Richardson Company v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas

504 S.W.2d 812, 14 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 443, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2017
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 3, 1974
Docket742
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 504 S.W.2d 812 (Richardson Company v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richardson Company v. First Nat. Bank in Dallas, 504 S.W.2d 812, 14 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 443, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2017 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

DUNAGAN, Chief Justice.

This is a summary judgment case. The appellant, The Richardson Company, sued First National Bank of Dallas and Preston State Bank alleging conversion and negligence for applying its checks to The Richardson Company employee’s personal debt owed each bank. The claim against First National Bank was based on one check drawn by The Richardson Company payable to First National Bank and delivered to said bank by The Richardson Company’s employee, Mrs. S. L. Auman. First National Bank answered by asserting the affirmative defense provided by the Texas Business and Commerce Code that payment of the check was final because First National Bank (1) had changed its position in good faith reliance on payment or (2) had received payment as a holder in due course. Upon its motion First National Bank was granted summary judgment. Following an order severing the claim of The Richardson Company against First National Bank, judgment was entered from which The Richardson Company has perfected this appeal.

Even though appellant has based its appeal upon eight specific points of error, as in any summary judgment case, there is actually only one question to be decided. In determining the matter of rendering or affirming a summary judgment in favor of a party, the question on appeal, as well as in the trial court, is not whether the summary judgment proof raises fact issues with reference to the essential elements of *814 a plaintiff’s claim or cause of action, but whether the summary judgment proof establishes as a matter of law that there is no genuine issue of fact as to one or more of the essential elements of the plaintiff’s cause of action. Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.Sup.1970); Harrington v. Young Men’s Christian Association of Houston, 452 S.W.2d 423 (Tex.Sup.1970); Rule 166-A(c), Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The burden of proof is upon the party moving for summary judgment and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue as to a material fact are resolved against him. The evidence upon such a motion must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Gulbenkian v. Penn, 151 Tex. 412, 252 S.W.2d 929 (1952).

Appellant in support of its position contends that the trial court erred in granting appellee’s motion for summary judgment because (1) First National Bank was not a holder in due course as a matter of law; (2) it appears as a matter of law that First National Bank took the instrument with notice of a claim to it by the appellant; (3) the appellee did not establish as a matter of law that it took the instrument without notice of appellant’s claim to it; (4) First National Bank had knowledge that a Richardson Company fiduciary negotiated the instrument in payment of her own debt; (5) “It is immaterial whether payment by the drawee-payor bank to First National Bank was ‘final’ ”; and (6) First National Bank did not in good faith change its position in reliance on payment of the check.

The appellee has brought forward two reply points. The first is that appellee, as a matter of law, in good faith changed its position in reliance upon the payment of the check and therefore payment was final. The second is that the summary judgment evidence shows as a matter of law that it was a holder in due course, and therefore payment was final. We sustain appellee’s contentions.

It is established by the summary judgment proof that the First National Bank loaned a sum of money to Mrs. S. L. Au-man, an employee of The Richardson Company, on August 18, 1971, for the purpose of purchasing an automobile. The bank received as collateral for the loan a security interest in the automobile. On September 23, 1971, Mrs. Auman sent the check in question in the amount of $1,038.11 to the First National Bank with directions that it be applied to her indebtedness. The check was drawn by The Richardson Company upon an Illinois bank and the First National Bank was named as the payee. The check appears to be a vendee’s remittance and is signed by officers of The Richardson Company. The name of First National Bank of Dallas was typed in the blank “pay to the order of.” The check was received and credited to the personal account of Mrs. Auman. Five days after receipt of the check on September 28, 1971, First National Bank, having received final payment of the check, released its collateral for the loan to Mrs. Auman by sending her the title to the automobile.

Edwin L. Cunningham, an officer of the First National Bank, the appellee, in his affidavit stated that the bank received the check from Mrs. Auman in the amount of $1,038.11 drawn upon The Richardson Company, the appellant, naming the bank as payee “with information that the check represented compensation from Mrs. Au-man’s employer and was to be applied to discharge her indebtedness to the bank. This check was the only check received by First National Bank in Dallas by Mrs. Au-man that was drawn upon The Richardson Company.” Mr. Cummingham in his affidavit also states that the check here involved “was processed through normal banking channels and final payment was made to First National Bank in Dallas in the normal course of business;” that “The Richardson Company, Melrose Park, Illinois, has not had an account with First National Bank in Dallas at any time”; and *815 Mrs. Auman “has never transacted any business with First National Bank in Dallas as a representative of The Richardson ■ Company, Melrose Park, Illinois.” This summary judgment proof is in the record uncontroverted.

He further states in his affidavit that the bank “received all payments by Mrs. S. L. Auman to discharge her indebtedness to the bank in the normal course of business with no knowledge that any payment did not represent monies rightfully belonging to her;” that the bank “had no knowledge of any claim to any payment by Mrs. S. L. Auman to discharge her indebtedness to the bank;” and that the bank “in every way acted in good faith by accepting every payment made by Mrs. S. L. Auman.” These statements are likewise in the record uncontroverted.

A holder in due course, as defined in sec. 3.302(a) & (b), V.T.C.A., Texas Business and Commerce Code, is one

«* * * wjj0 takes [negotiable] instrument
(1) for value; and
(2) in good faith; and
(3) without notice that it is overdue or has been dishonored or of any defense against or claim to it on the part of any person.
“(b) A payee may be a holder in due course.”

The following comments are under this section of the Texas Business and Commerce Code:

“2. Subsection (2) is intended to settle the long continued conflict over the status of the payee as a holder in due course. * * * The position here taken is that the payee may become a holder in due course to the same extent and under the same circumstances as any other holder. * * * In the following cases, among others, the payee is a holder in due course:
* * * * * *
“d. A defrauds the maker into signing an instrument payable to P.

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504 S.W.2d 812, 14 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 443, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2017, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-company-v-first-nat-bank-in-dallas-texapp-1974.