Peavy-Moore Lumber Co. v. First National Bank

128 S.W.2d 1158, 133 Tex. 467, 125 A.L.R. 1185, 1939 Tex. LEXIS 331
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 1939
DocketNo. 7272.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 128 S.W.2d 1158 (Peavy-Moore Lumber Co. v. First National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peavy-Moore Lumber Co. v. First National Bank, 128 S.W.2d 1158, 133 Tex. 467, 125 A.L.R. 1185, 1939 Tex. LEXIS 331 (Tex. 1939).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Judge Smedley

delivered the opinion of the Commission of Appeals, Section B.

The Court of Civil Appeals for the Ninth Supreme Judicial District has certified five questions to this court, pending decision of motion for rehearing filed in that court after its reversal of the district court’s judgment and rendition of judgment in favor of appellant.

The facts set out in the certificate are in substance as follows : On August 3, 1935, Long Island Machinery & Equipment Company, Inc., of New York City, New York, hereinafter referred to as Long Island Company, was indebted to appellant, Peavy-Moore Lumber Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Peavy-Moore, in the sum of $1894.95. The Long Island Company was engaged in interstate commerce, and Jack Carson, brother of its president, Frank Carson, represented it as a buying and selling agent in southeastern Texas and western *470 Louisiana; his agency was limited to the extent that his dealings with his principal’s customers were subject to ratification by his principal. On the 3rd day of August, 1935, Jack Garson drew and delivered to a teller of The First National Bank of Beaumont (hereinafter referred to as the bank) for collection the following described draft: drawn on a form of customer’s draft used by the said bank, dated at Beaumont, Texas, August 3, 1935, payable to the order of The First National Bank of Beaumont, Texas, for the sum of $1,000.00, drawn on Long Island Machinery & Equipment Company, Inc., 25 West 43rd St., New York, New York, signed “Jack Garson.” On the face of the draft immediately after the words “One Thousand Dollars,” the amount of the draft, and above the name of the drawee and the signature of the drawer, appear in parenthesis the following words typed in capital letters: “For account Peavy-Moore Lbr. Co.” The words last quoted are followed by another phrase in parenthesis but not in capital letters: “to apply on account loading rails at Starks, La. and Lunita, La.” This draft was forwarded by the bank in due course, was presented to the Long Island Company and duly paid by it, and the proceeds were remitted to the bank. Instead of crediting the proceeds of the draft to Peavy-Moore the bank paid the proceeds to Jack Garson under the following collection receipt given by him to the teller at the time the draft was presented for collection:

“FIRST national bank

BEAUMONT, TEXAS 8/3/35

ENTERED FOR COLLECTION

By Jack Garson

c/o Hotel Bmt.

Item Draft dated 8/3 Due S $1,000.00

Payer

Maker Self on Long Island Mach. & Equip. Co.,

N.Y.

Remarks:...........

Apply Proceeds.........C. C. Hold

Signature of Customer JACK GARSON”

The words “apply proceeds . . . C. C. Hold” meant for the bank to convert the proceeds into a cashier’s check payable to Jack Garson to be held and delivered to him. Payment was made to Garson in that manner. Garson cashed the cashier’s check, and was given part of its proceeds in cash and the balance in a second’s cashier’s check payable to his order. Peavy-Moore *471 was not a customer of the bank and carried no account with it. The bank knew nothing of the business relations between Peavy-Moore and the Long Island Company, nor that the Long Island Company was indebted to Peavy-Moore, except as advised of that fact by the wording of the draft copied above. On this point, in accepting the draft, the teller read all the language of the draft and, on the trial of this case, had an independent recollection of the contents of the draft. After the bank paid the amount of the draft to Jack Carson Peavy-Moore received from the Long Island Company a check for $894.90, endorsed in full settlement of its account, which Peavy-Moore refused to accept. In the negotiations relating to this check Peavy-Moore learned for the first time that Jack Carson had drawn the draft and had converted the proceeds to his own use. When advised of these facts, at first Peavy-Moore refused to recognize that the payment was made for its benefit, but later it took the position that the Long Island Company had paid the bank the amount of the draft for its account, and that the bank had its money. Thereupon on the 6th day of December, 1935, Peavy-Moore filed this suit against the bank on the theory that the draft was drawn for its account, that the bank so accepted the draft and thereby became bound to collect it and to hold the proceeds subject to its order; that the proceeds constituted a trust fund for its benefit and, by paying the money to Jack Carson, the bank breached its trust and became liable to pay it the sum of $1,000.00, with interest at 6 per cent per annum from the 3rd day of August, 1935, for all of which it prayed judgment. The bank answered by demurrers, general denial, and special pleas to the eifeet that the language of the draft “ (for account peavy moore lbr. go.) (to apply on account loading rails at Starks, La., and Lunita, La.) ” was “merely a memorandum for the convenience of parties other than the bank,” and not an instruction to the bank directing that the funds be paid to Peavy-Moore, and further that “the bank was required as a matter of law to obey the instructions of the drawer of said draft as to disposition of the proceeds,” referring to the collection receipt, the written memorandum copied above. On trial before the court without a jury judgment was entered in favor of the bank, supported by conclusions of fact and law, which were duly excepted to by Peavy-Moore.

The following questions are certified:

“question no. 1. In accepting the draft for collection in the form drawn, did The First National Bank make itself a *472 trustee to hold the funds when collected for the account of Peavy-Moore Lumber Company ?

“question NO. 2. When the draft in issue was presented for collection to Long Island Machinery & Equipment Company, Inc., at its office at 25 West 43rd Street, New York, N. Y., and there paid, and when the proceeds of the collection were returned to The First National Bank of Beaumont, at Beaumont, Texas, did it hold the proceeds of 'the collection as trustee to pay the funds to the Peavy-Moore Lumber Company?

“QUESTION NO. 3. Did the language ‘(for account peavymoore lbr. CO) (to apply on account loading rails at Starks, La., and Lunita, La.)’, appearing as and where it did on the draft, amount only to a ‘memorandum’ for the benefit of Long Island Machinery & Equipment Company, Inc., and its agent Jack Garson, or did it constitute a direction to The First National Bank for application of the funds when collected?

“question NO. 4. If you should answer that the language of the draft certified by Question No. 3 amounted merely to ‘a memorandum’, then, on the peculiar facts of this case, was The First National Bank liable to Peavy-Moore for the $1,000.00, as held in the majority opinion?

“question no. 5. After Jack Garson wrote the draft in issue and delivered it to The First National Bank for collection, or in connection with the delivery of the draft, he executed and filed with the bank the following written instructions:

‘FIRST NATIONAL BANK

By Jack Garson c/o Hotel Bmt.

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Bluebook (online)
128 S.W.2d 1158, 133 Tex. 467, 125 A.L.R. 1185, 1939 Tex. LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peavy-moore-lumber-co-v-first-national-bank-tex-1939.