First State Bank v. National Bank of Commerce

99 S.W.2d 406, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 1086
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided May 11, 1936·No. No. 4337·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

The First State Bank & Trust Company of Hereford, Tex., which we shall designate as the Hereford Bank, and the National Bank of Commerce of Amarillo, Tex., which we shall call the Amarillo Bank, in December, 1920, had an agreement by which the Hereford Bank could indorse certain notes owned, payable to, and held by it, and send them to the Amarillo Bank which would, if they were acceptable, discount such notes and advance to the Hereford Bank an agreed part of the face thereof.

About December 20, 1920, O. M. Shore executed his note for $4,103.40, payable to the Hereford Bank on March 20, 1931, with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum from maturity. The note was indorsed by the Hereford Bank and sent to the Amarillo Bank for discount, but was returned because the security thereon was considered insufficient. O. M. Shore then executed to the Hereford Bank a deed of trust covering section 40, block K-8, and the northwest one-fourth of section 30, block K-7, In Deaf Smith county, to se-cure the payment of said note, which, with the deed of trust, was later forwarded to the Amarillo Bank and the note accepted .and discounted, though the deed of trust lien was not transferred to the Amarillo Bank.

Prior to the due date of the note, O. M. Shore contracted to sell the above-described land, together with other lands owned by him, to H. H. Halsell, and to consummate the sale it was necessary for him to obtain a release of said deed of trust. In order to secure such release Mr. Shore and the Hereford Bank agreed to deliver to the Amarillo Bank, in lieu of the deed of trust, certain vendor’s lien notes he was to receive from PI. PI. Halsell as a part of the consideration for the conveyance of the land, to be held by said bank as collateral security for its said note. On this understanding the Amarillo Bank consented to the substitution of the vendor’s lien notes for the deed of trust, and to the release of such deed of trust by the Plereford Bank.

O. M. Shore conveyed the land to H. Ii. Iialsell for a consideration of $54,645, which the deed recites was paid $25,000 in cash, the assumption of a note of $17,000 payable to the order of the American National Insurance Company and the execution of five vendor’s lien notes each for the sum of $2,529, bearing interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, and maturing on or before two, three, four, five, and six years after date, respectively.

The record shows that O. M. Shore owed the Hereford Bank other obligations ir> addition to the note for $1,103.40 held by the Amarillo Bank, and the five vendor’s lien notes executed by H. H. Halsell to O. M. Shore were by him, on May 17, 1921, transferred to the Hereford Bank. When the Amarillo Bank demanded the possession of said notes, it was informed of 'these additional obligations held against O. M. Shore by the Hereford Bank, which promised, if permitted to hold said notes in trust for the Amarillo Bank, to collect them and apply the proceeds first to the payment of the note of the Amarillo Bank, and it would thereby be enabled to keep any excess above the amount necessary to discharge the indebtedness to the Amarillo Bank and credit it upon these additional obligations.

Two of these Halsell notes the Hereford Bank sold, or hypothecated, to the Stock Yards National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex.

H. Ii. Halsell defaulted in the payment of said five vendor’s lien notes, and the Hereford Bank foreclosed the lien upon the land securing such notes, and on October 31, 1922, obtained title to the land, subject to the $17,000 due the American National Insurance Company.

On January 2, 1923, the Hereford Bank sold and conveyed to O. M. Shore the land it had thus acquired, subject to the lien se[408]*408curing the $17,000 due the American National Insurance Company, and retained a lien to secure the payment of three certain notes. The first, which constituted a second lien, was for the sum of $5,911.76, payable to the Stock Yards National Bank of Fort Worth, and was accepted in lieu of the two Halsell vendor’s lien notes theretofore transferred to said bank by the Hereford Bank. The second constituted a third lien and was for the sum of $8,519.49, payable to the Hereford Bank, and represented the other three of the Halsell vendor’s lien notes. The third, which constituted a fourth lien, was for the sum of $8,822.83, payable to the Stock Yards National Bank, and was in consideration of the obligation of such bank to pay the taxes on the land and interest, for a period of five years, on the $17,000 note held by the American National Insurance Company.

On March 17, 1926, the Hereford Bank sold and transferred this second note, which was payable to it, to the Stock Yards National Bank, and received in cash the face of the note and the accrued interest thereon.

On April 26, 1926, subject to the first lien of the American National Insurance Company, O. M. Shore conveyed the land to O. W. Matthews, the land man of the Stock Yards National Bank, for the recited consideration of the payment, cancellation, and release of said three vendor’s lien notes which were then held by the Stock Yards' National Bank, and said bank executed a valid release of said three notes.

The record shows that the note for $4,103.40 that the Amarillo Bank had accepted and discounted for the Hereford Bank had been renewed from time to time, and that in addition thereto O. M. Shore had also become indebted to the Amarillo Bank for the sum of approximately $12,000 for-which it had obtained a lien on what is designated as the “Baxter Springs property and furniture in a hotel at Walters,” all in the state of Oklahoma.

On June 28, 1927, O. M. Shore executed his note payable to the Amarillo Bank for the sum of $4,201.50, payable on demand, in renewal of the original note accepted and discounted by the said Amarillo Bank for $4,103.40.

On October 20th thereafter - the Hereford Bank become insolvent, was liquidated and its entire assets purchased by the First State Bank of Hereford which, as a consideration therefor, assumed “all liabilities and obligations of the First State Bank & Trust Company, Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texes, except the liabilities of the said First State Bank & Trust Company, Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas, to-its stockholders as such.”

The Amarillo Bank, on October 19, 1931, instituted this suit in the district court of Deaf Smith county against the defendant,. First State Bank of Hereford, Tex., to recover damages for the alleged conversion by the Hereford Bank of the Halsell notes.

The plaintiff pleaded the agreements-pertaining to the acquisition by it of the note of O. M. Shore for the sum of $4,103.40, the renewals thereof, the indorse-ments by the Hereford Bank, the lien created by the deed of trust described therein to secure the payment of the note, the substitution of the five Halsell notes therefor, the trust capacity in which the Hereford Bank was acting, the violation of such trust, the conversion of said Halsell notes, the insolvency of the Hereford Bank, its liquidation, and the purchase of its entire, assets by the defendant for and in consideration of the agreement to pay the obligations of said Hereford Bank.

In an amended petition filed March 1,. 1934, the plaintiff repeated the substance-of the allegations contained in the original-petition, but set out in greater 'detail the transactions by which it claimed the conversion was accomplished. The plaintiff further alleged that at the time the trust agreement was made, December 6, 1922, O. M.

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First State Bank v. National Bank of Commerce, 99 S.W.2d 406, 1936 Tex. App. LEXIS 1086 (Tex. Ct. App. 1936).

99 S.W.2d 406 (First State Bank v. National Bank of Commerce) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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