National Surety Co. v. Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Co.

222 S.W. 597, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 1376
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 26, 1919
DocketNo. 6272.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 222 S.W. 597 (National Surety Co. v. Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Surety Co. v. Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Co., 222 S.W. 597, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 1376 (Tex. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinions

COBBS, J.

This suit was filed in the district court of Atascosa county, Tex., by the Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Company, originally against only the Atascosa County State Bank, plaintiff seeking to recover from said bank judgment for $7,182 alleged to have been deposited by it with said bank, and payment of which amount had been refused by said bank. The bank filed its answer, making the National Surety Company a party, and seeking judgment over against it for any amount that might be recovered against the bank by the plaintiff. Later the plaintiff amended its petitidh and made the National Surety. Company a party.

Trial before the court, without a jury, resulted in a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Company, against both defendants for the sum of $7,-036.30, with 6 per cent, interest thereon from date of said judgment, and in judgment in favor of the defendant Atascosa County State Bank over against the National Surety Company for so much of the judgment in' favor of the plaintiff .as said bank should have to pay.

The case went to trial on plaintiff’s second amended original petition, in which the ice company sued both of the defendants, namely, the bank and the surety company. Plaintiff alleges that it had deposited a large sum of money in said bank, and that of said money the cashier of said bank, to wit, R. L. AVitt, wrongfully abstracted and willfully misapplied $7,1S2 thereof, and the pleadings set up the manner in which said Witt accomplished this, namely, by executing checks and charges, wrongfully and without authority, and by taking the money himself. The petition alleges that said Witt was in complete control of the bank, and took advantage of his position to wrongfully abstract and misappropriate said money. The plaintiff’s petition alleges that at the time this occurred, the surety company was bound by a bond or contract of indemnity to [599]*599the extent of $10,000, and this contract of indemnity provided that the'surety company would indemnify the hank or any person or persons that may be damaged by the said Witt willfully abstracting or wrongfully misapplying any money during the course of his employment with said bank, and the petition alleges that the said bond was for the benefit, not only of said bank, but also of the plaintiff and all other persons.

The defendant bank answered, and by way of cross-action averred that if in fact it was indebted to the plaintiff, Water & Light Company, in the amount claimed in. said pleading, such indebtedness was by reason of the fact that the charges made by the defendant against the plaintiff, mentioned in said Exhibit D, attached to plaintiff’s fiist amended original petition, were not authorized by the plaintiff, but were made by R. L. Witt wrongfully abstracting and willfully misapplying the moneys represented by the charges set forth in said Exhibit D, and that said R. L. Witt was the cashier of the defendant bank and in full charge and control of its business, and that if said charges were not authorized by plaintiff, then said R. L. Witt wrongfully abstracted and willfully misapplied the moneys represented in said charges, and wrongfully charged same to the plaintiff’s account, and that, if defendant was liable to the plaintiff on the facts alleged in plaintiff’s petition, said liability arose by reason of the acts of R. L. Witt in wrongfully abstracting and willfully misapplying the moneys belonging to the defendant and taking and charging same without authority to the account of plaintiff. Defendant further averred that during said year 1916, and at the time said alleged unauthorized charges were made, said R. L. Witt was under bond issued by the appellant surety company, and that by virtue of said bond the surety company had contracted and agreed that it would hold the appellee bank harmless against and pay to it such pecuniary loss as it may sustain of money or other valuables embezzled, wrongfully abstracted, or willfully misapplied by said R. L. Witt in the course of his employment by the defendant during the period of time that said bond was in full force and effect; and that said bond was in full force and effect upon the dates upon which the various charges referred to in Exhibit D appeared to have been made, and was in full force -and effect upon the dates the said R. L. Witt wrongfully abstracted and willfully misapplied so much of the money as is referred to in Exhibit D of plaintiff’s said first amended original petition, and the defendant ap-pellee bank further alleged that it had notified the surety company of the claim that had been made upon it by the plaintiff, and that, if it was liable to the plaintiff as claimed in plaintiff’s first amended original petition, then in such event the surety company was liable to it in the same amount, because if such liability existed, the same was due to the said R. L. Witt wrongfully abstracting and willfully misapplying the funds of the defendant bank, and wrongfully charging same to the plaintiff without authority. Defendant further averred that R. L. Witt was insolvent, and had departed for parts unknown to defendant, and for that reason was not made a party to the proceeding, and said defendant bank prayed that, in the event any judgment was rendered against it in favor of plaintiff, it might have judgment over against the National Surety Company for the same amount, by reason of the liability existing because of said bond, and for general and special relief.

Thereupon, on October 15, 1018, the surety company filed its plea in abatement and original answer to the cross-action filed in said proceeding against it by the bank. In this answer it set up, in substance,.the following: (1) It pleaded in abatement of said cross-action, setting up a misjoinder of causes of action and of parties, as set out in assignments of error relating to the same; (2) a general demurrer; (3) certain special demurrers, raising in main the same issues of misjoinder of parties and of causes of action contained in said plea in abatement; (4) a general denial; (5) it averred a breach of the warranties contained in the application for said bond, the details of which are more fully set forth; (6) that if such bond was issued, it contained a provision with respect to the giving of the notice of loss under the bond, which was breached by the bank. It is not necessary to more fully set forth the substance of the allegations of this pleading.

The exceptions and pleas of all the parties were overruled.

The trial court filed the following:

“Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law.
“1. The Atascosa County State Bank is indebted to the Atascosa Ice, Water & Light Company in the sum of $6,782, being the aggregate of all of the items set forth in Exhibit D of plaintiff’s second amended original petition, except the item of $350 under date of March 25, 1916.
“2. The said sum of $6,782, which is owing to plaintiff by the Atascosa County State Bank, is owing by virtue of the fact that the plaintiff deposited with the Atascosa County State Bank $6,782 more money than the Atascosa County State Bank is willing to return to the plaintiff.
“3. During the year 1916, R. L. Witt wrongfully abstracted and willfully misapplied money to the extent of $6,782. The dates and the amounts of such money so willfully abstracted and wrongfully misapplied by R. L.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 S.W. 597, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 1376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-surety-co-v-atascosa-ice-water-light-co-texapp-1919.