Hull v. Guaranty State Bank of Carthage

242 S.W. 189, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 979
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 1922
DocketNo. 331-3686
StatusPublished

This text of 242 S.W. 189 (Hull v. Guaranty State Bank of Carthage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hull v. Guaranty State Bank of Carthage, 242 S.W. 189, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 979 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1922).

Opinion

SPENCEB, P. J.

This is a suit by defendant in error, Guaranty State Bank of Carthage, to recover of plaintiff in error, E. A. Hull, an amount alleged to be due as a result of an overdraft by Hull.

For some time prior to 1912 and up to and including March 18, 1912, Trabue was the active president of the bank. In his individual capacity he often purchased cotton from plaintiff in error, Hull. He did not always pay him cash for it, but instructed the cashier of the bank to pay Hull’s cheeks. This practice gave rise to an overdraft by Hull, which, according to the trial court’s findings, amounted to $2,165.85 on March 18, 1912.

On this date Trabue and Hull had another transaction involving the purchase of ‘128 bales of cotton. Hull’s version of the affair is that Trabue informed him that the bank examiner was in town, insisting that Hull’s overdraft, which Trabue informed him* amounted to $5,165.85, should be paid. Hull contended that, if Trabue would give him the credits due him for cotton previously purchased, the bank would be indebted to him instead of him being indebted to the bank. As a result of their dealings, the 128 bales of cotton were delivered to Trabue at the agreed price of $7,000.81, of which amount $5,165.81 was to be applied by Trabue in discharge of Hull’s overdraft of indebtedness and the balance of $1,835 was included in a note for the sum of $14,125, executed and delivered by Trabue to Hull. The object of the note was to combine the various amounts due Hull from Trabue on previous transactions with the $1,835 item.

It will be observed from the foregoing statement that the bank’s books showed [190]*190Hull’s overdraft amounted to $2,165.85; whereas, Trahue informed Hull that his overdraft amounted to $5,165.85. Settlement between them was made on the basis of, the latter amount. There is a discrepancy of $3,000 in these figures, but this is accounted for upon the ground that Trabue, upon being informed on about March 5th that Hull was overdrawn $5,165.85, stated that it was too great and thereupon drew a draft on a New Xork bank for $3,000, which draft was eventually paid and Hull given credit therefor on March 6, 1918.

The warehouse receipts for the cotton were transferred by Hull to Trabue, and the latter delivered to the bank a bill of lading covering the 128 bales of cotton, with draft attached, drawn on H. Kempner & Co., Galveston, Tex., for $6,500. This draft was placed to the credit on the books of the bank to the bill of exchange accounts. Subsequent to March 18, 1912, Hull drew checks on the bank amounting to $682.61. This amount added to the previous amount of overdraft was made the basis of the action against Hull. The bank did not credit Hull with any part of the proceeds of the Kempner draft.

Plaintiff in error insisted that, as the bank received the cotton or its proceeds, he was entitled to have credit therefor. The bank denied the authority of Trabue to accept cotton in payment of the overdraft and denied that it had received the cotton or its proceeds on behalf of Hull.

In a trial before the court without the aid of a jury, the court rendered judgment allowing Hull an offset in the sum of $2,165.-85, and rendered judgment in favor of the bank for $682.61 plus $5 interest. Upon appeal this judgment was affirmed. 231 S. W. 810.

The uneontroverted evidence shows that the bank received the bill of lading and the draft, and that it collected the latter, but that neither Trabue nor Hull’s account was "ever credited with any part of the proceeds thereof.

It is observed that the trial court has found that Trabue had authority to collect debts due the bank, and that as president he collected the overdraft at the bank on March 18th. It is clear from these findings that the court also found that Trabue received the proceeds of the draft drawn on H. Komp-ner & Go. Upon no other theory can the court’s conclusion that there was a collection of the overdraft be upheld, because there is, in the record, no suggestion of payment of the overdraft or any part of it in any other manner than by means of this cotton transaction. These findings must constitute the basis of the judgment to be rendered in the cause.

When Trabue, with authority to collect the debt due the bank, actually received, as president, the proceeds of the draft intended to discharge Hull’s overdraft, the receipt of the money operated as a complete payment or discharge of Hull’s indebtedness. Shaw et al. v. First State Bank of Abilene (Tex. Com. App,) 231 S. W. 325.

In the case cited, one Hurlbut, an officer of the defendant in error bank, delivered to the plaintiffs in error O. M. Shaw and Laura M. Shaw certain checks in their favor which had come into his possession. The defendant in error bank held a note for collection against plaintiffs in error which they desired to pay. Plaintiffs in error indorsed and redelivered the checks to Hurlbut, who promised to pay the note. Hurlbut cashed the cheeks and misappropriated the proceeds thereof without paying the note. The bank sued plaintiffs in error to recover on the note, and the latter pleaded payment to Hurl-but, a duly authorized agent of the bank. The bank insisted that Hurlbut was acting, not as its agent, but as agent of plaintiffs in error in the transaction and that, as the money was never received by it, it was not liable. This court, in disposing of that issue, said:

“The interests of plaintiffs in error in paying the note and that of the bank in receiving payment thereof were not necessarily adverse. No reason is perceived why one, an agent to pay a note, may not also be the agent of the holder to collect it or to receive the payment thereof. The fact that the agency to collect or receive payment of a stipulated demand and the agency to pay the same merge in one person violates no rule or principle of law, and the same person may act as agent for payee and payor in the transaction, unless their interests are adverse. It is a well-established rule that the payment of a note or other obligation is complete when money intended for its payment or discharge has reached the hands of an agent authorized to receive it. Golden v. O’Connell, 76 W. Va. 282, 85 S. E. 533, 2 A. L. R. 460. If, therefore, Hurlbut was in fact the authorized agent appointed by the bank to collect the note or receive payment thereof, payment to him of money intended to discharge it would operate’ as a payment of the same, notwithstanding he may have been the agent of plaintiffs in error to pay it.”

The findings upon which this holding is based is not inconsistent with the finding of the court that Trabue purchased the cotton in his individual capacity. He could, while engaged in an individual transaction, perform an official act on behalf of the bank, provided the latter’s interest did not conflict with his own. It is beyond cavil that, in making a collection of the draft, the interests of the bank were not antagonistic to the interests of Trabue. The only act required of him was to separate the bank’s money, which he as its agent had collected, from his own.

Let it be conceded, however, that Trabue [191]*191did not actually receive the proceeds of the draft. If Trabue did not receive the cash nor credit for the proceeds of the draft, and if Hull did not receive credit therefor, then the bank must have received and enjoyed the proceeds because it is undisputed that the draft was paid to the extent of $6,000.

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Related

People's Bank v. National Bank
101 U.S. 181 (Supreme Court, 1880)
Hull v. Guaranty State Bank of Carthage
231 S.W. 810 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1921)
Shaw v. First State Bank of Abilene
231 S.W. 325 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1921)
Golden v. O'Connell
85 S.E. 533 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1915)

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Bluebook (online)
242 S.W. 189, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hull-v-guaranty-state-bank-of-carthage-texcommnapp-1922.