Gellert v. Bank of California, National Ass'n

214 P. 377, 107 Or. 162, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 150
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 17, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 214 P. 377 (Gellert v. Bank of California, National Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gellert v. Bank of California, National Ass'n, 214 P. 377, 107 Or. 162, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 150 (Or. 1923).

Opinion

HARRIS, J.

Since the record does not contain a bill of exceptions the only facts before this court are those admitted by the pleadings filed by the plaintiff and by the defendant bank and those recited in the findings of the trial court: Kay v. Portland, [168]*16879 Or. 147, 151 (154 Pac. 750); and therefore this court can consider only whether the second amended complaint alleges a cause of action and whether the findings together with the admitted facts support the judgment: Humphry v. Portland, 79 Or. 430, 434 (154 Pac. 897); Frazier v. Cottrell, 82 Or. 614, 616 (162 Pac. 834); Kapischka v. Tillamook Hotel Co., 86 Or. 498 (168 Pac. 938); Meridianal Co. v. Bourne, 87 Or. 324 (160 Pac. 1151, 170 Pac. 521). In this condition of the record we cannot inquire into the correctness of the findings hut must accept them as verities to the-extent that they are within the pleadings. The briefs of counsel assume to supplement the findings with fragments of information concerning occurrences at the trial, but we shall steadfastly confine our attention to the pleadings and the findings.

Accepting as verities the findings of the Circuit Court, the fact situation is one where Jennie Posner, intending to make gifts to Flora Levor and Mrs. E. W. Posner, with her own money bought from the defendant bank two drafts, drawn by the defendant bank on a New York bank with Flora Levor named as the payee in one draft and Mrs. E. W. Posner as payee in the other draft; but instead of consummating her intention by delivering the drafts to the respective payees Jennie Posner retained them in her possession and still had them when she died eight days after the purchase.

The defendant insists that upon the delivery of the two drafts to Jennie Posner the only obligation assumed by the defendant was to pay the drafts if upon presentation the drawee failed or refused to pay; that no state of facts subsequently arising could operate to rescind “the contract that was completely executed as this one has been,” or to create an implied [169]*169obligation on the part of the defendant to refund the money received on the drafts sold; and that if the plaintiff is entitled to a return of the money paid for the drafts she must look to the drawee and cannot look to the drawer. On the other hand, the plaintiff contends that the death of Jennie Posner made it impossible legally to consummate the intention of Jennie Posner; that the payees never acquired any interest in the drafts, because there was no delivery; and that therefore the drawer is liable to the plaintiff as for money had and received.

Assuming as we must that the facts are as recited in the findings, then the conclusion must inevitably be that as between the estate of the decedent and the defendant bank the estate owns the two drafts and is entitled to the money represented by them. It is true that the decedent intended to give the drafts to Mrs. E. W. Posner and Flora Levor, but it is also true that she did not execute that intention, and the result is that because of her death it is now impossible legally to give the drafts or the moneys represented by them to the intended donees. Since the estate owns the drafts, and the payees do not own and cannot be made the owners of them, it necessarily follows that the plaintiff as the legal representative of the estate is entitled to receive the moneys which the drafts represent. The inquiry then is: To whom can and must the plaintiff look for the moneys? Can and must she look to J. P. Morgan & Co.? The defendant so insists. Can and must she look to the defendant bank? The plaintiff so contends.

The plaintiff has argued at length concerning the difference between special and general deposits; and she has in a large measure rested her claim on the theory that the facts involved in the issuance of [170]*170the drafts created the relationship of principal and agent with the decedent as the principal and the defendant bank as her agent selected for the transmission of the money to the payees named in the drafts. Of course if the transaction created nothing more than an agency for the transmission of funds the death of the principal occurring as it did before the execution of such agency, operated as a revocation of the agency. The defendant insists that the issuance of the drafts amounted to sales of credit, and that the resultant rights are to be ascertained and determined by the rules which are recognized in Legniti v. Mechanics & Metals National Bank, 230 N. Y. 415 (130 N. E. 597, 16 A. L. R. 185), and kindred cases holding that the payment of money to a bank in this country for transmission to a foreign country by cable or wireless draft on a foreign credit is a mere purchase and sale. While it is not necessary to analyze and exactly define the transaction, it is sufficient to say that obviously the payment by the decedent to the defendant bank for the drafts did not constitute a special deposit. The moneys paid to the defendant bank became its moneys freed from any trust relationship which could give any special or superior rights to the owner or owners of the drafts. If the drawer had become insolvent the next day after the issuance of the drafts, the holder of them would have occupied a position no more favorable than that of a general creditor of the bank, Nor need we attempt to determine whether the transaction involves all or any of the elements which characterize the relationship of principal and agent, although it plainly appears that the controlling facts distinguish the instant case in many essential particulars from certain of the precedents relied upon by the defendant bank; as, Whitcomb v. Carpenter, 134 Iowa, 227 (11 [171]*171N. W. 825, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.) 928); McGorray v. Stockton Savings etc. Soc., 131 Cal. 321 (63 Pac. 479); American Exchange Nat. Bank v. Loretta Mining Co., 165 Ill. 103 (46 N. E. 202, 56 Am. St. Rep. 233); Cutler v. American Exchange National Bank, 113 N. Y. 593 (21 N. E. 710, 4 L. R. A. 328). There are also inherent differences between the instant case and those like Legniti v. Mechanics & Metals National Bank, 230 N. Y. 415 (130 N. E. 597, 16 A. L. R. 185), so explicitly relied upon by the defendant.

The instant case is simply the ordinary one of the purchase of drafts by one person residing at the place of the drawer for the purpose of paying money to another person residing at the place of the drawee bank; and many like transactions, perhaps thousands, occur each day in the business world.

The paper issued by the drawer bank is sometimes called a banker’s check; by business men it is usually termed a draft; but in the strict nomenclature of the negotiable instruments law it is a check, and considered as such is a species of the genus bill of exchange. However, whether the two drafts are classified under Section 7918, Or. L., or under Section 7977, Or. L., the result, in the attending circumstances, will be the same. It must be remembered that on the facts recited by the record the drafts have not yet been presented to the drawee and that they can never be presented to the drawee by the payee. And since the estate of the decedent is the owner of the drafts the plaintiff as the legal representative of the estate is assuredly entitled to receive the moneys represented by the drafts either from the drawer or from the drawee.

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Bluebook (online)
214 P. 377, 107 Or. 162, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gellert-v-bank-of-california-national-assn-or-1923.