Marine Midland Bank-Southern v. Thurlow

54 A.D.2d 383, 388 N.Y.S.2d 703, 1976 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14051

This text of 54 A.D.2d 383 (Marine Midland Bank-Southern v. Thurlow) 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
Marine Midland Bank-Southern v. Thurlow, 54 A.D.2d 383, 388 N.Y.S.2d 703, 1976 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14051 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinions

Herlihy, J.

On January 31, 1969, the defendants signed and delivered to the plaintiff (hereinafter referred to as "bank”) their notes totaling $100,000' with interest at 7% payable on August 1, 1969. Also, on that date, the defendants executed in favor of the bank a pledge or security agreement whereby they pledged $100,000 of Conelec, Inc. convertible debentures and certain shares of stock of Scan-data Corporation and Data-Ram Corporation. On August 1, 1969, the original note was renewed or replaced by a demand note in the amount of $100,000 with interest at 9%. On April 17, 1973 the bank "called” or demanded payment of the August 1, 1969 note and thereafter commenced this action to recover the unpaid balance plus interest.

Among other things, the complaint alleges that the note which is being sued upon is a "re-casting” of the prior January 31, 1969 loan and that it was secured by a pledge of [385]*385negotiable instruments within the meaning of subdivision 3 of section 108 of the Banking Law. The defendants in their answer specifically deny the allegation that the loan was made pursuant to subdivision 3 of section 108 of the Banking Law and further assert a counterclaim for usury specifying that there was no loan upon negotiable instruments. The defendants also asserted that contrary to an agreement between themselves, the bank, and a third party, certain collateral security had been liquidated by the bank and the proceeds misapplied by the bank.

The bank moved for summary judgment and Special Term found that because of the parol evidence rule the defendants had failed to establish their affirmative defense and granted partial summary judgment in favor of the bank for the balance due on the note of $95,000. However, Special Term found an issue of fact present as to the usury counterclaim and, thus, denied summary judgment dismissing the counterclaim.

The issues upon this appeal are whether or not the parol evidence rule precludes the defendants from establishing that the bank misapplied the proceeds of collateral security held by it and, further, whether or not Special Term properly denied summary judgment in favor of the bank dismissing the usury counterclaim.

I—USURY

No one disputes that the August 1, 1969 note exceeded the amount of interest permitted by subdivision 1 of section 108 of the Banking Law. However, subdivision 1 provides for exceptions to its interest limitations and subdivision 3 of the said section 108 provides as follows:

"Upon advances of money, repayable on demand, to an amount not less than five thousand dollars, made upon documents of title within article seven of the uniform commercial code or negotiable instruments within article three or article eight of the uniform commercial code pledged as collateral security for such repayment, any bank or trust company may receive or contract to receive and collect as compensation for making such advances any sum which may be agreed upon by the parties to such transaction.”

Special Term after noting that there was no authority on the subject held that in order to qualify for a rate of interest [386]*386fixed pursuant to subdivision 3 all the collateral pledged for the loan must be of such a nature as to separately meet the specifications of instruments as specified in that statute. In accordance with its interpretation of subdivision 3, the court then found that as to the Conelec, Inc. convertible debentures there was a question of fact as to their meeting the requirements of registration as set forth in section 8-102 of article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code and for this reason denied summary judgment.

The bank contends that Special Term erred in construing subdivision 3 so as to preclude its applicability when the collateral pledged for a loan is not solely collateral meeting the description set forth in the statute.

In the case of Leumi Fin. Corp. v Richter (17 NY2d 166) the court had before it a loan of $150,000 secured by pledges of corporate stock and personal guarantees of payment by three persons other than the borrower. The case involved a question of usury involving the interpretation of former section 379 of the General Business Law (now General Obligations Law, § 5-523). The court held that although the stock pledged as security and which met the requirements of the statute was only worth about 40% of the full amount of the note, it met the requirements of the statute. The court stated (p 174): "[i]f the lender accepts as security property of a substantial value and of the kind required by the statute, that should satisfy its requirements.” Insofar as the question of whether or not a bank is precluded from accepting nonspecified security and specified security in complying with subdivision 3, there is no distinction between the provisions of former section 379 of the General Business Law and subdivision 3. Subdivision 3 does not upon its face preclude a mix of specified collateral and nonspecified collateral and to so interpret it as being preclusionary goes beyond a mere literal reading of the statute.

For the foregoing reasons we reject the conclusion of Special Term that in order to qualify for the provisions of subdivison 3 of section 108 of the Banking Law the sole security pledged must be those items specified in the statute. There is no dispute that at least a portion of the pledged securities did qualify and were of a substantial value.

However, upon the face of the pleadings a question remains as to whether or not any money was advanced as required by the statute and which was repayable on demand.

The initial loan of January 31, 1969 was a "time” loan and [387]*387would not qualify as a demand loan as required by the said subdivision 3. Pursuant to the January 31, 1969 loan the entire proceeds were "advanced” prior to the demand note of August 1, 1969 and which latter note is the subject of these proceedings. The bank had pleaded that the August 1, 1969 transaction was merely a "re-casting” of the prior loan and the note upon its face does not recite that it is for an advance of money as is specifically required by the said subdivision 3. The present record does not establish that the demand note issued in August of 1969 resulted in a cancellation of the original indebtedness. If the Legislature had intended to permit banks to avoid the prohibition of subdivision 1 of section 108 by the simple renewal of notes representing an indebtedness wherein the transaction is only a modification of the terms of payment together with an increased interest rate, it is doubtful that the language "Upon advances of money, repayable on demand” would have been used (emphasis supplied). There are questions of fact to be resolved. Accordingly, the bank’s motion for summary judgment for interest and to dismiss the counterclaim was properly denied.

II—PAROL EVIDENCE

The remaining issue is whether or not Special term erred in finding that parol evidence precluded the defense of a misapplication of collateral security.

The record establishes that as between the defendants and the bank there is a note for $100,000 payable on demand by defendants and a security agreement dated January 31, 1969. The security agreement refers solely to the convertible debentures of Conelec, Inc. and the shares in Scan-Data Corporation and Data-Ram Corporation.

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

Related

Leumi Financial Corp. v. Richter
216 N.E.2d 579 (New York Court of Appeals, 1966)
Traders' National Bank v. Laskin
144 N.E. 784 (New York Court of Appeals, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 A.D.2d 383, 388 N.Y.S.2d 703, 1976 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 14051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marine-midland-bank-southern-v-thurlow-nyappdiv-1976.