Hyatt v. First National Bank

193 Iowa 593
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 4, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 193 Iowa 593 (Hyatt v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hyatt v. First National Bank, 193 Iowa 593 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Faville, J.

— I. The plaintiff was married to one N. P. Hyatt in March, 1891. At the time of the marriage, Hyatt was engaged in the practice of law with his. father at Webster City, and the parties continued to reside, there after the marriage. The plaintiff, at the time of the marriage, was possessed of considerable property in her own right, and received, after the marriage, a substantial income therefrom. The husband was not particularly successful in the practice of law, and, so far as the record shows, he had no property of /my appreciable value at the time of the marriage. It appears from the record that, some time after the marriage, he gave up, to a large extent, the ostensible practice of his profession. He became interested in military affairs, and was an officer in the army in the Spanish-American War and in the World War. After retiring from the active practice of law, the plaintiff’s husband became manager of an opera house, but apparently received little or no compensation for such services. The expenses of the family appear to have been paid by the plaintiff, and the money she received from time to time from her estate was very largely turned over by her to her husband to invest. Some of this was loaned out and collected by the husband and deposited in his own bank account. It appears that each of the parties kept a bank account, and that the husband at times drew cheeks upon the plaintiff’s account, signing her name, with his initials appended. It also appears that money belonging to the plaintiff was invested by her husband in mortgages, some of which, during the years they were living together, were taken in the name of the plaintiff, and some in the name of the husband. The plaintiff testified that she furnished all of the money for any investments that were made by the husband; that he had no money to invest; and that it all belonged to her. She knew of the manner in which her husband handled .the money and securities, and acquiesced therein. At the time, the family relations were agreeable. The plaintiff testified that she was proud of her husband and anxious to contribute to his success.

The matters involved in this case concern shares of stock in the First National Bank of Williams, which were represented by three certificates of stock. The first of these is known in the record as certificate No. 6, and represented ten shares of stock. [595]*595The evidence shows that the First National Bank was organized in the year 1900. On October 3d of that year, said certificate No. 6 was issued .to N. P. Hyatt. This certificate was assigned to the defendant E. F. King by written assignment thereon, on July 14, 1919. The. president of the bank testified that this stock was paid for by N. P. Hyatt in two installments, one by the check of said N. P. Hyatt on the Farmers National Bank, and the other by his check on the Webster City Savings Bank. It is undisputed that, at the time of the organization of the defendant bank, in 1900, N. P. Hyatt became a director therein, and continued as such director for at least ten years; and it also appears that all of the dividends on the said ten shares of stock were credited by said bank to the account of N. P. Hyatt, and that he withdrew the same. He made the usual affidavits required of directors in a national bank as to his ownership of said stock. The plaintiff claims that she purchased and paid for the ten shares of stock represented by certificate No. 6 with her own money, and makes the general statement that she furnished the money for any investment that her husband made, and that he had no money of his own with which to make investments. For the purpose of attempting to establish that she furnished the specific funds for the purchase of said ten shares of stock, the plaintiff offered in evidence a check, in the form of a receipt to the Farmers National Bank of Webster City, signed in her name by her husband, and dated April 24, 1900, for $700. Under the evidence, it is fair to assume that this amount of money was drawn from the plaintiff’s account on or about said date. There is no evidence in the record, however, that this $700 was used by the plaintiff’s husband in payment for any portion of the ten shares of stock. In fact, no such inference is warranted. Other checks of various amounts from $10 to $1,150 were drawn in the same manner by the plaintiff’s husband upon her said account at various times covering the period from August 25, 1899, to April 24, 1900. There is no proof as to the purpose for which they were used. The plaintiff also offered in evidence her own check upon the said bank for $600, dated May 23, 1900. It is plaintiff’s contention that these two checks represent sums advanced by her to her husband for the purchase of the ten shares of stock. She does not testify that they were used for [596]*596such purpose, but seeks to establish the same by inference from the dates and amounts of the checks, and from the general statement that she furnished from her funds the money used by her husband in any investment that he made. There is no proof that the said sums drawn from the bank on these checks were used for the purpose of buying the shares in question, and no attempt is made to trace the proceeds of the said checks into the hands of the bank, or to show what disposition was ever made of them. There was evidence in behalf of the plaintiff showing that she had received several thousand dollars on real estate loans during the year 1900, and that only a portion of the same had been re-loaned. The inference sought to be drawn from this evidence is that a part of these funds might have been used by plaintiff’s husband in purchasing the ten shares of stock. The defendants, on the other hand, offered the testimony of the promoter of the bank, to the effect that he did not approach Mr. Hyatt about the organization of the bank until between the 15th and 25th of May, 1900; and he testified that no collection on subscriptions 'to stock was made as early as April, and that he did not start to collect payments on the stock until in July, 1900. The defendants also offered in evidence statements of the Farmers National Bank of Webster City, showing that a check for $500, drawn by N. P. Hyatt on his oewn account, was paid at that bank on August 4, 1900. It does not appear who was the payee in this check or what was done with the proceeds. The promoter of the bank testified that the stock was paid for by Mr. Hyatt with two checks, one on the Farmers National Bank and the other on the Webster City Savings Bank. There was offered in evidence the pass book of N. P. Hyatt, showing his account with the Webster City Savings Bank, and said book failed to show either deposits or credits therein for the year 1900.

The foregoing is the substance of the evidence in regard to the purchase of the ten shares of stock represented by certificate No. 6.

The title to said certificate of stock, until the subsequent sale by N. P. Hyatt to the defendant King, remained at all times in N. P. Hyatt. Admittedly, he drew all the dividends thereon.

[597]*597' mg trusts: degiee of proof. [596]*596The plaintiff is seeking to establish a resulting trust by parol evidence. The legal title' to said ten shares was in N. P. [597]*597Hyatt. Before such, legal title can be.overcome and ownership established in the plaintiff upon the theory of a resulting trust, the proof must be clear, certain, sa£isfaet0Xy) and practically overwhelming. We cannot say that it was such in the. instant case. Kelley v. Kelley, 189 Iowa 311; Barth v. Severson, 191 Iowa 770; Freeborn v. Servis,

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

Related

Gregory Ex Rel. Gregory v. Gregory
82 N.W.2d 144 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1957)
Thompson v. Thompson
39 N.W.2d 132 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1949)
Sinclair v. Allender
26 N.W.2d 320 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1947)
Harnagel v. Fett
244 N.W. 704 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1932)
In Re Estate of Moore
232 N.W. 729 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
193 Iowa 593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hyatt-v-first-national-bank-iowa-1922.