Norton v. Mercantile Bank & Trust Co. of Texas

51 S.W.2d 1062, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 658
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 23, 1932
DocketNo. 2689.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 51 S.W.2d 1062 (Norton v. Mercantile Bank & Trust Co. of Texas) 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
Norton v. Mercantile Bank & Trust Co. of Texas, 51 S.W.2d 1062, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 658 (Tex. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

On and prior to November 1, 1929, the W. B. Foshay Company, of Minneapolis, Minn., carried a checking account in the Mercantile Bank & Trust Company of Texas, the appel-lee, whose bank is in Dallas. The appellant Laubenheim also carried a-cheeking account in the same bank in the name of C.- Paul Laubenheim, agent. Jn the latter part of October, 1929, the Foshay. Company gave to the appellant Norton three checks drawn tipon the appellee bank, pasible to Norton’s order, and totaling $7,7S0.41. Norton indorsed the checks and sent them''to Laubenheim, who was to cash them and use a part of the proceeds in connection with a matter in which Laubenheim and -Norton were both interested. Upon receipt of the checks, Laubenheim indorsed them and deposited them in his checking account in the Mercantile Rank. This was done shortly before noon on November l, 1929. At the time the deposit was made, the teller at the Mercantile Bank issued to Laubenheim a duplicate deposit slip, and also made an entry in his passbook. The checks were later credited to Laubenheim’s account on the books of the bank as is shown by copy of statement given by the bank to him. At the time the checks were deposited,, the teller at the bank advised Laubenheim they were good. The amount of the checks was charged back to Laubenheim’s account on the day following.

This suit was brought by Norton and Lau-benheim against the bank to recover said sum of $7,7S0.41. The petition is predicated upon the theory that the deposit of the checks and crediting them to the Laubenheim account constituted payment of such checks. It was alleged Norton was the actual owner of tñe checks and entitled to the proceeds thereof and Laubenheim was holding same for the use and benefit of Norton. The prayer was *1063 for recovery by Norton and in the alternative that Laubenheim recover in behalf of Norton. Defendants answered by demurrers, general denial, and special pleas in confession and avoidance.

The first of these defensive pleas need not be noticed, as no point with respect thereto is here made.

Briefly stated, the other defensive pleas are to the effect:

First. The checks were rightfully charged back because at the close of the day’s business there were insufficient funds in the Foshay Company account to pay the same; that it had the right to so charge back the checks by virtue of the written provisions contained in Laubenheim’s passbook and upon the deposit slip. These provisions will be shown later.

Second. That Foshay Company on and pri- or to November 1, 1929, was insolvent and upon that date it was placed in the hands of a receiver; that Foshay Company was heavily indebted to defendant and if, on November 1, 1929, it had a credit balance with defendant, it was charged with a lien in favor of defendant to secure said company’s indebtedness to defendant and defendant had the right to offset such credit balance against said indebtedness.

At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s evidence the defendant moved for an instructed verdict, which was granted.

Upon the undisputed facts, as stated above, the . authorities hold that, in the ab-» sence of fraud or mutual mistake, the- act of the appellee in issuing the' deposit slip to Laubenheim and crediting the amount of the cheeks in his passbook constituted payment of such checks. The legal effect is the same as if the money had been .paid in cash to Laubenheim and he had immediately redeposited the same. The transaction is treated as a closed one. This is especially true in view of the fact that at the time of the deposit Laubenheim was informed by the teller the checks were good.

The leading case to that effect is .Oddie v. Bank, 45 N. Y. 735, 6 Am. Rep. 160, where it is said:

“The legal effect of the transaction was precisely the same as though the money had been first paid to the plaintiffs, and then deposited. When a check is presented to a bank for deposit, drawn directly upon itself, it is the same as though payment in any other form was demanded. It is the right of the bank to reject it, or to refuse to pay it, or to receive it conditionally, as in Pratt v, Foote (9 N. X. 463), but if it accepts such a check and pays it, either by delivering the currency, or giving the party credit for it, the transaction is closed between the bank and such party, provided the paper is genuine.
“In the case of a deposit, the bank becomes at once the debtor of the depositor, and the title of the deposit passes to the bank. The bank always has the means of knowing the state of the account of the drawer, and if it elects to pay the paper, it voluntarily takes' upon itself the risk of securing it out of the drawer’s account or otherwise. If there has ever been any doubt upon this point, there should be none hereafter. A different principle would be applied to checks drawn upon other banks, or paper left for collection. In such cases the presumption of agency might arise.”

In First Nat. Bank v. Burkhardt, 100 U. S. 686, 689, 25 L. Ed. 766, it was said:

“In Morse’s well-considered work on Banking, p. 321, it is said: ‘But if at the time the holder hands in the ch$ck he demands to have it placed to his credit, and is informed that it shall be done, or if he holds any other species of conversation which practically amounts to demanding and receiving a promise of a transfer of credit, as equivalent to an actual payment, the effect will be the .same as if he had received his money in cash, and the bank’s indebtedness to him for the amount will be equally fixed and irrevocable.’
“We regard this as a sound and accurate exposition of the law upon the subject, and it rests upon • a solid basis of reason. The authority referred to sustains the text.
“When a check on itself is offered to a bank as a deposit, the bank has the option to accept or reject it, or to receive it upon such conditions as may be agreed upon. If it be rejected, there is no room for any doubt or question between the parties. If, on the other hand, the check is offered as a deposit and received as a deposit, there being no fraud and the check genuine, the parties are no less bound afid concluded than in the former case. Neither can disavow or repudiate what has been done. The case is simply one of an executed contract. There are the requisite parties, the requisite consideration and the requisite concurrence and assent of the minds of those concerned. It was well said by an eminent Chief Justice: ‘If there has ever been a doubt on this point, there should be none hereafter.’ Oddie v. Bk., 45 N. Y. 735 [6 Am. Rep. 160].”

In Cohen v. Bank, 22 Ariz. 394, 198 P. 122, 124, 15 A. L. R. 701, the court said: “The law is firmly settled that where a check, drawn on a particular bank, is presented to that bank for general deposit, and the bank gives the depositor credit therefor, the relation between the bank and the depositor is that of debtor and creditor, since the giving of credit under such circumstances is practically and legally the same as if the bank had paid the money to the depositor and had received it again on deposit. The transaction is thus complete* *1064

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Bluebook (online)
51 S.W.2d 1062, 1932 Tex. App. LEXIS 658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norton-v-mercantile-bank-trust-co-of-texas-texapp-1932.