Kansas City Southern Railway Co. v. First National Bank of Ft. Smith

295 S.W. 357, 174 Ark. 447, 60 A.L.R. 241, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 363
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 13, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 295 S.W. 357 (Kansas City Southern Railway Co. v. First National Bank of Ft. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kansas City Southern Railway Co. v. First National Bank of Ft. Smith, 295 S.W. 357, 174 Ark. 447, 60 A.L.R. 241, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 363 (Ark. 1927).

Opinion

McIIaney, J.

On April 32, 1924, the George F. Collins Company, an OMalioma Corporation, being’ indebted to appellant in the sum of $776.12, on account for freight, drew its check on the American National Bank of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, for said amount, payable to appellant, and delivered same to it. On April 21, 1924, appellant’s agent at Poteau, Oklahoma, took this check and others to the First National Bank of Poteau, and purchased exchange in the form of a draft for the total amount of said checks, on the Drovers’ National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., payable to appellant, and remitted same to appellant’s treasurer at Kansas City. On April 22, 1924, the First National Bank of Poteau closed its doors on account of insolvency, and a national.bank examiner took charge of its affairs, and, when said draft was presented to the Drovers’ National Bank in Kansas City, payment was refused on account of the failure of the First National at Poteau. The check of the George F. Collins Company and others were forwarded for collection and credit to the appellee, correspondent of the First National at Poteau, on April 21, where it was received and credited to the account of the Poteau bank on the morning of April 22, at a time prior to the receipt of information by appellee of said failure. About one or two o’clock on said date, after the receipt and credit of said check, appellee was officially notified by wire, by the examiner in charge, of the Poteau bank’s failure, and instructed not to credit or charge any additional items to its account. Appellee at this time still had said check of the George F. Collins Company in its possession, indorsed by appellant and the Poteau bank, and, instead of charging same back to Poteau and returning same to the examiner, it forwarded same to its correspondent in Oklahoma City, who, in turn, sent it to the bank on which it was drawn in Sapulpa, where payment was refused, the check protested, account payment stopped by the drawer at the request of appellant. Said check then went back the route from whence it came, dishonored, and finally reached appellee, whereupon it brought suit against the George F. Collins Company, as drawer, and appellant as indorser, of tlie check to recover the amount thereof. The Collins Company deposited the amount in court, and was discharged. A trial resulted in a verdict and judgment against appellant, and it has .appealed.

The first assignment of error urged for reversal of this case is that the court erred in giving appellee’s instruction No. 2 over appellant’s objection, which instruction is as follows:

“If you find that the check which has been introduced in evidence was indorsed and delivered by the First National Bank of Poteau, Oklahoma, to plaintiff in due course of business, and that the Poteau hank received credit therefor on its account with plaintiff, your verdict will be for the plaintiff; unless you further find that the plaintiff had knowledge of the fact, if it be a fact, that the said Poteau bank was insolvent at the time the check was deposited by defendant, the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, and knew that the Poteau bank had perpetrated a fraud on defendant, or that plaintiff had knowledge of such facts as would render the1 taking of the check an act of bad faith.”

We agree with appellant that this instruction is erroneous. It will he noticed that it -permits a recovery against appellant from the mere fact that it credited the amount of this check to the account of the Poteau bank, provided it had no knowledge of the insolvency of the Poteau bank at the time it acquired the check from appellant. In addition to this, it must have parted with value to the amount of the credit, else it could not be hurt, had lost nothing, and would be in no position to maintain an action against appellant for the amount of the check. It is true, as was said in Cox Wholesale Grocery Co. v. The National Bank of Pittsburgh, 107 Ark. 601, 156 S. W. 187, that, “when a check is taken to a bank, and the bank receives it and places the amount to the credit of the customer, the relation of creditor and debtor between them subsists, and not that of principal and agent; ’ ’ but it is also true that, if the check which haá been credited in the depositor’s account is'unpaid, the bank has the legal right to charge the amount of it back to 'the depositor’s account, where a sufficient credit still remains to cover it. By merely entering credit in the depositor’s account the bank has parted with nothing of value. Of course, if the. depositor checks out the amount of his credit in the bank, then the bank has parted with value and becomes a holder in due course for value of the instrument. In the case of Little v. Arkansas National Bank, 113 Ark. 72, 74, 167 S. W. 75, 76, this court said:.

“Appellants insist that a verdict should have been directed in their favor, and, in support of this position, they cite cases holding that, when a bank simply discounts a note and credits the amount thereof to the indorser’s account without paying to him any value for it, the transaction does not constitute the bank a pur: chaser for value- of the note. This appears to be a correct statement of the law, but this issue does not appear to have been raised in the, court below and no specific instruction to that effect was asked. ’ ’

While this statement may be obiter as to that case, it appears to us that it is a correct statement of the law. In the case of Ala. Groc. Co. v. First Nat. Bank, 158 Ala. 143, 48 So. 340, 132 Am. St. Rep. 18, it is said:

“So long as that relation (relation of debtor and creditor) continues, and the deposit is not drawn out, the bánk is held subject to the equities of the prior parties, even though the paper has been taken before maturity and without notice. ’ ’

In City Deposit Bank v. Green (Ia.), 103 N. W. 96, it is said:

“By giving credit to the indorser of the note on his deposit account, the bank, in effect, agrees to pay him that amount of money on- demand by check or order, and parts with nothing of value. When it receives notice nf defenses to the note, it is still in a situation, provided the amount thus- credited has remained undrawn hy the depositor, to return the note to him, and cancel - the credit.’.’

In the case of Union National Bank v. Winsor, 101 Minn. 470, 112 N. W. 999, 119 Am. St. Rep. 641, Ann. Cas. 204, it is said:

“ When a bank discounts paper for a depositor, and gives him credit upon its hooks for the proceeds of such paper, it is not a bona fide purchaser for value so as to he protected ag'ainst infirmities in the paper, unless, in addition to the mere fact of crediting the depositor with the proceeds of the paper, some other and valuable consideration passes. Such a transaction simply creates the relation of debtor and creditor between the. hank and the depositor, and, so long as that relation continues and the deposit is not drawn out, the hank stands in the same position as the original party to whom the . paper was made payable. By giving credit to the indorser on his deposit account the hank, in effect, agrees to pay him that amount of money on demand hy check, or order, and parts with nothing of value.- As long as the amount thus credited remains undrawn by the depositor,, the' bank, if it receives notice of the fraud, is still in a position to return the note to the depositor and cancel the credit. ’ ’

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295 S.W. 357, 174 Ark. 447, 60 A.L.R. 241, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kansas-city-southern-railway-co-v-first-national-bank-of-ft-smith-ark-1927.