Ogan v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Chillicothe

90 S.W.2d 438, 231 Mo. App. 11, 1936 Mo. App. LEXIS 140
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 27, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 90 S.W.2d 438 (Ogan v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Chillicothe) 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
Ogan v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Chillicothe, 90 S.W.2d 438, 231 Mo. App. 11, 1936 Mo. App. LEXIS 140 (Mo. Ct. App. 1936).

Opinions

The plaintiff by his petition seeks a reclassification of a claim for $1832.18, and its allowance as preferred against the Farmers Merchants Bank of Chillicothe, an insolvent banking institution in liquidation in the hands of the State finance department with O.H. Moberly, commissioner of finance, and G.E. Lancaster, deputy commissioner, in charge of its affairs, which claim had (in the course of the proceedings in liquidation of the affairs of said bank in the circuit court of Livingston county) been presented to the commissioner and allowed as a common claim and had been reported to the circuit court by him and had been approved by said court as a common claim.

The petition was filed in August, 1934, in the circuit court of Livingston county, entitled "In the Matter of the Farmers Merchants Bank of Chillicothe, Missouri, in Liquidation. Suit for Preferential Allowance of Claim. Richard Irvin Ogan, Plaintiff vs. Farmers Merchants Bank of Chillicothe, Missouri, in Liquidation; O.H. Moberly, Commissioner of Finance; G.E. Lancaster, Special Deputy Commissioner of Finance in Charge, Defendants."

The petition is as follows:

"(Suit for Reclassification of Claim and for Preferential Allowance of Claim.)

"For his ground of relief against the defendants, the plaintiff states the following facts:

"Defendant Farmers Merchants Bank of Chillicothe, Missouri, at all times herein mentioned, was and now is a duly incorporated bank, and now is in liquidation at the hands of the Banking Department of the State of Missouri, of which O.H. Moberly is commissioner of finance, with G.E. Lancaster duly appointed special deputy commissioner of finance in charge of the liquidation of defendant bank. *Page 13

"Plaintiff Richard Irvin Ogan became twenty-one years of age on December 27, A.D. 1931. Plaintiff's father was Dr. Emmett F. Ogan of Chula, Missouri, who departed this life about 1917, the plaintiff then being a minor of tender years.

"The plaintiff inherited a sum in excess of nineteen hundred ($1900.00) from the estate of his said father. One F.V. Ross was appointed guardian and curator of the estate of the plaintiff, and about nineteen hundred dollars ($1900.00) in money came into the hands of F.V. Ross as such guardian and curator of the plaintiff.

"Instead of investing said money or loaning it as is provided by R.S. 1929, Section 418, and instead of investing or loaning said money according to any other legal method, said F.V. Ross loaned the same on the security of a note and chattel mortgage on personal property.

"Afterwards, and in 1926, the judge of the Probate Court of Livingston County, Missouri, collected about eighteen hundred thirty-two dollars and eighteen cents ($1832.18) of said money which had been illegally loaned by said F.V. Ross, took said money to the officers of the Farmers Merchants Bank of Chillicothe and explained all of the foregoing facts and circumstances to said officers of said bank, and made a special deposit of said money as a trust fund for the use and benefit of the plaintiff, fully informing said officers of all of the foregoing facts at the time of making such special deposit — that is, that said money belonged to a minor, Plaintiff Richard Irvin Ogan — that said money had been illegally loaned by said F.V. Ross, that he, the judge of the probate court, had collected said money, and that he, said judge, then and there was depositing the same for the use and benefit of said minor — that no one had a right to withdraw said money from such special deposit — that said money could be invested or loaned only in the manner provided by law — whereupon said officers of said bank took and accepted said sum of money as a special deposit and a trust fund for the use and benefit of said minor, the plaintiff here.

"Afterwards, and on October 12, A.D. 1931, while plaintiff was then a minor and under guardianship as previously stated, said bank closed its doors and was placed in the hands of the Banking Department of the State of Missouri and in charge of the commissioner of finance.

"Afterwards, and on the 2nd day of January, A.D. 1932, and within the time provided by law, the plaintiff by his agent, Floyd V. Ross, filed a claim for the amount of eighteen hundred thirty-two dollars and eighteen cents ($1832.18) being the amount of said special deposit and trust fund, which claim was filed by said agent as a general or common claim, which amount of said special deposit and trust fund was duly allowed and approved by W.G. Kent as special *Page 14 deputy commissioner of finance on April 15, A.D. 1932, duly approved by the court, and duly listed and filed with other claims in the office of the recorder of deeds.

The true facts of said special deposit and trust fund were not made known to said special deputy commissioner and to the court, at the time of the transactions aforesaid.

"Said special deposit as a trust fund was made while the defendant bank was open and transacting business as such.

"The funds and resources of the defendant bank were increased and enhanced by the amount and to the extent of said special deposit so made for the plaintiff in 1926. The defendant bank became a trustee of the money of the plaintiff so deposited by said judge of the probate court.

"The title to said money did not pass to the defendant bank, but, the ownership thereof remained and still remains in the plaintiff, Richard Irvin Ogan. On October 12, A.D. 1931, the defendant bank ceased to function as a bank and passed into the hands of the banking department of the State of Missouri for liquidation, at which time and in which circumstances the defendant bank had cash in its till and in its vaults and in its physical possession, and in money deposited with solvent banks, being an amount of money largely in excess of said special deposit so made for the plaintiff, and, at which time said special deposit had not been withdrawn and which special deposit was in the possession of the defendant bank at the time it closed its doors and ceased to transact business.

"The defendant bank has been in the process of liquidation continuously since October 12, A.D. 1931. The special deposit so made for the plaintiff, as aforesaid, had not been withdrawn or paid to the plaintiff or to anyone for him prior to October 12, A.D. 1931, and said special deposit is still in the hands of the defendant bank and the liquidating agents thereof as a trust fund due the plaintiff.

"By the making of said special deposit in the circumstances aforesaid, the relation of debtor was not created and did not exist, but, the relation of trust and confidence was created and did exist, and said special deposit became a trust fund only and the plaintiff is entitled, by reason of said facts, to have said sum of said special deposit declared to be a trust fund and impressed on all the property of the defendant bank and entitled to have the preferential payment thereof over general creditors.

"Substantially all of the assets, property, and funds of the defendant bank are intact and are in possession of the codefendants of the defendant bank, being the previously named officers. O.H. Moberly, commissioner of finance, and G.E. Lancaster, special deputy commissioner of finance in charge, have sufficient funds on hand to pay the claim of the plaintiff in full, and have in their hands a large sum of money far in excess of the amount necessary to pay said trust *Page 15 fund due the plaintiff, in cash, in lawful money of the United States, or the equivalent thereof, as and for the assets and property of the defendant bank in liquidation.

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Bluebook (online)
90 S.W.2d 438, 231 Mo. App. 11, 1936 Mo. App. LEXIS 140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ogan-v-farmers-merchants-bank-of-chillicothe-moctapp-1936.