Leslie v. Johnson

24 F. Supp. 406, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1950
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 30, 1938
DocketNos. 1830, 1831
StatusPublished

This text of 24 F. Supp. 406 (Leslie v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leslie v. Johnson, 24 F. Supp. 406, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1950 (W.D. Okla. 1938).

Opinion

VAUGHT, District Judge.

Glen E. Leslie, the receiver of the Shawnee National Bank, Shawnee, Oklahoma, is the successor by appointment to Ben F. Johnson, the receiver at the time of the institution of these suits, and the two suits will be considered together for purposes of trial.

Howard C. Johnson during the pend-ency of these • actions was the state bank commissioner of Oklahoma, succeeding W. J. Barnett, and has been succeeded by D. P. Richardson as state bank commissioner.

In No. 1830, W. J. Barnett, as state bank commissioner and receiver for the Depositors’ Guaranty Fund, on August 22, 1932 made a deposit of $11,000 from said fund in the Shawnee National Bank and at the time of making said deposit, the said bank delivered to the said W. J. Barnett, as bank commissioner and receiver, certain assets of said bank to secure said deposit, said pledged assets being as follows: $10,000 of City of Altus Water Works Extension Bonds; $7,000 of Board of Education, City of Tecumseh Bonds; and $10,000 of Board of Education, City of Ada Bonds.

In No. 1831, W. J. Barnett, as bank commissioner, deposited in the Shawnee National Bank the sum of $8,685.74, said deposit being made in the name of the “W. J. Barnett, Bank Commissioner, Dividend Account of the Bank of Commerce, Okmulgee, Oklahoma,” and on the 22nd day of August, 1932, the said bank commissioner deposited in the Shawnee National Bank the sum of $5,000 and said bank issued a deposit slip therefor directing said deposit as the “W. J. Barnett, Bank Commissioner, Liquidating Account of the Bank of Commerce, Okmulgee, Oklahoma.” Said deposits- were secured by pledging the same assets pledged, and set out hereinabove, in No. 1830, Equity. In other words, the bank delivered to W. J. Barnett, bank cotnmissioner and receiver, bonds in the amount of $27,000 to secure the deposit made by Barnett as bank commissioner and receiver in the sum of <$11,-000, and on the account of Depositors’ Guaranty Fund for $13,685 in No. 1831, Equity, as funds belonging to the Dividend Account of the Bank of Commerce, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, also funds in the hands of the state bank commissioner.

In October, 1934, with the consent of the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States of America and Ben F. Johnson as receiver of the Shawnee National Bank, said W. J. Barnett, as state bank commissioner and receiver, sold the City of Ada Bonds for the sum of $10,151.-25 and credited $8,823.05 of such proceeds to the “W. J. Barnett, Bank Commissioner, Dividend Account of the Bank of Commerce, Okmulgee, Oklahoma,” leaving a balance of $1,328.20 in his possession, which sum the said Barnett applied on said Guaranty Fund Account. Thereafter and prior to the institution of this action, the receiver of the said Shawnee National Bank, acting under instructions of the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States of America, advised Howard C. Johnson, the then bank commissioner and receiver for said Guaranty Fund, that said pledging of assets to secure the deposit of a portion of the Depositors’ Guaranty Fund was ultra vires and void, and demanded the return of the Tecumseh Board of Education Bonds in the sum of $7,000, the Altus Water Works Extension Bonds in the sum of $10,000, together with the proceeds of the interest coupons attached to said bonds at the time the pledge thereof was made, together with a return of the proceeds of the City of Ada Bonds in the sum of $10,151.25 and the proceeds of all coupons attached thereto, at the time of the pledge thereof. Said Howard C. Johnson having failed and refused to make such restitution, this action was instituted for an accounting on the bonds sold and for the recovery of the bonds unsold.

[408]*408As stated hereinbefore, Barnett sold the Ada bonds for the sum of $10,151.25 and credited $6,593.92 to the “W. J. Barnett, Bank Commissioner, Dividend Account of the Bank of Commerce, Okmulgee, Oklahoma,” which with dividends in the total sum of $2,753.63 paid by the receiver of said bank prior to November 2, 1934, fully liquidated said account leaving a balance of $1,328.20, which sum said Barnett applied to the credit of the Guaranty Fund deposit hereinabove referred to, theretofore made by Barnett as commissioner and receiver.

The contention of the plaintiff in each of the cases is that the pledging of the bonds in question by the bank was ultra vires and void. In other words, the Shawnee National Bank had no authority under the national banking laws of the United States to pledge the assets of the bank to secure the deposit of funds in said bank by the state bank commissioner.

In the first case, No. 1830, the commissioner deposited the funds and the bank designated the account as deposited by Barnett as receiver of the Guaranty Fund. It is immaterial, however, whether they were deposited as receiver or as bank commissioner. The bank had knowledge of Barnett’s official capacity and at no time had these funds ever left the possession or control of the state bank commissioner. So, for the purposes of this decision, the deposits will be treated as made by the state bank commissioner.

The plaintiff contends that he is entitled; as receiver of the Shawnee National Bank, to the return of these securities.

Voluminous briefs have been filed in this case and a much wider latitude assumed in the argument in the briefs than is necessary. There are three propositions involved. First, the character of the funds deposited by the' bank commissioner. Second, the provisions of the state statutes governing the deposit of funds in the hands of the bank commissioner in state banks and the right of the commissioner to require and the power of the bank to pledge the assets of the bank to secure said deposit. Third, the Federal Statutes governing the deposit of public funds, generally, in a national bank and the power of the national bank to pledge its assets to secure said deposit.

Section 5415, O.S.1931, 62 Okl.St. Ann. § 71, reads: “The State Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed by and with the consent of the Governor and Attorney General to select a number of banks within the State of Oklahoma as depositors (sic) of the public funds of the State; such banks must be in good standing and conducting a regular banking business and they shall pay to the State, interest at the rate of three (3) per cent, per annum, on daily balances, and shall collect free of charge to the State, such drafts, bills of exchange and checks as may be deposited by the State in the regular course of business, and shall pay all checks and drafts legally authorized and duly drawn on the State funds deposited in such bank. There shall not be deposited in any one of such banks, of the State funds,' an amount to exceed the capital stock of any such bank. Such banks shall make quarterly reports of the fiscal year of the amount deposited and checked out or withdrawn and the balances on hand, including accrued interest belonging to the State.”

Section 5419, O.S.1931, 62 Okl.St.Ann.

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Bluebook (online)
24 F. Supp. 406, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1950, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leslie-v-johnson-okwd-1938.