State ex rel. Davis v. Kilgore State Bank

205 N.W. 297, 113 Neb. 772, 1925 Neb. LEXIS 198
Nebraska Supreme Court·Decided September 29, 1925·No. No. 23403·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Dean, J.

February 21, 1921, the Kilgore State Bank, hereinafter called the Kilgore bank, issued a 5 per cent, time certificate of deposit, in the principal sum of $2,200, which, by its terms,'was “payable to the order of themselves in current funds October 24, 1922.” On the same date the Your Bank of Eli, hereinafter called the claimant, or claimant bank, maintains that the Bank of Cody, hereinafter called the Cody bank, which is not a party to this suit, had $2,200 on deposit in the Kilgore bank, and that for this sum, so on deposit, the Kilgore bank issued, and delivered to the Cody bank, the above-mentioned certificate in the usual form. The contention is that the Cody bank, in the ordinary course of business, before maturity and for value, sold, assigned, and delivered the certificate to the claimant bank, properly indorsed, and that claimant is now the owner and holder thereof.

June 21, 1922, the claimant, alleging ownership of the certificate, and previous insolvency of the Kilgore bank, filed its verified claim, or petition, as it is designated in the record, in the district .court for Cherry county, for an allowance of its claim in full, and prayed that Fred A. Cum-bow, the receiver of the Kilgore bank, thereunto appointed by lawful authority, be ordered to pay the claimant bank $2,200, with interest, out of the depositors’ guaranty fund, in satisfaction of its claim.

The attorney general, in behalf of the state, and of the receiver; admits the issuance of the certificate of deposit by the Kilgore bank, but alleges that the Cody bank did not have $2,200 in lawful money of the United States, or its equivalent, or any other sum of money, on deposit in the Kilgore bank, when the certificate was issued. It is also alleged that it was issued, without authority, by the [774]*774president of the Kilgore bank. The argument is that the $2,200 certificate was issued in exchange for a $2,600 note and mortgage, obtained by assignment from a stranger to this suit. It may be added that the difference of $400 between the apparent face value of the $2,600 note and mortgage and the $2,200 certificate of deposit, for which it was exchanged, was explained by the president of the Cody bank. But in view of our decision on the merits this circumstance will not be further noticed.

The security, above referred to, is a recorded third mortgage lien on 800 acres of land in Cherry county. The state contends that the note and mortgage so exchanged by the claimant bank for the certificate are now, and at all times material to this inquiry were, valueless and had no market value whatever, for the reason that the land, upon which the third mortgage is a purported lien, had been previously mortgaged by the owners, the Christensen brothers, for its full value.

The court sustained the contention of the state and, from the evidence of Cherry county residents fixing the value of the Christensen land at from $7.50 to $15.00 an acre, found and decreed that the note and mortgage were “worthless at the time they were exchanged for said certificate of deposit,” and that nothing was due the claimant Eli bank, on the Kilgore bank certificate, which it obtained from the Cody bank, “either against the assets of the said defendant Kilgore State Bank or against the state bank guaranty fund.” A motion for a new trial was overruled, and the Eli bank, as claimant, appealed.

The receiver testified -that, upon examination of the Kilgore bank records and bank books, he found that the Cody bank was never “given any credit in this transaction for any money deposited,” but that the Kilgore bank books show “the coming in of the note that has been offered here in evidence for $2,600 and the issuance of the certificate of deposit for $2,200 for it.” It appears that the receiver tendered the $2,600 note and mortgage to the Cody bank and, the tender being refused, it was renewed in open court,[775]*775on condition that the certificate of deposit be returned, but the tender was again refused.

Mr. Skeen is president of the Cody bank. In respect of the $2,600 note, he testified that it was a secured note./ “Q. And what sort of security? A. It was a second mortgage I.think, on real estate. * * * Q. What was the amount of the prior mortgage? A. There was a $6,400 mortgage, or maybe that was $6,000, and a commission mortgage of $400 to Hess & Company of Council Bluffs, ahead of our mortgage.” He further testified in respect of the price which was paid for the land in 1919 by the Christensens: “Q. Do you know what the entire consideration was—the purchase price? A. Yes. Q. How much was that? A. They paid $12,000 for it. Q. Which, as you stated, was $3,000 in cash, a $6,000 mortgage assumed, and a $400 mortgage assumed, and a purchase mortgage of $2,600 which you got and sold to the Kilgore State Bank? A. Yes, sir.” It also appears from Skeen’s evidence that the Christensen note and mortgage was the sole consideration which was paid for the certificate of deposit in suit. The year 1919 was a “boom year” in land prices in Cherry county, as one witness testified, and it may be noted that the prevailing conditions were the same elsewhere. And the mortgage in suit was a third lien.

Counsel for claimant have made an able argument in support of their contention, but we are not convinced that the claimant Eli bank, under the evidence, is entitled to have its claim paid from the depositors’ guaranty fund in satisfaction of its certificate. In State v. Farmers State Bank, 111 Neb. 117, attention is directed to a like situation in ■the following language: “The circumstances under which the guaranty fund may be liable are entirely apart from the law pertaining to negotiable paper.” And this is fundamental. In the same case it is observed that there is a distinction “between the liability of the maker of a negotiable instrument, which rests upon the law pertaining to •negotiable paper, and the liability of the guaranty fund, which is purely statutory.” We adhere to the views expressed in the Farmers State Bank case.

[776]*776The policy of the law in this jurisdiction is that the bank depositors’ guaranty fund is not liable for a bank deposit which has been placed in a state bank, which subsequently fails, unless both the depositor and the bank come within the provisions of the law in question in respect of such deposit. Comp St. 1922, sec. 7982 et seq.; Iams v. Farmers State Bank, 101 Neb. 778. And this court is thoroughly committed to the proposition that money, or its equivalent, must be deposited in a bank to bring the transaction within the meaning and the protection of the bank depositors’ guaranty law. The note and mortgage in question lack much of being “money, or its equivalent,” and therefore do not come within the meaning of the act. In State v. Farmers State Bank, 112 Neb. 380, it is pointed out: “The law will look through all semblances and forms to ascertain the actual facts as to whether there has been a bona fide deposit, and, if not, the guaranty fund does not protect the transaction, no matter how it may be evidenced.” To substantially the same effect is State v. Gross State Bank, ante, p. 119, and cases there cited.

It may be noted that a like rule prevails in other jurisdictions.

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State ex rel. Davis v. Kilgore State Bank, 205 N.W. 297, 113 Neb. 772, 1925 Neb. LEXIS 198 (Neb. 1925).

205 N.W. 297 (State ex rel. Davis v. Kilgore State Bank) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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