People v. Franklin National Bank

200 Misc. 557, 105 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1871
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMay 29, 1951
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 200 Misc. 557 (People v. Franklin National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Franklin National Bank, 200 Misc. 557, 105 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1871 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1951).

Opinion

Cuff, J.

The question before this court is the constitutionality of a statute of the State of New York. By means of a properly instituted proceeding, the New York Attorney-General, in the name of the People of the State of New York, seeks an injunction against defendant, the Franklin National Bank of Franklin Square, Nassau County, New York, a corporation organized and existing under the National Bank Act of the United States, restraining it from using the words “ saving ” or “ savings ” in its publicity and from holding itself out as a savings bank. Plaintiff bases its suit upon subdivision 1 of section 258 of the New York Banking Law, which reads as follows:

“No hank, trust company, national bank, individual, partnership, unincorporated association or corporation other than a [559]*559savings bank or a savings and loan association shall make use of the word ‘ saving ’ or ‘ savings ’ or their equivalent in its banking or financial business, or use any advertisement containing the word ‘ saving ’ or savings, ’ or their equivalent in relation to its banking or financial business, nor shall any individual or corporation other than a savings bank in any way solicit or receive deposits as a savings bank; but nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the use of the word savings ’ in the name of the Savings and Loan Bank of the State of New York or in the name of a trust company all of the stock of which is owned by not less than twenty savings banks. Any bank, trust company, national bank, individual, partnership, unincorporated association or corporation violating this provision shall forfeit to the people of the state for every offense the sum of one hundred dollars for every day such offense shall be continued.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The complaint alleges: that defendant is a national bank organized and existing under the National Bank Act (XL S. Code, tit. 12 § 21 et seq.); that subdivision 1 of section 258 of the New York Banking Law prohibits defendant from using “ saving ” or “ savings ” or their equivalent in its business or in soliciting or receiving deposits as a savings bank; that since 1947, defendant has been using “ saving ” and “ savings ” in its business; that it has solicited accounts by forms of publicity in which it has used the words “ saving” and “ savings ”; that such use of those words was calculated to and did lead the public to believe that defendant was a savings bank ‘ ‘ with all attendant safeguards and benefits ” (par. 6); that the use of “saving” and “savings”, “as aforesaid ”, violated said subdivision 1 of section 258 of the New York Banking Law; that although the Banking Department demanded that defendant desist using those words, defendant refuses to do so; that plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law. Plaintiff demands a permanent injunction against defendant restraining it from using the words “ savings ” or “ saving ”: (1) in its advertising; (2) in its banking or financial business, and (3) as it holds itself out as a savings bank, by the use of a sign, or in its soliciting or receiving of deposits.

The answer admits: that defendant exists by virtue of the laws of Congress (XJ. S. Code, tit. 12, § 21 et seq.); that it is not authorized to do business or hold itself out as a savings bank; that it has been using “ saving ” and “ savings ” in its business since 1947 to solicit savings accounts; that it has [560]*560refused to discontinue its use of those words, although the New York Banking Department has demanded that it desist; that in its use of those two words, it did not try to lead the public to believe that it was a savings bank, nor»does the public so believe. For a complete defense, defendant alleges that subdivision 1 of section 258 of the New York Banking Law is unconstitutional and void insofar as it purports to relate to defendant and national banks because: (a) it conflicts with the Constitution and laws of the United States; (b) it unduly interferes with and hinders the operations of national banks and defendant, frustrating them in accomplishing the purposes for which they were organized, and-(c) it discriminates against defendant and national banks, handicapping them substantially in their competition for savings deposits with savings banks and savings and loan associations.

The allegations in the complaint charging defendant with fraudulently simulating a savings bank and fraudulently holding itself out as a savings bank, were wholly unsupported by evidence at the trial. Defendant offered proof that when its bank was remodeled, the architect and builder were instructed to erect a building which resembled not a savings bank, but a department store and that was done (717). Those charges, I find on the evidence, were completely unfounded; they are dismissed.

The issue at bar is not one of wrongdoing. The Attorney-General seems to acknowledge that by not seeking to recover the penalty of $100 a day which subdivision 1 of section 258 provides for its violation. This case tests the power of the State to legislate as it has (Banking Law, § 258, subd. 1) with relation to national banks. The Attorney-General believes it has that power, while defendant is convinced that it has not.

Defendant has openly employed the words “ saving ” and savings ” as it publicizes the fact that it may receive from the public savings deposits ” in the belief that the State has no control over its use of those words. The defendant relies upon certain provisions found in the Federal Reserve Act, which read in part as follows: national banks may “ continue hereafter as heretofore to receive time and savings deposits and to pay interest on the same, but the rate of interest which such association may pay upon such time deposits or upon savings or other deposits shall not exceed the maximum rate authorized by law to be paid upon such deposits by State Banks or trust companies organized under the laws of the State in which such association is located.” (U. S. Code, tit. 12, § 371.)

[561]*561I will treat with the evidence adduced at the trial. (Numerals in parentheses refer to the stenographer’s minutes.)

The proof offered by plaintiff need not be detailed, because defendant admits all of the facts upon which plaintiff rests its case. It challenges only the motives ascribed by plaintiff that defendant sought to represent itself as a savings bank. Defendant offered proof to negative that deception charge in the complaint. I admitted that evidence (although no proof of intent to deceive had been submitted by plaintiff) only because plaintiff proved and defendant admitted that defendant used the words savings ” and “ saving ” in its publicity, and I felt that defendant was entitled to show that its motives in so doing were marked by good faith. I have disposed of the fraud angle of this litigation; it will not again be referred to.

Returning to the subject of evidence offered by defendant, several presidents and other officers of national banks, including Arthur T. Roth, the president of defendant bank, testified. The experience and long service of these men in the banking world were not questioned.

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Bluebook (online)
200 Misc. 557, 105 N.Y.S.2d 81, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-franklin-national-bank-nysupct-1951.