Metropolitan Savings Bank & Trust Co. of Pittsburgh v. Farmers' State Bank of Rosalie

20 F.2d 775, 1927 U.S. App. LEXIS 2637
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJuly 23, 1927
DocketNo. 7734
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 20 F.2d 775 (Metropolitan Savings Bank & Trust Co. of Pittsburgh v. Farmers' State Bank of Rosalie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Metropolitan Savings Bank & Trust Co. of Pittsburgh v. Farmers' State Bank of Rosalie, 20 F.2d 775, 1927 U.S. App. LEXIS 2637 (8th Cir. 1927).

Opinion

MOLYNEAUX, District Judge.

This is a suit brought by plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as “plaintiff,” against the Farmers’ State Bank of Rosalie, Neb., a cor-,poration, et al., defendants in error, hereinafter referred to as “defendants,” to recover on a certificate of deposit, dated July 12, 1924, for $5,000, bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum, made and delivered by the defendant Farmers’ State Bank, to the' Metropolitan National Bank of Pittsburgh, Pa., and assigned by it to plaintiff.

The plaintiff filed its petition in the court below on April 28, 1926. At that time the defendant hank was being operated as a “going concern” by an agent of the guaranty [776]*776fund commission of the state of Nebraska, and had been so operated since April, 1925. The only party defendant was the Farmers’ State Bank of Rosalie, Neb. Summons was first served upon W. G. Barbour, the agent of the guaranty fund commission, then operating the bank as a “going concern”; but, objections to the jurisdiction having been filed by C. M. Skiles, general counsel for the commission, signing as attorney for the defendant bank, an alias summons was issued and served upon the president of the bank.

Mr. Skiles, on behalf of the guaranty fund commission, then filed a motion to dismiss the action on the ground that, since April 23, 1925, the hank had been in the possession and under the management and control of the commission, which was an agency of the state of Nebraska; that the action was, in effect, against the state, which could not be sued without its consent; and that such consent had not been given.

The motion was sustained by the court below on November 18, 1926, and the action was thereupon dismissed by the court. Thereafter a motion was filed by the plaintiff in error to set aside the order of dismissal, and upon the hearing of this motion the court permitted two additional affidavits to be filed and considered; but on December 11, 1926, the court entered an order adhering to its previous ruling. The ease is here on writ of error.

The assignments of error may be summarized as follows:

(1) The action was against the Farmers’ State Bank of Rosalie, Neb., a corporation, defendant. Neither the state of Nebraska, nor any officer, agent, or agency of the state, was joined as a defendant. It was not, directly or indirectly, an action against the state, and the court erred in so holding, and in applying the rule that this action cannot be maintained, because the state had not consented to be sued.

(2) The court erred in holding that the statutes of Nebraska, prescribing the powers and duties of the guaranty fund commission in relation to state banks, forbid the maintenance of actions against a banking corporation while the bank is being operated by the commission as a “going concern.”

(3) If the state law, properly construed, forbids the maintenance of suits against a bank while being operated by the commission as a “going concern,” the law, as so construed, ought not to be enforced, because it is violative of the constitutional rights of the plaintiff in error under both the state and federal Constitutions, and the court erred in giving effect thereto.

The statutes of Nebraska applicable to the issues are as follows:

“See. 7982, Comp. St. Neb. 1922: The department of trade and commerce shall have general supervision and control of banks and banking under the laws of this state and no person or persons shall be permitted to engage in or transact a banking business save corporations having complied with the provisions of this article. Said department of trade and commerce shall succeed to all the rights, powers, duties and responsibilities of the state banking board as now existing and as such-shall be entitled to all the records, books, files and papers thereof, and shall exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties of such board under the laws of this state.”
“Sec. 8024, Comp. St. Neb. 1922: For the purpose of providing a guaranty fund for the protection of depositors in banks, every corporation engaged in the business of banking under the laws of this state, shall be subject to assessment to be levied, kept, collected and applied as hereinafter provided: Provided, such guaranty fund assessed against co-operative banks shall be kept separate and apart from that assessed against commercial and savings banks, and shall be known and referred to as ‘co-operative bank protective fund’ and shall be applied solely to the benefit of the depositors in co-operative banks who shall be limited to the benefit of such guaranty fund which shall be levied and applied in all respects and manner as the guaranty fund required of commercial and savings banks. The term guaranty fund or depositors’ guaranty fund as used in this article shall, when having reference to co-operative banks, be designated, called and construed to mean ‘cooperative bank protective fund.’ ”
“Sections 8025 to 8028, inclusive, provide the method of assessments upon state banks to create and maintain the guaranty fund. It is made up entirely of contributions by state banks in proportion to their deposits, and the contribution of each bank is limited to a fixed percentage of its deposits. Section 8028 was amended in 1923 (chapter 191, p. 452, § 26, Sess. Laws 1923) with respect to the percentage of contribution in case the fund shall become depleted.
“Sections 1 to 7, inclusive, of chapter 191, Sess. Laws of 1923, created the guaranty fund commission, and provided for its organization and general powers. The state was divided into seven banking groups, and from each of these groups the Governor was directed to appoint one member of the commission, who was required to be an executive officer of [777]*777some state bank in active service as such for the preceding live years. These appointees of the Governor remained in office only for a few months, until meetings of the state bankers could be held in each group, at which three state bankers were selected, and the Governor was required to appoint the permanent members of the commission from the individuals thus designated by the state bankers. The secretary (head) of the department of trade and commerce was ex officio chairman of the commission. The compensation and expenses of the commission were paid by an additional assessment upon the state banks.
“Sections 1, 4, and 5 of chapter 30 of the Session Laws of 1925 provide the method by which, and the conditions under which, a state bank may be taken over by the department of trade and commerce and placed in charge of the guaranty fund commission, and what the commission may do with such bank thereafter, either through operation of a ‘going concern’ or liquidation by means of court procedure.”
“Section 1. Banks, When Taken Over.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 F.2d 775, 1927 U.S. App. LEXIS 2637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/metropolitan-savings-bank-trust-co-of-pittsburgh-v-farmers-state-bank-ca8-1927.