Owen v. Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Co.

162 So. 8, 182 La. 347, 1935 La. LEXIS 1602
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedApril 29, 1935
DocketNo. 33282.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 162 So. 8 (Owen v. Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Owen v. Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Co., 162 So. 8, 182 La. 347, 1935 La. LEXIS 1602 (La. 1935).

Opinion

FOURNET, Justice.

. Plaintiff originally filed suit against the Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Company for the sum of $2,500, representing the proceeds of a check drawn on the Chase National Bank of Panama, alleged to have been deposited by him on August 14, 1933, with the defendant bank for collection. Subsequently the bank went into liquidation, and the bank commissioner and his special agent were made parties to the suit. After trial of the case, the judge of the district court granted judgment in favor of the plaintiff and made the judgment executory against any property or assets of the bank. From the judgment an appeal was taken to this court. We annulled the judgment and remanded the case to the district court “to be proceeded with according to law.” Owen v. Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Co., 180 La. 747, 157 So. 549, 551.

We remanded the case because the district judge erroneously excluded the defendant’s evidence and granted the plaintiff an executory judgment beyond the prayer of his petition.

In due course the plaintiff filed an amendment to his original petition, claiming a privilege under the provisions of Act No. 63 of 1926, and amended the prayer of his petition accordingly. Whereupon the defendant filed a motion to strike the amended petition from the record, for the reasons that it came too late, changed the issues, and that an amendment is not permitted where issue is joined and the amendment is to escape the issue. This motion was denied by the court. The defendant then attempted to file an exception of no cause or right of action, and the court refused to allow the filing thereof. In both instances the pleadings were made part of this record by attaching them to bills of exceptions.

Defendant filed a plea of estoppel, the basis of which is that the plaintiff, having withdrawn his 5 per cent, of the deposit after the bank closed on August 24, 1933, consented to and ratified the proceedings taken by the defendant by implication. This plea was overruled by the district judge.

Defendant finally filed an answer to the supplemental petition, denying the allegations thereof and averring that the plaintiff had deposited the proceeds with the bank and was not entitled to a preference under Act No. 63 of 1926.

The case was tried and the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff according to the prayer of his amended petition. The defendant has appealed.

We will first dispose of defendant’s motion to strike out the supplemental and amended petition. It appears to us that the original petition sufficiently indicated that plaintiff was seeking a preference and the supplemental petition only amplified the original one. We find no error in the judge’s ruling.

*351 As to defendant’s plea of estoppel and exception of no cause or right of action, it is our opinion that the district judge should have permitted the filing of these pleadings. We also find that the plaintiff’s petition sets forth a cause or right of action. The fact that plaintiff withdrew the 5 per cent, made available to him when the bank was placed on a restricted basis would not have the effect of precluding him from asserting whatever rights he might have in the premises.

Plaintiff contends that the evidence shows he placed the draft with the bank for collection and did not authorize the deposit of the proceeds. Defendant admits that the draft was deposited for collection, but denies that the deposit of the funds was unauthorized.

Plaintiff testified:

“Q. Will you .tell the Court all the conversation you had with Mr. Herbert and Mr. Smith with reference to this check in question and the times you went into the bank and the dates you went .into the bank and talk slow enough so the stenographer can write what you say.
“A. On August 9th I took this draft for $2500 and gave it to Mr. Plerbert and asked him if he would collect it for me. Pie said yes. I asked him if it was going to cost anything if they charged anything for collection as they charged me for collecting a Treasury check and he said he didn’t think there would be and accepted the draft for collection. He did-n’t give me any receipt for the draft and at the time I didn’t think anything about it but on the 12th I went in there again and asked them if they had collected the money. He said no they hadn’t had time. On the 14th I went in again. Mr. Herbert was not in the cage but Mr. Smith was in the cage and I asked him that if it had been collected and Mr. Smith said Mr. Owen, don’t you worry your money is all right. I said, Mr. Smith, I have nothing to show that I gave you a check and anyone can cash that- check and keep it for all I can do about it. Therefore, Mr. Smith wrote out this receipt on a regular deposit form and marked it duplicate and signed it and gave it to me as a receipt that they had received the draft for collection. After that I didn’t have any more anxiety about the check. I left the bank telling Mr. Smith when the money arrived to notify me right away as I wanted to know. I didn’t return to the bank nor received any word until my wife came from uptown and told me the bank had closed and restricted the deposits. That was my first knowledge. I never had any money to run on except the check that I drew that day. I- drew that money that was available to me to pay my running expense. That is the state of affairs.”

Mr. Smith, a former employee of the bank and acting as special agent for the bank commissioner in liquidating the bank, states:

“Q. Mr. Smith, in the original trial the deposit slip was introduced and filed in *353 evidence over the objection of the defendant and showing the deposit, original deposit of $2500, and signed by you as C. C. Smith given under date of August 14th, 1933, and it had written on it ‘Coll.’ Tell the Court when that was given by you, why and. all the facts per•taining thereto.
. “A. On or about August 18th or 19th 'Mr. Owen came into the Tangipahoa Bank & Trust Company and I was standing back of the counter in the bank which is a part of the bank and inquired if a certain check he had left had been paid. I referred to the records of the Bank and found that his account had been' credited with an item of $2500 on August 14th, 1933. I advised Mr. Owen that his account was credited on August 14th with $2500. He then said he would like to get a receipt. I took a deposit slip and I wrote the name of Gilbert B. Owen and ‘Coll’ and signed it putting in the amount and his account was credited on August 14th. The word abbreviated as ‘Coll’ was made for the purpose of identifying a deposit which-represented an item collected in the amount of $2500.
“Q. That ‘Coll’ meant collected and not for collection?
“A. It represented an item collected for which the same had .received credit and the reason why the date was dated the 14th was ,in order to identify the receipt with the exact date that his account was credited.”

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162 So. 8, 182 La. 347, 1935 La. LEXIS 1602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/owen-v-tangipahoa-bank-trust-co-la-1935.