinburg v. George

519 S.W.2d 198, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 160, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2903
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 31, 1974
Docket892
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 519 S.W.2d 198 (First State Bank & Trust Co. of Edinburg v. George) 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 & Trust Co. of Edinburg v. George, 519 S.W.2d 198, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 160, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2903 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

OPINION

BISSETT, Justice.

This is a suit to recover $57,971.47 because payment was stopped on six checks. The First State Bank & Trust Company of Edinburg, Texas, hereinafter called “Bank”, instituted suit against Mike E. George and wife, Letha K. George, hereinafter called “Georges”, to recover damages for six checks signed by the Georges, payable to the order of Joe Davis and deposited in accounts owned by Davis, upon which payment was subsequently stopped. Trial was to a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the Georges. Judgment was entered on the jury’s verdict. The Bank has appealed.

During the early part of October, 1968, Joe Davis, who was a director of the Bank from the mid 1950’s until January, 1969, approached the Georges for money and received six checks from them in the total amount of $151,000.00. The checks, which were drawn on the First National Bank of McAllen, were deposited by Davis in two accounts in the Bank, as follows:

$27,000.00, deposited 10/14/68 in Davis Gin Company account;
$28,000.00, deposited 10/15/68 in Santa Cruz Cattle Co. account;
$26,000.00, deposited 10/15/68 in Santa Cruz Cattle Co. account;
$22,000.00, deposited 10/16/68 in Davis Gin Company account;
$25,000.00, deposited 10/16/68 in Santa Cruz Cattle Co. account;
$23,000.00, deposited 10/17/68 in Santa Cruz Cattle Co. account.

Contemporaneously with the issuance of the aforesaid checks to Davis by the Georges, Davis issued his checks to them in the corresponding total of $151,000.00.

Credit was given immediately by the Bank to Davis on the Georges’ checks, even before they had been presented to the First National Bank of McAllen, the payee bank. On October 15, 1968, Mr. Bascum Spiller, President of the First National Bank of McAllen, informed the Georges that he had called the Edinburg Bank, appellant herein, regarding certain checks signed by Joe Davis and payable to the Georges, which were insufficient in that Davis did not have enough money in his accounts to cover said checks. The Georges stopped payment on the $27,000.00, $28,000.00, and $26,000.00 checks on October 21, 1968, and on the $22,000.00, $25,- *202 000.00 and $23,000.00 checks on October 22, 1968. The checks were later charged back by the Bank to the respective accounts of Davis.

Sometime after the Bank had been notified that payment had been stopped on the six checks, Mr. Tom East borrowed $150,000.00 from the Bank. He loaned Davis $150,000.00 so that he could take care of the overdrafts at the Bank. Davis deposited $150,000.00 in the Santa Cruz Cattle Co. account on October 24, 1968, and on the same day also deposited $13,000.00 and $4,000.00 in that account. After charging back the six checks and other checks not here involved, the Bank’s records showed that the accounts in which the Georges’ checks were deposited were still overdrawn in the amount of $57,971.-47. Suit was instituted against the Georges for recovery of that sum of money on the theory that by advancing money against the checks drawn by the Georges prior to notice of their dishonor as a collecting bank, the Bank became a holder in due course of said checks, and was therefore entitled, as a matter of law, to recover the $57,971.47. The Georges, in their answer, in addition to a general denial, alleged that at the time the checks were deposited by Davis in the Bank and before any withdrawals were made against the money in the accounts that the bank had actual notice that payment had been stopped on the checks, and that the checks were in fact paid to the Bank when Davis borrowed $150,000.00 and deposited that sum of money in the Bank for the specific purpose of taking care of the overdrawn accounts.

The jury, in response to special issues, found that at the time the checks in question were deposited, the Bank did not receive the same in good faith; that the Bank had notice of a claim or defense to them on the part of the Georges; that the Bank received full payment or satisfaction on the checks; that Davis was kiting checks during the month of October, 1968; that Davis obtained the Georges’ checks in exchange for kited checks; that the Bank had knowledge that the checks in question were exchanged for kited checks at the time said checks were deposited; that Mike George did not have knowledge that such checks obtained by Joe Davis were in exchange for the kited checks; and that it was understood between the Bank and Davis that the deposits or any of them made by Davis on October 24, 1968 were for the specific purpose of covering the Mike George checks in question.

The Bank, in its point of error No. 1, asserts that the trial court erred in failing to grant its motion for judgment non ob-stante veredicto in connection with the $27,000.00 check, because the undisputed evidence revealed that the bank was a holder of such check, that it did not receive notice of the stop payment order until after the check had been deposited in the bank and the funds disbursed to Davis, or made available for his immediate use, and because the undisputed evidence further established that it did not recoup any of the funds represented by such check from Davis.

In points nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8, the contentions are made: that the trial court erred in submitting Special Issue 5 because it failed to inform the jury that a bona fide loan transaction would not be included within the definition of “check kiting” (Point 5) ; that it erred in submitting Special Issues 6 and 7 because such issues were predicated upon an affirmative answer to Special Issue 5, and constituted error for the same reason urged against the submission of Special Issue 5 (Point 6) ; that it erred in submitting Special Issue 9 and because it inquired into whether any of a group of deposits were made for the purpose of paying the Georges’ checks, and did not inquire as to whether any particular one of the deposits were for such purpose (Point 7) ; and that it erred in submitting Special Issue No. 10 for the reason that the issue did not inquire about a factual matter, but inquired of the jury as to a legal conclusion (Point 8).

*203 Since points 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are each directed only to the $27,000.00 check, which was dated and deposited on October 14, 1968, we will limit our discussion to that check only insofar as those points are concerned. In the discussion that follows, we deem it necessary to set out Special Issues 5, 9 and 10.

If a bank is found to be a holder in due course, then to that extent it takes the instrument free of all defenses of any party to the instrument with whom it has not dealt. Tex.Bus. & Comm.Code Ann. § 3.305(b) (1968), V.T.C.A. A bank, in order to fall within the category of holder in due course, must take the instrument for value; in good faith; and without notice that it is overdue, or has been dishonored, or of any defense against or claim to it on the part of any person.

Good faith is defined in Tex.Bus. & Comm.Code Ann. § 1.201(19) (1968) to mean “honesty in fact in the conduct or transaction concerned”.

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

Related

Standley v. Sansom
367 S.W.3d 343 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
ASP Enterprises, Inc. v. Guillory
22 So. 3d 964 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
State v. Saenz
967 S.W.2d 910 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Hogue v. Blue Bell Creameries, L.P.
922 S.W.2d 566 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
European Crossroads' Shopping Center, Ltd. v. Criswell
910 S.W.2d 45 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Fibreboard Corp. v. Pool
813 S.W.2d 658 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. v. Coleman
795 S.W.2d 706 (Texas Supreme Court, 1990)
Harris v. Harris
765 S.W.2d 798 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Dempsey v. Apache Shores Property Owners Ass'n
737 S.W.2d 589 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Texaco, Inc. v. Pennzoil, Co.
729 S.W.2d 768 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Chicago Title Insurance v. Superior Court
174 Cal. App. 3d 1142 (California Court of Appeal, 1985)
Beets v. Hickok
701 S.W.2d 281 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Wakefield v. Bevly
704 S.W.2d 337 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Northpark National Bank v. Bankers Trust Co.
572 F. Supp. 524 (S.D. New York, 1983)
First City Bank-Farmers Branch v. Guex
659 S.W.2d 734 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Samsel v. Diaz
659 S.W.2d 143 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Brown v. Tucker
652 S.W.2d 492 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
519 S.W.2d 198, 16 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 160, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-state-bank-trust-co-of-edinburg-v-george-texapp-1974.