State ex rel. Spillman v. Farmers & Merchants Bank

225 N.W. 669, 118 Neb. 495, 1929 Neb. LEXIS 149
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 25, 1929
DocketNo. 26700
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 225 N.W. 669 (State ex rel. Spillman v. Farmers & Merchants Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Spillman v. Farmers & Merchants Bank, 225 N.W. 669, 118 Neb. 495, 1929 Neb. LEXIS 149 (Neb. 1929).

Opinion

Day, J.

The administrator with the will annexed of the estate of Ole P. Larsen brings this action for an allowance of his claim against the guaranty fund of the state of Nebraska. The present executor was appointed in September, 1924, upon the removal of one Kronberg, who had been appointed in July, 1923. Kronberg was the president and actual manager of the Farmers & Merchants Bank at Kennard, Nebraska, during the time he acted as executor of the estate of Larsen. On April 24, 1924, as executor, he deposited in his bank $8,000 which he had collected of the assets of said estate. At the time Kronberg was appointed executor, there were in the safety deposit box of the deceased in the bank three certificates of deposit issued by his bank; one for $5,000, one for $3,000, and one for $2,000, which items with the $8,000 deposit heretofore mentioned make up the total .of the claim of $18,000.

Prior to the time Kronberg became executor of the Larsen estate, he had made some improvident loans of the ■bank’s money, which loans he had been required to take out [497]*497of the bank by the bank examiners. In order to make the bank appear solvent and its books balance, he had marked the certificates of deposit as paid, and placed them w,ith paid certificates of the bank; and had also charged the checking account with $8,000. Neither the certificates of deposit nor the $8,000 in the checking account were ever paid by the bank. The trial court found that the executor had withdrawn the deposits from the bank, and the relation of depositor had ceased, consequently the claim was not allowable against the guaranty fund of the state of Nebraska.

As we view this case, the only question presented is whether the manipulations of the records of the bank by Kronberg were of such a nature as to terminate the deposit of the estate in said bank. In the consideration of this case it is difficult not to confuse in our mind the acts of Kronberg as president and manager of the bank and those of Kronberg as executor of the estate of Ole P. Larsen. It is necessary to a proper determination of this case that we keep these two relationships clearly and distinctly separated. It is only difficult because the two official positions were held by the same man. We think, if we remember that this was the money of the estate, held in trust and deposited in the ¡bank by Kronberg as executor, it will help us to avoid confusion. The appellee argues that, had Kronberg as executor brought this action instead of his successor in office, then there would be no doubt but that he as executor could not secure the allowance of this claim against the guaranty fund. If it could be conceived that he had been continued as executor by the probate court, and it was apparent that the estate was in fact a depositor of said bank, that said relationship had not been terminated, then a judgment might have ¡been entered allowing the claim as a deposit, for the benefit of the estate, in the name of Kronberg, as well as in the name of his successor as executor.

.If Kronberg as executor withdrew the money from the hank, then the relationship of banker and depositor was terminated and the guaranty fund cannot be charged with this claim. Upon this question the trial court found: “That the [498]*498bank president was at the time of the application of these funds to the credit of other accounts in said bank the sole acting executor of said estate with the legal title and power of disposition. Through and by his action, his relationship as a depositor of said bank ceased,” The evidence in the case discloses that some loans had been made by the bank to individuals for speculations, which are not usually considered by bankers generally as sound investments. The bank had taken the notes of these individuals to cover these loans. Kronberg had acted for the bank in these transactions and seems to have been personally interested in them. This paper was not considered good and the bank examiner insisted that some $20,000 of these notes be taken from the bank. This made it necessary to replace it with money or security to fill the hole in the assets of the bank caused by the loan of the amount of money represented by the worthless notes. This was accomplished by Kronberg by marking the certificates of deposit (amounting to $10,000) “paid” and placing a memorandum in the bank indicating the withdrawal of the $8,000 deposit. However, no money was withdrawn from the bank, but $13,000 was applied to a shortage in the Storz checking account and $5,000 was used to pay a certificate of deposit. The effect of this transaction, entirely a bookkeeping one, in so far as the estate was concerned, was to enhance the assets of the bank by $18,000. It was $18,000 to which the (bank had no right or even claim of title. It is urged by appellee that it was of no benefit to the bank to pay the $13,000 on the Storz account, since the bank had-contracted to pay an excessive rate of interest on this deposit. To use the language of State v. American Exchange Bank, 112 Neb. 834: “A contract for 6 per cent, is not illegal in the sense of being unenforceable as against the bank. It is simply -one not within the guaranty statutes. A depositor may take his choice, receive 5 per cent, and be within the statutes as a depositor, or 6 per cent, and be without, as one holding a loan.” So far as the bank was concerned, when it used $13,000 of this money to pay the Storz account, it increased the assets of the bank by that [499]*499amount. True, it did not increase the net assets of the bank transferable to the guaranty fund commission, because the commission might have successfully resisted the payment of the deposit. But when the bank ceased to be a going concern and the receiver took charge this was a closed transaction which concluded the bank.

Now the remainder of $5,000 of this account was used to pay a bogus certificate of deposit. Without going into the details of this transaction, suffice it to say that, in so far as' the bank is concerned, nothing in the record discloses that it was not the valid obligation of the (bank at the time. It follows then that this transaction inured to the benefit of the bank in that it removed from the books of the bank its liability to this depositor, without the payment of any money.

In State v. American State Bank, 108 Neb. 98, it is held: “False entries on the books of a bank, whereby one depositor is credited with the funds of another, do not change the relation of banker and depositor in regard to that particular item or relieve the bank from liability for a proper disbursement of the fund, if the bank is chargeable with knowledge of the facts.”

Where money is deposited in a bank by an executor of an estate, who is also president and manager of the bank, false entries which indicate that the money has been withdrawn from the bank, when in fact it was not so withdrawn, but was diverted to other accounts for the benefit of the bank, do not terminate the relationship of depositor and banker. The deposit in this case was diverted for the benefit of the bank, and the deposit was not terminated by the entries on the books of the bank, which were not in accord with the actual facts. The evidence forces the conclusion that this was a valuable business transaction for the bank.

The appellee relies upon the holding in the case of State v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Walton, 112 Neb.

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Bluebook (online)
225 N.W. 669, 118 Neb. 495, 1929 Neb. LEXIS 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-spillman-v-farmers-merchants-bank-neb-1929.