Kelley v. Chenango Valley Savings Bank

22 A.D. 202
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 1, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 22 A.D. 202 (Kelley v. Chenango Valley Savings Bank) 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
Kelley v. Chenango Valley Savings Bank, 22 A.D. 202 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Parker, P. J.:

The action is to recover from defendant a balance claimed to be due upon a deposit account. There were two banks doing business in the same room, the defendant on the right-hand side and the National Broome County Bank on the other side. Tracy Morgan was treasurer of the defendant and cashier of the national hank. Miss Bobbins was an employee of the defendant, keeping books and also receiving deposits made with it. She was not employed by the national bank and took no part in its business.

The claim of plaintiff is based upon deposits made by himself on his own account and for one Hannah Watts, and also upon deposits [204]*204made by one Howard, the right to recover for which has been assigned to him. Each of the depositors had received from Morgan a pass book, known in this action as a white pass book, and whenever a deposit was made the amount thereof was entered upon such book. Such books had printed in plain type on the outside National Broome County Bank, Binghamton, N. Y.. in account with •—-—"—,” and on the inside, at the head of the pages, was printed “ Dr.-National Broome County Bank, in acc’t with --, Or.” There were some 800 of these white pass books issued, and they seem to have been gotten up and ordered by Morgan and to have been paid for by the national bank. The accounts of the holders of such books, and of the transactions entered thereon, do not seem to have been entered upon the books of either the defendant or of the national bank, but they were kept upon a set of books held by Morgan himself in his private room, upon which the name of neither bank appears, and which were evidently kept by Morgan himself and were not accessible to the other officers of either bank. Morgan also kept a large individual account in New York; and it seems quite clear that most of the deposits entered upon these white books went into that individual fund. The use of these white books seems very clearly to have been a fraud perpetrated by Morgan upon either bank, by means of which he diverted to his own use the deposits made by the holders of them.

The plaintiff claims that he deposited with the defendant, the savings bank. The defendant claims that the deposits were made in the national bank; and which is the correct claim was the question of fact that the trial court was called upon to decide.

It is clear that the national bank never had any of the deposits made and entered upon these white books. No part of them went to increase its assets. It is also clear, I think, that the savings bank never had any benefit from them. It is urged that a certain draft of $1,012.63 has been traced iiito the custody of the savings bank, and appears as an asset upon its regular "books. The draft was deposited by Howard on September 28, 1889. No entry was that day made on the savings bank’s regular books. On October fifth it first appears as an item of cash in its accounts. No charge was ever made against it on the savings bank books, as a credit to Howard; [205]*205and, for anglit that appears, it was on October fifth substituted by Morgan for so much cash then taken from the savings bank drawer. The inference is that such was the fact, as on that day the bank’s cash account balanced. Upon such evidence it cannot be claimed that it was received by the bank as a deposit from Howard and that the bank’s assets were thereby increased. Therefore, no action can be sustained upon the fact that the defendant has actually had the plaintiff’s money and enjoyed the use thereof. Plaintiff’s claim must be sustained, if at all, upon the ground that his dealing with defendant’s agents has been such as to create a contract liability against it.

As to the plaintiff’s own, and the Hannah Watts’ account, which may together be considered as his own individual deposits, on September 29, 1892, he undoubtedly had to his credit in the savings bank $1,102.55, for which he held a pass book in the name of that bank. He then drew out $342.64, and for the balance he took two of the “ white pass books ” on the national bank—one for so much of the balance as belonged to Mrs. Watts, and the other for his own balance. He at the same time executed to the defendant bank a receipt for the full $1,102.55 on account of my deposit No. 21,868 in said bank.” From and after that date he held those two books, and all his subsequent deposits were credited to him thereon and all payments were made upon his check on the national bank. And from that date no account was kept with him upon the regular books of the defendant bank. But no account was then or ever entered into with him upon the regular books of the national bank. He was not given credit upon its books for the balance so remaining due to him and Mrs. Watts. That bank never received that balance. The account with plaintiff and Mrs. Watts was that day transferred to the set of books kept by Morgan himself, in his private room, and undoubtedly Morgan himself appropriated that balance to his own use. Whether he at once drew the amount out of the defendant bank or did so sometime after is not very important.

A similar transaction was had with Howard, whose claim has been assigned to the plaintiff. On April 9, 1888, lie received from Mrs. Wilcox, as her committee in lunacy, a white pass book on .the national bank and also a regular pass book on the savings bank. Upon the white book was due to her a balance of about $2,800, and [206]*206upon the regular book a balance of $122.25. On August 1, 1889, he took both books to the bank and drew out in all $300. Of this amount, he drew upon the defendant’s regular book the whole of the balance thereon, viz., $122.25, gave a receipt for the same and surrendered the book. He at the same time signed a check on the national bank for $177.75, to make up the $300 that he needed. From and after that date no account was kept with him upon the regular books of the defendant bank, and the account upon the white pass book was, as it had previously been, continued upon the books kept by Morgan himself. How the account upon the white book, which he received from Mrs. Wilcox, originated, does not appear. But it does appear that no account with her had ever been kept upon the regular books of the national bank. From this date all deposits were credited to him upon the white book, and all payments thereon were made upon his check upon the national bank.

Upon these facts alone, it is apparent that both plaintiff and Howard had deliberately agreed with Morgan for a transfer of the account with the savings bank to the national bank, and had received from him a pass book upon that bank as evidence of its indebtedness to them for the same. And the burden of proof' is with the plaintiff to show that such book was received and the account against the savings bank was discharged, under circumstances negativing that presumption.

The plaintiff claims that he and Howard at all times dealt with Morgan as treasurer of the savings bank, and that both were assured by him that the books, although bearing the national bank name, were, in fact, issued by the savings bank. That when they made the deposits entered thereon they directed them to be deposited with the savings bank and supposed that Morgan did so. Each testifies to that effect. On the other hand, the defendant claims that the evidence in the case entirely fails to overcome the presumption above stated.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 A.D. 202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelley-v-chenango-valley-savings-bank-nyappdiv-1897.