Holmes v. Uvalde Nat. Bank

222 S.W. 640, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 652
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 12, 1920
DocketNo. 6393.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 222 S.W. 640 (Holmes v. Uvalde Nat. Bank) 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
Holmes v. Uvalde Nat. Bank, 222 S.W. 640, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 652 (Tex. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

FLY, O. J.

Appellant instituted suit against the Uvalde National Bank, T. G. Frost, J. M. Kincaid, M. B. Walcott, F. J. Bheiner, J. C. Turman, and F. T. Kincaid, as directors of the bank, and Jake Schwartz, as liquidating agent, for certain deposits made by him, amounting to $48,788.81. The cause was submitted to a jury on the following issue, given by the court:

“Was F. J. Bheiner the agent of plaintiff, Daniel Holmes, in making the loans of the money that he turned over to said Bheiner?”

The issue was answered in the affirmative, and the second issue became unimportant and, under instruction of the court, was not answered. At the request of appellees, the jury was informed that the suit against the directors had been dismissed by appellant. Judgment was rendered that appellant take nothing by his suit as to the bank and Schwartz and Turman, Walcott, and Kin-caid as the liquidating committee.

The evidence showed that appellant, without the knowledge or consent of the directors of the bank, entered into a personal agreement with F. J. Bheiner, by which the latter was to make loans for appellant out of money from time to time delivered to Rheiner personally by appellant, and Bheiner placed the money in the bank, with the full authority to draw it out whenever he so desired. He dealt with Bheiner as an individual and not as cashier of the bank. The arrangement entered into as to loaning the money was concealed by appellant and Bheiner from the directors of the bank. The money was loaned at different times by Bheiner, and the securities were placed in the hands of appellant by Bheiner. About five years elapsed between the time when the last loan was made, to wit, May 24, 1914, and the date of the filing of this suit, and the notes now claimed by appellant to be worthless were taken for or indorsed and delivered to appellant by Bheiner more than five years before this suit was filed. Appellant at no time dealt with Rheiner as cashier, and in the numerous letters written to him by appellant he was addressed as “Dear Ferdie.” Appellant testified:

“Yes, sir; I told Bheiner in the beginning that I wanted him to loan my money for me. Yes, sir; I trusted him to do that. Yes, sir; I gave him authority to draw my money out to make loans and investments for me. Yes, I gave him authority to make loans, and he had as much authority as I did to make loans, and I put money at his- disposal for that purpose — to make loans.”

In April, 1916, there was a full settlement between appellant and Rheiner. Appellant swore that he placed about $7,000 in the bank when Bheiner was absent, and when he returned 'appellant gave him a check for the money, to be placed in the “loan account,” to be loaned by him.

The first assignment states error in the refusal to give the following charge, requested by appellant:

“In any event, you will find your verdict herein for plaintiff for the sum of $26,779.65, being the aggregate or the principal of the four notes in evidence, purporting to be the notes of T. J. Martin, and the one note in evidence, purporting to be the note of W. B. Patterson, less the sum of $2,517.04 drawn from the loan account of plaintiff and carried into the $4,600 certificate of deposit in evidence; that is to say, said $24,262.61 is the balance of the total of said above-named notes after said sum of $2,517.04 is deducted therefrom. The remainder of the case you will consider from the evidence in the case and the charge of the court, and base your verdict thereon.”

The charge was properly refused. The cause was submitted on special issues, and yet appellant sought a general charge to control the disposition of at least one-half of the amount sued for. The charge assumed that Rheiner was acting as the cashier of the bank in making the loans, that it was responsible for his lack of care and judgment or his criminal acts, when that was the crucial point in the case. It assumed that the notes were forgeries, when the jury might have found that they were genuine. In other words, it was, in effect, an instruction for appellant on the whole case and made a farce out of the issue as to Rheiner being the agent of appellant alone in negotiating the loans, and not of the bank. It assumed.that loaning money for depositors was within the powers and duties of the bank and dispensed with all inquiry into the doctrine of ultra vires as applied to the acts of Bheiner, if acting for the bank.

The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth assignments of error should not be considered. Each of them complains of giving certain charges or 'refusing others without giving even the substance of the charges. A.reference to bills of exception without giving the substance of them does not comply with the rules, and it is not incumbent upon an appellate court to search the record for matters that should be supplied by the appellant However, we have consulted the bills of exception referred to in the assignments and find that the charges asked were properly refused. If Rheiner was the agent and special representative of appellant arid acted in lending the money not as cashier or agent of the *642 bant, then it did not matter that he converted the money of appellant to his own use, so far as the bank was concerned. In this connection, it may be stated that there was no adequate proof that Rheiner had converted any money of appellant to his own use. Appellant had the notes, he now wishes declared forgeries, in his possession for seven or eight years, and yet did not ascertain that they were forgeries. Appellant had colluded with Rheiner to lend money for him and deprive the bank of loans to which it was entitled, and now when his conspirator has been shown to be a defaulter and that the loans made by him for appellant are not satisfactory, he seeks to make the principal, against whom the conspiracy had been formed, responsible for the acts of the unfaithful servant. Rheiner was the agent of appellant, and not the agent of the bank, in making the loans, as found by the jury. It was not an issue as to whether the bank had notice of the relations between appellant and Rheiner.' All of the testimony tended to show that appellant and Rheiner did not desire that the bank should know that Rheiner ■was lending money for appellant, but studiously concealed it from the bank. The evidence clearly showed that the loaning account of appellant was closed and a certificate of deposit delivered to appellant on or about April-' 23, 1316, and such settlement was fully accepted and agreed to by appellant,. an(d such testimony fended to show that appellant, by his laches for more than two years, was estopped from claiming anything from the bank. There was not a particle of evidence tending to show that appellant expected or desired that Rheiner should act, in lending the money, for the bank; but, on the other hand, appellant and Rheiner did all they could to prevent the bank discovering anything about the loans. It follows that there was no such issue, and the court acted properly in refusing to place it before the jury.

If the bank had known that Rheiner had authority to draw out the money deposited in the loan account of appellant, that would not charge the bank with knowledge that Rheiner was lending or pretending to lend it for appellant, nor make the bank liable for his conversion of it.

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Bluebook (online)
222 S.W. 640, 1920 Tex. App. LEXIS 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holmes-v-uvalde-nat-bank-texapp-1920.