Merchants' National Bank of Fort Smith v. Taylor

25 S.W.2d 1048, 181 Ark. 356, 1930 Ark. LEXIS 122
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMarch 17, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 25 S.W.2d 1048 (Merchants' National Bank of Fort Smith v. Taylor) 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
Merchants' National Bank of Fort Smith v. Taylor, 25 S.W.2d 1048, 181 Ark. 356, 1930 Ark. LEXIS 122 (Ark. 1930).

Opinion

Mehaffy, J.

The People’s Bank of Ozark was a State bank, and Walter E. Taylor, as Bank Commissioner of the State of Arkansas, took charge of the People’s Bank of Ozark on February 2'5,1926, for the purpose of administering same pursuant to the laws of Arkansas, and is administering the property and affairs of said bank pursuant to the statutes of Arkansas.

The People’s Bank of Ozark was indebted to the Merchants’ National Bank of Fort Smith, the appellant herein, on a promissory note, bearing date of January 12, 1926, in the sum of $14,915. The appellant was the owner and holder of said note at the time of the failure of the People’s Bank of Ozark, and presented its claim on said note for the sum of $14,915 to the Bank Commissioner, and said claim was allowed by him as a valid general claim. Said note was secured by collateral notes aggregating the snm of $23,742.36, and the proof of the claim showed that the note of the People’s Bank was secured by this collateral.

The Bank Commissioner, with -a view to declaring a dividend, ascertained from tbe appellant the balance due upon the note held by appellant, and was informed that the balance due upon said note after crediting collections frpm collateral was $11,928.56. On July 8, 1926, the Bank Commissioner filed a petition in chancery court, wherein he set out the amount of claims then outstanding* against the People’s Bank of Ozark, including as plaintiff’s claim $11,928.56. The Bank Commissioner asked for an order authorizing him to pay a 10 per cent, dividend on the amount of the claims filed, and he- did pay 10 per cent., to appellant on the $11,928.56, but did not pay a dividend on the $14,915. In other words, the Bank Commissioner paid a dividend on the amount of plaintiff’s claim at the time of the distribution or payment of the dividend.

Before another dividend was paid appellant’s claim had been reduced by collections from the collaterals to $5,177.40 and an 8 per cent, dividend was declared and' paid on this amount. Thereafter, another dividend of 10 per cent, was paid, but at the time it was paid appellant’s claim had been reduced by collections of collateral to $2,638.59, and the 10 per cent, dividend was paid on this amount.

It is the contention of the appellant that all dividends should have been.paid on the full amount of the proved claim, without deducting the collections made from collateral between dividends. In other words, it contends that at the time it filed its claim there was due from the People’s Bank of Ozark $14,915, and that the dividends each time should have been paid on this amount, and not on the amount as reduced by payments from collaterals.

The question to be decided by this court is whether dividends should have been paid on the full amount of plaintiff’s claim filed with the Bank Commissioner, or whether it should have been paid on the actual amounts due it at the time the dividend was paid.

There is considerable conflict in the authorities as to whether a creditor holding collateral must first seek satisfaction out of such collateral, some jurisdictions holding that a secured creditor is entitled to prove his entire claim as though he had no collaterals, and to take a dividend like other creditors, and afterwards to apply the proceeds of the collaterals to the unpaid balance of his claim, turning over the excess, if any there be, to the trustee or receiver or Bank Commissioner for the benefit of other creditors. This is the rule contended for by appellants. And this rule for the payment of a dividend on the full amount of the creditor’s claim without deducting anything received from the collateral held is supported by decisions of the Supreme Court olf the United States, and other Federal courts and some State courts.

The case of Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, 173 U. S. 131, 19 S. Ct. 360, and Aldrich v. Chemical National Bank, 176 U. S. 618, 20 S. Ct. 498, and other authorities cited, are relied on by appellant in this case. The authorities referred to support appellant’s contention. In the case of Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, supra, the court said that counsel agree that four different rules have been applied in the distribution of insolvent estates, and held that rule No. 4 ivas applicable, and that rule is as follows:

£ £ The creditor can prove and receive dividends upon the full amount of his claim, regardless of any sums received from his collateral after the transfer of the assets from the debtor in insolvency, provided, that he shall not receive more than the full amount due him.”

The rule contended for by appellant and sustained by the authorities referred to, is known as the chancery rule. It is contended by the appellant that our statute or banking act is, in effect, a borrowed act, and that it largely follows the National Banking Act of the United States, and that, for that reason, this court should follow the opinion of the United States Supreme Court construing the National Banking Act.

There are several important differences in the statutes which would justify this court in adopting a different rule than that adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States. We have a statute prohibiting preferences among creditors of all insolvent corporations, except for laborers and employees. And Mr. Justice White, in a dissenting opinion in the case of Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, points out very clearly how the application of the chancery rule would result in preferences to secured creditors. Of course, it is important in matters of this sort that there be uniformity, and, for that reason, where this court has not decided the question, it will follow the decision of the United States Supreme Court where the statutes are similar, or where it is a question involving general business dealings of the citizens of different States. As said by this court:

“In such matters it is important that uniformity should obtain in the different jurisdictions, and that but one rule should be applied to the business dealings of the citizens of the different States with each other, so closely interwoven is such business activity and association with the vast commercial life of the nation; and since the United States Supreme Court is the highest court of last resort, and does not follow the decisions of the State courts upon general banking and commercial questions, we will follow it. ’ ’ Sims v. American National Bank of Fort Smith, 98 Ark. 1, 135 S. W. 356; Exchange Natl. Bank v. Coe, 94 Ark. 387, 127 S. W. 453, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 287, 21 Ann. Cas. 934.

We think this question has been settled by the decision of this court in the case of Jamison v. Adler-Goldman Commission Co., 59 Ark. 548, 28 S. W. 35, and that the rule there adopted is applicable here. The statute there construed was not the Banking Act, but the rule adopted by .this court is applicable under the Banking Act, the same as under the statute construed in the Jamison case. In that case the court, speaking through Judge Battle, said: ■ !

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25 S.W.2d 1048, 181 Ark. 356, 1930 Ark. LEXIS 122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merchants-national-bank-of-fort-smith-v-taylor-ark-1930.