State ex rel. Spillman v. First State Bank

220 N.W. 579, 117 Neb. 370, 1928 Neb. LEXIS 62
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1928
DocketNo. 26076
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 N.W. 579 (State ex rel. Spillman v. First State 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. First State Bank, 220 N.W. 579, 117 Neb. 370, 1928 Neb. LEXIS 62 (Neb. 1928).

Opinion

Redick, District Judge.

This is a proceeding by the claimant, Samuel A. Snider, seeking the allowance against and payment from the depositors’ guaranty fund of his claim as a holder of exchange issued by the First State Bank of Richfield, an insolvent. The Richfield bank was taken over by the department of trade and commerce September 1, 1926, and a receiver therefor appointed September 30 following. Intervener filed the claim in usual course, and same was allowed as a general claim against the bank, but refused payment from the guaranty fund by the district court, and claimant appeals.

The objections of the receiver to the allowance of the claim against the guaranty fund may be summarized as follows: That the Richfield bank received neither money nor its equivalent, nor was any fund or thing of value placed on deposit in, or at the command of, .said bank in [372]*372consideration for the bill of exchange in question; that the intervener and the First National Bank of Osceola, through which he claims, negligently paid a certain check for $4,750, referred to later; and that the depositors’ guaranty fund did not profit'or benefit in any way by the transaction resulting in the issuance of the exchange in question.

Most of the facts are stipulated and the remainder are not in dispute. One E. C. Goerke and Charles Marshall were owners of the majority of the stock in the Richfield bank of which Goerke was president, and also of the State Bank of Papillion of which Goerke was president and Marshall cashier. June 26, 1926, Goerke drew his check for $5,000 on the Richfield bank (in which he had to his credit-only $3.14), payable to Samuel A. Snider, president of the First National Bank of Osceola, Nebraska, who indorsed and deposited it in the Osceola bank to the credit of Goerke on June 28, 1926, and the same day it was sent for collection to the United States National Bank at Omaha, and by it to the Federal Reserve Bank, Omaha branch, which presented it for payment, together with two small items aggregating $68.80, not in controversy herein, to the Richfield bank by a cash letter July 1. The Rich-field bank in payment, on July 1, issued its draft payable to the Federal Reserve Bank upon the Union State Bank of Omaha for $5,068.80, which is the bill of exchange involved in this proceeding. Prior to the presentation of this bill to the Union State Bank on July 3, payment was stopped by the Richfield bank by notification from Graham, its cashier. Thereupon the amount of said draft was charged back by the Federal Reserve Bank to the United States National Bank and by the United States National to the First National Bank of Osceola, which charged the same to the account of claimant, Snider, and it was paid ■by him, and he is now the holder of said draft.

The Richfield bank and Papillion bank were located about five miles apart. On June 30, 1926, Paul N. Graham, cashier of the Richfield bank, called at the Papillion bank [373]*373and was notified by Goerke that an item of $5,000 would appear against him that day in the Richfield bank, and Goerke as president thereupon drew a draft of Papillion bank on the Union State Bank of Omaha payable to the Richfield bank for $5,000, dated July 1, and delivered the same to Graham for the purpose of taking care of Goerke’s check, Graham returned to Richfield, and on the following morning the Goerke check was presented, as above stated, and the bill in controversy issued. This draft of the Papillion bank was not credited. to Goerke by the Richfield bank as a deposit, but was substituted for the Goerke check to Snider upon payment thereof. Late in the afternoon of July 2 Graham again called at the Papillion bank and found the same in the hands of the department of trade and commerce with bank examiners auditing the books. Goerke had disappeared the evening before and is now a fugitive from justice. At this time Graham was informed by the agent of the department of trade and commerce that the $5,000 draft which Goerke had given to the Richfield bank was fraudulent and without consideration, and that payment thereon had been stopped, and advised Graham to stop payment on the draft of the Rich-field bank issued in payment of Goerke’s check, which was done by Graham that evening by telegraph to the Union State Bank. Payment was stopped on the Goerke draft July 2, and the same has never been paid.

June 29, 1926, Goerke drew his check in favor of C. E. Marshall on the First National Bank of Osceola for $4,750 upon his credit set up by his previous check on the Rich-field bank. This check was indorsed by Marshall and sent to the Union State Bank for the account of the Papillion bank, which was credited therewith. Thereupon the Union State Bank forwarded said check for collection to the First National Bank of Omaha which in turn cleared to the Federal Reserve Bank in Omaha, and it later mailed the same to the Osceola bank. The latter received the check, charged Goerke’s account with the same, and remitted the amount thereof to the Federal Reserve Bank by draft on [374]*374the United States National, which paid the same and charged the bank. The claimant received assignments of the bill of exchange in controversy from the Federal Reserve Bank and the Osceola bank and is now the holder of the same.

The $4,750 item credited to the Papillion bank by the Union State Bank was paid and remained there, never having been withdrawn. On June 29, 1926, the Papillion bank had to its credit in Union State Bank $10,770.59; on June 30, $13,608.76; July 1, $9,288.59; and on July 2, $8,288.71. On July 3 the Union State Bank applied the sum of $8,288.71, which included the item of $4,750, upon bills payable to the Union State Bank from the Papillion bank.

The Papillion bank was taken over by the department of trade and commerce on July 3, 1926, and receiver appointed therefor July 6. It has never been determined as a fact whether the $5,000 draft drawn by Goerke in favor of the Richfield bank was fraudulent as against the Papillion bank or not; but it appears that the receiver of the latter is unable to discover from an examination of the books of the' bank any consideration therefor. The fact remains, however, that out of these transactions the Papillion bank received credit with the Union State Bank to the extent of $4,750, which was applied in reduction of its indebtedness to that bank. Whether or not Goerke’s draft was a fraud upon the Papillion bank, which seems quite probable, it is not claimed that Graham, cashier of the Richfield bank, the claimant, or the Osceola bank, was a party thereto or had any notice thereof; neither is it claimed that they had any knowledge of the failing condition or insolvency of the Papillion bank.

The crucial question for determination in this case is whether or not the Richfield bank, in consideration for the bill of exchange in controversy, “received money or its equivalent, or any fund or thing of value placed on deposit in, or at the command of, said bank in intention or effect,” thereby entitling said bill to payment from the [375]*375guaranty fund. It has been held time and again in this state that these conditions must be present in the case of a. deposit in order that the same may be properly charged against the guaranty fund; and holders of exchange are subject to the same conditions. As was said in State v. Farmers Bank of Halsey, 111 Neb. 117: “The term ‘holders of exchange’ as used in this section relates to those transactions where money or its equivalent has been deposited in the bank and a bill' of exchange upon some other bank has been issued in lieu thereof.”

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Bluebook (online)
220 N.W. 579, 117 Neb. 370, 1928 Neb. LEXIS 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-spillman-v-first-state-bank-neb-1928.