Marrison v. Hogue

95 N.E.2d 15, 57 Ohio Law. Abs. 571, 1950 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 353
CourtAshtabula Municipal Court
DecidedJuly 7, 1950
DocketNo. 14515
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 95 N.E.2d 15 (Marrison v. Hogue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ashtabula Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marrison v. Hogue, 95 N.E.2d 15, 57 Ohio Law. Abs. 571, 1950 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 353 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1950).

Opinion

[572]*572OPINION

By PAULINO, J.

This cause came on to be heard by the court on Proceedings in Aid of Execution. On April 5, 1950 a judgment for $511.58 and court costs was recovered by Curtis Marrison, plaintiff, against Farnum F. Hogue and Marleo E. Hogue, also known as Marleah E. Hogue, defendants. Thereafter, on May 19, 1950, a motion and an affidavit for an order in aid of execution was filed and on the same day an order was served on The Farmers National Bank & Trust Company of Ashtabula, Ohio, to appear before the court on May 29, 1950 to answer respecting any liability on the part of the bank to the defendant, Farnum F. Hogue. By agreement of the parties the hearing on the order was continued to June 7, 1950.

The Farmers National Bank and Trust Company, as garnishee, sent two letters to the court which were filed in the office of the Clerk of Court. The first letter dated May 20, 1950 and filed on May 23, 1950 stated as follows:

“Referring to Case No. 14515 Curtis Marrison v. Farnum F. Hogue and wife, we wish to advise that the balance on the checking account of said Hogue at our bank is the sum of $334.57.”

The second letter dated May 25, 1950 and filed on May 26, 1950 stated as follows:

“A few days ago we advised you that there was a balance of $334.57 in a checking account in our bank standing in the name of Farnum F. Hogue.

“Inasmuch as Mr. Hogue is indebted to our bank we are claiming this as an offset and applied it on his loan thus balancing out the account.”

At the hearing held on June 7, 1950, Mr. F. B. Russell, President of The Farmers National Bank and Trust Company, substantiated the statements set forth in the two letters and testified further that the defendant, Farnum F. Hogue, owed the bank the sum of $2067.50 on a demand note dated January 10, 1950; that after the bank had been served with the order in aid of execution the credit balance in the sum of $334.57 in the checking account of the defendant was credited to the note owing the bank and was charged off. On cross examination Mr. Russell testified that no formal demand had been made on Mr. Hogue for payment of the note at the time of the offset nor at any other time.

[573]*573In the brief filed on behalf of the plaintiff it is contended that the bank had no right to appropriate an account of a depositor after an order in aid of execution had been served upon the bank to subject the funds of the defendant toward the payment of the judgment of the plaintiff. In support of this contention plaintiff cites §11837 GC which reads as follows:

When property and garnishee bound. — An order of attachment shall bind the property attached from the time of service. A garnishee shall be liable to the plaintiff in attachment for all property of the defendant in his hands and money and credits due from him to the defendant from the time he is served with the written notice hereinbefore mentioned.* * *

Plaintiff further contended that at the time of the service of the order on the bank there was a balance of $334.57 in the cheeking account of the defendant, Farnum F. Hogue, and that the bank had no right to summarily appropriate these funds, that the bank at the time of being served with the order in aid of execution was honoring checks written by said defendant, that it had made no claim to the funds, that it had made no demand for payment of the note on the defendant, that it had made no attempt to collect the note from the defendant, that the bank failed to sustain its position by having failed to introduce the note in evidence or to exhibit it to the court, and that there had , been no legal determination that defendant was indebted to the bank, and that by summarily appropriating the funds of said defendant, the bank failed to give the defendant, Farnum F. Hogue, the opportunity to set up any defenses he might have had against the claim of the bank.

The defendant, Farnum F. Hogue, filed a brief upholding the position which the bank had taken. His contention was that the bank had a perfect right to summarily appropriate the funds in the checking account to apply on the note owing the bank. He argued that no demand upon him for payment of the note was necessary and that the bank had a prior right to any attaching creditor to set off funds on deposit in his checking account against the note owing by the defendant.

The Courts of the State of Ohio have generally held that a bank has the right to set-off against a deposit the matured debt of a depositor to the bank. This right is given to the bank even after it has been served with a garnishee notice. Cleveland Trust Co. v. Crothers, 15 Abs 445.

Syl 2. The right of set-off given by §11321 GC between persons between whom cross demands have existed gives to a [574]*574bank the right to apply the account of a depositor to a past due mortgage after an order in aid of execution is served on it to reach the depositor’s account.

On page 447 of the above decision the court held as follows:

Finally, it is our opinion that the right of set-off where cross demands exist is given by statute in any case in which suit is brought by the one party in which suit the other party may legally counter-claim. The Bank has the right of set-off at all times up to the amount of the indebtedness past due, indebtedness of the depositor to the bank or vice versa. Service of process in garnishment does not defeat or take away the right, although the right is not asserted and the bookkeeping act of set-off not performed until after service of garnishment process. The provisions of §11772 GC reach only such sum as may remain after the balance is struck.

The leading Ohio cases supporting this proposition of law are as follows:

Bank v. Brewing Company, 50 Oh St 151.

Railroad Co. v. Bank, 54 Oh St 60.

The plaintiff in his brief contended that the note of the bank being a demand note had not become due by reason of the fact that the bank had made no demand upon the defendant for payment and by reason of the fact that the bank had not shown to the Court that it had a valid and mature claim against the defendant. In support of his contention plaintiff cites 3 R. C. L., page 592, Sec. 220, as follows:

As a general rule, in order that a bank may apply a deposit to an indebtedness of a depositor to it, the indebtedness must be due and payable. A debtor in one sum has no lien upon it in his hands, for the payment of a debt owned by him, which has not yet matured; nor has a bank, more than any other debtor. Both hold, as debtors, the moneys of their creditors, and may set up no claim to them not given by the law of set-off, counterclaim, recoupment or kindred rules. And as a bank holding a note of a depositor has no right of set-off, and no valid lien, before the note matures, it has 3en held that if, in the interval before the maturity, the depositor makes an assignment of his funds without the knowledge of the bank, but otherwise legal, the amount of his balance will pass to the assignee.

On the question of a demand for payment being made before a demand note becomes due, plaintiff cites §8176 GC which provides as follows:

When the instrument is not payable on demand presentment must be made on the day it falls due. When it is payable on demand, presentment must be made within a reasonable time after its issue.

[575]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 N.E.2d 15, 57 Ohio Law. Abs. 571, 1950 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marrison-v-hogue-ohmunictashtabu-1950.