Old National Bank v. Gibson

179 P. 117, 105 Wash. 578
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 20, 1919
DocketNo. 14797
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 179 P. 117 (Old National Bank v. Gibson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Old National Bank v. Gibson, 179 P. 117, 105 Wash. 578 (Wash. 1919).

Opinions

Tolman, J.

Respondent E. J. Gibson drew a check upon his account in the Fidelity National Bank of Spokane in favor of one J. A. White, in the sum of $440. White, upon receipt of the check, deposited the same to his account in the appellant bank. The deposit slip upon which White listed the check for deposit with appellant bank contained the following provision :

“Items'other than cash are received on deposit with the express understanding that they are taken for collection only.”

A conditional credit for such deposit was given the depositor, White, who, on the same day, checked out his entire balance in the appellant bank, including the [579]*579conditional credit derived through the deposit of the Gibson check, and has since made no further deposits. Thereafter, and in due course, the check was returned to appellant through the clearing house, with the notation that payment had been stopped thereon by the maker, Gibson. Appellant then demanded payment of the amount of the check from Gibson, which was refused, and brought this action to recover the amount thereof. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the complaint. Appellant elected to stand upon its complaint, and judgment of dismissal was entered, from which this appeal was taken.

According to the allegations of the complaint, it is appellant’s claim that the check was received by it in the first instance for collection only, according to the terms of the deposit slip, but by later permitting the depositor to check out his entire account, including the amount of the check sued upon, that it thereby became a purchaser for value of such check and entitled to maintain an action against its maker to recover the amount thereof. No rights are based upon the original deposit of the check for collection, but the contention is that the depositor, "White, having been paid the full amount of his balance in reliance upon the check now in suit, then on deposit with it, the relationship of principal and agent which had theretofore existed between the depositor, White, and the appellant bank was terminated, and that it did, upon mailing such payment, cease to hold the check for collection and became a holder in due course under the statute. The question then to be determined is whether, having originally received the check as agent for collection, the bank by honoring White’s checks to an amount which entirely exhausted his balance, including the deposited check, thereby became a holder for value?

[580]*580. The respondent relies principally upon the following cases heretofore decided by this court: Washington Brick, Lime & Mfg. Co. v. Traders Nat. Bank, 46 Wash. 23, 89 Pac. 157, 123 Am. St. 912; Morris-Miller Co. v. Von Pressentin, 63 Wash. 74, 114 Pac. 912; Belsheim v. First Nat. Bank of White Salmon, 77 Wash. 552, 137 Pac. 1055; and American Sav. Bank & Trust Co. v. Dennis, 90 Wash. 547, 156 Pac. 559. Of these cases, as we view them, only the first and the last touch upon the point involved, as no question of the payment of value or of who was a holder in due course was involved, or could have been raised under the facts or pleadings, in either of the other cases.

In Washington Brick, Lime & Mfg. Co. v. Traders, Nat. Bank, supra, there is language employed which seems to lend support to respondent’s position, but when the issues are carefully analyzed, it does not appear that any party to that action was asserting that it had parted with value because of and in reliance upon the instrument, or had become a holder in due course; and while the opinion might have stated the rule defining a holder in due course of negotiable paper, so as to avoid uncertainty and confusion, yet it is evident that the decision was arrived at and can be sustained without in anywise denying that rule.

In American Sav. Bank & Trust Co. v. Dennis, supra, however, this exact question was squarely raised by the pleadings, but appears to have been lost sight of, both in the trial court and in this court. It was decided here upon questions of the admissibility of evidence, and the fundamental question of whether the bank in that case, by payments to its depositor after the check was deposited with it, became a holder for value without notice and in due course was apparently overlooked.

[581]*581It may be frankly conceded that, in this case, the bank received the check for collection in the first instance, or conditionally, with the right to charge it back to the depositor’s account if dishonored; and had no advances been made on account thereof, and so long as the original relationship continued unchanged between the bank and its depositor, the former had no right in, or title to, the check which would be sufficient to constitute it a holder in due course. It may likewise be conceded, for present purposes, as contended for by respondent, that the bank cannot occupy two different and inconsistent positions at the same time. But if the bank did not waive its right or privilege to charge the check back to the depositor upon its dishonor, and yet advanced its money upon the credit of the check so deposited, there is ample authority to support the v-iew that, by making such advances on the credit of the deposited check, it thereby became a holder in due course to the extent of such advances, notwithstanding that it may still have claimed the right to charge the check back to its depositor, if it saw fit. Scott v. McIntyre Co., 93 Kan. 508, 144 Pac. 1002, L. R. A. 1915D 139; Noble v. Doughten, 72 Kan. 336, 83 Pac. 1048, 3 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1167; First Nat. Bank of Elkhart v. Armstrong, 39 Fed. 231.

It is, however, alleged and claimed in this case that, after the making of the deposit and the giving of the conditional credit before referred to, the bank and its depositor made a new and different contract with reference to the deposited check; that the latter, by presenting his own check and demanding the cash for his entire balance, and the bank by accepting such check and paying the depositor his entire balance, in effect made a new contract by which the bank waived the condition in the credit theretofore given, waived its [582]*582right to charge back the check if dishonored, and became the purchaser of the check for value without notice, or a holder in due course. No rule of law is perceived which prevents a bank and its depositors from changing, modifying, or making new and supplemental contracts as often as they may agree so to do. And if any such new or changed and modified contract is material in this case, it appears to be sufficiently alleged. After the deposit of a check and the giving to the depositor of conditional credit therefor, the depositor, by presenting his own check for' the amount of his balance, including such conditional credit, thus established beyond argument his desire and request that the theretofore existing condition in the credit be waived or modified. Upon the presentation by a depositor of a check against such conditional credit, the bank may do any one of a number of things: (1) It may refuse to pay the depositor’s check until assured that the conditional credit shown in the account of the depositor has become absolute by the payment of the deposited check at the bank on which it is drawn. Such a course would be a refusal to waive or contract away the previously agreed upon condition involved in the depositor’s credit.

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Bluebook (online)
179 P. 117, 105 Wash. 578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/old-national-bank-v-gibson-wash-1919.