Jones v. Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 1

242 A.D. 17, 272 N.Y.S. 5, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5984
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 18, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 242 A.D. 17 (Jones v. Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 1, 242 A.D. 17, 272 N.Y.S. 5, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5984 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Lazansky, P. J.

Plaintiff, a resident of the city of New Rochelle, in Westchester county, is a teacher in a school maintained by defendant in the town of Pelham in that county and adjoining the city of New Rochelle. On February 28, 1933, a representative of defendant delivered to plaintiff a check of defendant-in the sum of $290.80, to her order, drawn on the Pelham National Bank, a Federal banking association in the town of Pelham. The bank was open for business on Friday, March 3, 1933, until three p. m., the regular closing time. All checks duly presented by holders in person at or before three p. m. on that day were paid. At all times up to the close of business on Friday, March 3, 1933, the Pelham National Bank had sufficient cash on hand to pay all outstanding checks of defendant, including the one issued to plaintiff, and defendant had on deposit with the Pelham National Bank, to its credit, funds sufficient to pay all its outstanding checks, including that of plaintiff. On Saturday, March 4, 1933, a bank holiday was declared by the Governor of New York State. The Pelham National Bank did not open for business on that day, and at no [20]*20time since has it opened for business. It has been declared insolvent as of the close of business on Friday, March 3, 1933. A conservator was appointed by the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, and thereafter a receiver was appointed by the same authority. The receiver has since been in charge. Plaintiff had no account in the Pelham National Bank, but had one in the New Rochelle Trust Company in the city of New Rochelle. During the afternoon of February 28, 1933, in the forenoon of which plaintiff received the check, she indorsed it and mailed it to the New Rochelle Trust Company for deposit ” to her account. It was received by the New Rochelle Trust Company on March 1, 1933. Upon receipt of the check, that company, in accordance with its custom, mailed it to its correspondent, the Bankers Trust Company in New York city, a member of the Federal Reserve System, by which it was received on March 2, 1933. The Bankers Trust Company indorsed the check and sent it to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for collection. On that day, March 2, 1933, the Federal Reserve Bank mailed the check to the drawee, the Pelham National Bank. On Friday, March 3, 1933, before the close of business, the check was received by the Pelham National Bank, perforated “ Paid 3-3-33,” and charged to the account of defendant. In the afternoon of the same day — whether prior to or after the close of business does not appear — the Pelham National Bank drew and mailed a draft on the Federal Reserve Bank for the total amount of checks received by it on that day from the Federal Reserve Bank, including that of plaintiff, which the Pelham National Bank wished to honor. That draft was an overdraft. The Pelham National Bank did not have to its credit with the Federal Reserve Bank funds sufficient to meet the payment thereof. As a consequence of that and of the bank holiday and the insolvency of the Pelham National Bank, the draft, when received, was dishonored. As heretofore stated, a conservator of the assets of the Pelham National Bank was appointed by the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States, and thereafter, by like authority, a receiver was appointed. On or about March 30, 1933, defendant learned, through a conversation between its representative and a representative of the conservator, that defendant’s check to the order of plaintiff had been ordered by the Comptroller of the Currency to be returned to the bank of deposit through the collecting banks used in presenting it. Such check was returned to the Federal Reserve Bank, and eventually to the New Rochelle Trust Company, and was received by the latter on or about April 6, 1933, and charged back to plaintiff’s account. Plaintiff received notice of the foregoing facts from the New Rochelle Trust Company in the afternoon [21]*21of Friday, April 7, 1933, and on Monday, April 10, 1933, orally notified an agent of defendant that her check had been returned and charged back, as aforesaid. Defendant’s check was not protested, and no written notice of dishonor was given to defendant. Upon these facts, and others which do not require consideration, the following claims are made:

1. Plaintiff claims that she is entitled to judgment against defendant for the amount of her salary, $290.80, with interest from February 28, 1933, with costs.

2. Defendant claims that it has paid its obligation to plaintiff for the salary; that plaintiff did not present the check to the drawee within a reasonable time, and that defendant is, therefore, entitled to judgment dismissing the claim.

In this statement of specific claims made by defendant it is not urged that defendant has been relieved of responsibility by reason of a failure to give due notice of dishonor. However, it was agreed, by the submission, that the court should render such judgment as shall be proper on the submitted facts, and, therefore, the matter of failure to give due notice of dishonor should be considered.

Was defendant’s check paid? ' By article 19-A of the Negotiable Instruments Law (added by Laws of 1929, chap. 589) the Legislature adopted what is commonly called the “ Bank Collection Code.” Prior to that time there had been innumerable and conflicting decisions in the State and Federal courts on various phases of the collection of checks by banks. One of the incidents of collection, on which much has been written, is that of payment by the drawee bank of checks sent to it by mail. May a check of the drawee bank be taken in payment of a check drawn on the drawee? If so, and the drawee’s check is dishonored, where does the loss fall? Is a bank collecting agent authorized to accept from the drawee payment other than in currency? Is the drawee an agent for collection, as well as payor? Is the depository bank a collecting agent or a purchaser? What act of the drawee constitutes payment? At what time is payment made? When the drawee bank charges a check item against the maker, is a trust fund established for the benefit of the holder? These and other questions have been given much consideration. (Baldwin’s Bank v. Smith, 215 N. Y. 76 [which discusses Indig v. National City Bank, 80 id. 100 and Burkhalter v. Second National Bank, 42 id. 538]; Smith v. Miller, 43 id. 171; 52 id. 545; Turner v. Bank of Fox Lake, 3 Keyes, 425; People v. Merchants & Mechanics’ Bank, 78 N. Y. 269; McIntosh v. Tyler, 47 Hun, 99; Federal Reserve Bank v. Malloy, 264 U. S. 160; City of Douglas v. Federal Reserve Bank, 271 id. 489; Nineteenth Ward Bank v. South Weymouth Bank, 184 Mass. 49; 2 Paton’s Digest, [22]*22p. 1496 et seq.; Prof. Roscoe B. Turner, Bank Collections, 39 Yale Law Journal, 468; Prof. Wayne L. Townsend, Tulane Law Review, vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 21; No. 2, p. 236.)

If the so-called majority rule were applicable to the facts in this case, and assuming that the Federal Reserve Bank sent the check to the Pelham National Bank for collection, the defendant would be absolved from responsibility upon either of two grounds: (1) That the collecting agent was without authority to receive the check of the Pelham National Bank, and that when it did so it assumed the risk of payment, or (2) when the check was marked paid by the Pelham National Bank and.

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Bluebook (online)
242 A.D. 17, 272 N.Y.S. 5, 1934 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5984, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-board-of-education-of-union-free-school-district-no-1-nyappdiv-1934.