Metro Trust Co. ex rel. Huber v. Northwestern Savings & Loan Ass'n

654 S.W.2d 631, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 3349
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 1983
DocketNo. 44900
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 654 S.W.2d 631 (Metro Trust Co. ex rel. Huber v. Northwestern Savings & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metro Trust Co. ex rel. Huber v. Northwestern Savings & Loan Ass'n, 654 S.W.2d 631, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 3349 (Mo. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

KAROHL, Judge.

Plaintiffs Metro Trust Company, as guardian for Rita Marie Huber, and Nancy Jean Huber, for herself, jointly petitioned the trial court for equitable relief requesting (1) an accounting of custodial accounts opened and deposited with defendant Northwestern Savings & Loan, under the Missouri Uniform Gift To Minors Law, Chapter 404 RSMo 1978,1 (2) cancellation of liens on these accounts and (3) restitution of the balances in the accounts. The parties agreed at trial that an accounting had been furnished and that issue was withdrawn from the case. The trial court rendered a judgment in favor of defendant solely upon a finding that plaintiffs had sustained no loss and were therefore not entitled to any equitable relief.

Plaintiffs based their appeal upon two points: (1) that the court erred in failing to find and assess proven damages; and (2) that the court erred in granting defendant the benefit of the doctrine of equitable tracing of funds. Plaintiffs argue that because the defendant made unauthorized loans to the fiduciary in her individual capacity and accepted a pledge of the custodial accounts as security for the loans, defendant was not entitled to equitable relief. Defendant filed a counterclaim against plaintiff Metro Trust Company and plaintiff Nancy Jean Huber praying judgment for any sums awarded to the plaintiffs. In finding for defendant on plaintiffs’ petition, the trial court denied defendant’s alternative counterclaim and defendant filed a cross-appeal. A motion to consolidate appeals was granted and we consider the cross-appeals as one case. Punch v. Hipolito Co., 340 Mo. 53, 100 S.W.2d 878, 880 (1936).

D. Alviena Huber, a widow and the mother of Rita Marie Huber and Nancy Jean Huber, established savings accounts with defendant Northwestern Savings & Loan Association. Mrs. Huber opened the first account on August 15, 1973, with a $49,500 deposit in the name “Mrs. D. Alviena Huber Custodian for Rita Marie Huber under the Uniform Gifts To Minor’s Act.” On August 5, 1975, Mrs. Huber opened a second account, depositing $6,800 with defendant also in her name as custodian for Nancy Jean Huber under the same statute.

On August 29, 1973, Mrs. Huber borrowed $27,088.62 from defendant, giving as security the account which she held as custodian for her daughter, Rita. Thereafter she borrowed an additional $17,000 and pledged the same account. Both loans were to Mrs. Huber in her individual capacity and she applied the funds to her own use. Subsequently, she withdrew $18,404.44 from the account and repaid the $17,000 loan with interest.

On the day Mrs. Huber opened the second account, she borrowed $6,120 from defendant in her individual capacity, and pledged as security the second account which she held as custodian for Nancy.

Mrs. Huber died intestate on April 20, 1976, leaving as her sole heirs her daughters, Rita Marie Huber and Nancy Jean Huber. Plaintiff Metro Trust Company served as guardian of the girls’ estate and as administrator of Mrs. Huber’s estate. In its capacity as guardian Metro Trust made no claim against Mrs. Huber’s probate estate for the return of funds wrongfully withdrawn or payment of balances due on the loans secured by the accounts. Nor did it make a demand upon defendant to take charge of the custodial account balances, free from any security liens, during the probate claim period applicable to the es[634]*634tate. § 473.360 RSMo 1969 (amended). Had Metro Trust done so, defendant would have been alerted to make a cross-claim against the probate estate. Even without a demand by plaintiff Metro as guardian, defendant could have made a claim on the loan balances, failed to do so, and is now barred by the non-claim statute applicable at the time, § 473.360 RSMo 1969.

At the time of trial Rita’s account balance was $42,816.23. Because of the pledge of the account to secure the $27,088.62 loan, defendant claimed the balance was subject to a lien of that amount, as principal, plus $13,605.90 interest, for a total of $40,694.52. Defendant also claimed that the balance in Nancy’s account, $8,742.60 was subject to a lien in the amount of $6,120.00 plus $3,110.12 interest, for a total of $9,230.12.

The evidence was undisputed that Mrs. Huber used the $27,088.62 loan to buy real estate which remained in her name at the time of her death. Mrs. Huber deposited the $17,000 loan proceeds in a checking account in her name which had a balance of $28,154.72 at the time of her death. The proceeds of the $6,120.00 loan may also have been deposited to this checking account.

The intestate estate of Mrs. Huber distributed $690,000 to the guardianship estates of her two daughters. In addition, $350,000 was distributed to these guardianship estates from an ancillary estate of Mrs. Huber probated in Florida.

The trial court found that if Mrs. Huber borrowed funds from the custodial accounts in her individual capacity and thereby breached her fiduciary duty, then the equivalent assets became a part of her estate which her daughters received by probate, and that they therefore sustained no loss and were not entitled to equitable relief. The court held that the daughters would have been unjustly enriched by the application of equitable remedies under these circumstances. It made no express finding as to whether defendant would have otherwise been liable for a breach of its fiduciary duty in its capacity as a depository. Uniform Fiduciaries Law, §§ 456.240-.350.

The trial court found, however, that the collateral pledge cards and withdrawal cards were signed “Mrs. D. Alviena Huber” and loan proceeds checks to Mrs. Huber were made payable to “Mrs. D. Alviena Huber.” The words “as custodian” were not printed or typed after her signature as they were on signature cards used to open the accounts.

A gift made under the Uniform Gift To Minor’s Law is “irrevocable and conveys to the minor indefeasibly vested legal title to the ... money given .... ” § 404.030.1. As a result of the gift naming herself as custodian, Mrs. Huber became a fiduciary with regard to the accounts. § 404.040.9. From the record, it is clear that Mrs. Huber borrowed from defendant, signed the collateral pledge cards, and withdrew money from Rita’s account to pay off one of the loans, solely in her individual capacity, and not as custodian. In so doing, she breached her fiduciary duty as custodian. See Western Casualty & Surety Co. v. First State Bank of Bonne Terre, 390 S.W.2d 913, 919 (Mo.App.1965).

Under several sections of the Uniform Fiduciaries Law, a person who deals with the fiduciary will be held liable to the principal if he has actual knowledge that “the fiduciary is committing a breach of his obligation as fiduciary.” §§ 456.260, 456.-270, 456.280, 456.290, 456.300, and 456.310; Trenton Trust Co. v. Western Surety Co., 599 S.W.2d 481, 491 (Mo. banc 1980). The savings account records disclosed that Mrs. Huber was a custodian, and therefore defendant knew from the outset the fiduciary nature of the accounts. State ex rel. Paden v. Carrel, 597 S.W.2d 167, 174 (Mo.App.1979).

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Bluebook (online)
654 S.W.2d 631, 1983 Mo. App. LEXIS 3349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metro-trust-co-ex-rel-huber-v-northwestern-savings-loan-assn-moctapp-1983.