State v. Grothe

540 S.W.2d 221, 20 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 410, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2558
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 10, 1976
DocketNo. 36885
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 540 S.W.2d 221 (State v. Grothe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Grothe, 540 S.W.2d 221, 20 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 410, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2558 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

GUNN, Judge.

Defendant appeals his § 561.460 RSMo. 1969 conviction for issuing an insufficient funds check to the Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company.

Defendant’s difficulties commenced at a horse auction conducted by the Montgomery County Livestock Company. On the day of the auction, Junior McCowan, as auctioneer for the auction company, had been “caught” with one of the horses offered at auction, and when no one bid on the horse, Mr. McCowan had purchased it for the Livestock Company for $96. After the auction McCowan approached the defendant and offered to sell the horse for $125 which defendant agreed to pay. Defendant issued his check for the horse in the following manner: the defendant signed his name to a check for $125 drawn on his funds in the First North County Bank and Trust Company of St. Louis; the defendant wrote in the figure “$125.00” on the check but allowed McCowan to write “one Hundred & twenty Five” in the appropriate space and to have inserted “Montgomery County Livestock Auction Co.” as the designated payee. There is no dispute that the funds in defendant’s account were insufficient.

On appeal, defendant argues that the State failed to prove that defendant delivered a legal check within the meaning of § 561.460 or that Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company was defrauded and thereby induced to part with its property. Defendant denies that the instrument he gave McCowan was legally a check, because it did not contain the name of the payee. He also contends that he intended the payee to be McCowan, not the auction company and that the evidence failed to establish that he authorized McCowan to place the auction company’s name on the check. We believe that the record refutes defendant’s contention. From the testimony of the defendant, the jury could find that he was aware of McCowan’s association with the auction company; that Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company was the payee; and that he authorized McCowan to have the auction company’s name inserted on the check as payee.1 The [224]*224defendant’s testimony is sufficiently clear for the jury to find that he authorized the name “Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company” to be filled in as payee of the check which he signed. The auction company’s name was stamped in the appropriate blank space on the check in defendant’s presence and by his assent. The U.C.C., § 400.3-115 RSMo.1969, relating to incomplete instruments, provides in part:

“1) When a paper whose contents at the time of signing show that it is intended to become an instrument is signed while still incomplete in any necessary respect it cannot be enforced until completed, bat when it is completed in accordance with authority given it is effective as completed." (emphasis added)

From defendant’s testimony it is apparent that McCowan had the name of the auction company inserted on the check pursuant to at least implicit, if not explicit, authority of the defendant, and according to § 400.3-115 the check became effective as completed. As said in Bruegge v. State Bank of Wellston, 74 S.W.2d 835, 840 (Mo.1934):

“Authority to fill in blanks in an instrument need not be express, but may be implied, and when fairly inferable from the conduct of the parties, and circumstances surrounding the transaction, is as effectively given as if expressly conferred.”

Here, defendant deliberately left the payee blank for McCowan to have filled in and looked on while the name of the auction company was affixed to the check. Under the evidence, it is chimerical for the defendant to suggest that he did not intend or authorize the Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company to be the payee of the check. Under the circumstances of this case where the check was given to McCow-an in payment of the horse purchased by the defendant, with the name of the payee left blank, McCowan was given authority to have the name of the payee inserted in the manner accomplished. Fitzgibbon Discount Corp. v. Hatchett, 427 S.W.2d 786 (Mo.App.1968).

The defendant also argues that he did not deliver a “check” as that term is defined in the U.C.C., § 400.3-104(1) RSMo. 1969. This section lists the requisite elements of a negotiable instrument as:

“(1) Any writing to be a negotiable instrument within this article must
(a) be signed by the maker or drawer; and
(b) contain an unconditional promise or order to pay a sum certain in money and no other promise, order, obligation or power given by the maker or drawer except as authorized by this article; and
(c) be payable on demand or at a definite time; and
(d) be payable to order or to bearer.” (emphasis added)

As the payee on the check was not designated when it was given to McCowan, the defendant claims it was not legally a “check,” and, therefore, he was not guilty of delivering an insufficient funds check. The defendant relies on State v. Kleen, 491 S.W.2d 244 (Mo.1973), for the proposition that a violation of § 561.460 does not occur if the instrument delivered fails to include the payee’s name. The defendant’s reliance on the Kleen case is misplaced. There the court was confronted with the issue of whether a violation of § 561.460 had occurred within the State of Missouri. The defendant signed a check in Missouri but left the check incomplete as to the payee and the amount. The check was subsequently completed in Tennessee. It was held that there was no violation in Missouri for issuing an insufficient funds check in Missouri, as the offense of issuing a com[225]*225pleted check had not occurred in Missouri. However, the court clearly established that if the check had been completed in Missouri by the insertion of the name of the payee and the amount under circumstances parallel to those in this case, a violation of § 561.-460 would result. State v. Kleen, supra, is felicitous but works totally to defendant’s disadvantage and discomfiture. Applying the principles of Kleen, it is observed that defendant violated the statute when the check was completed by the insertion of the name of the payee with the defendant’s authority. Thus, under State v. Kleen, supra, the facts are sufficient to show that a legal check was delivered by the defendant to Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company. Our decision is consonant with State v. Kleen, supra.

In his second attack on the sufficiency of the evidence, the defendant contends that there was no showing that Montgomery County Livestock Auction Company relied on his check or that it parted with any of its property — that it was the victim of the offense charged. The defendant argues that the horse was owned by McCowan and not the auction company, and therefore, if there were a victim it was McCowan. Because he was charged with inducing the auction company to part with its property, the defendant asserts that the evidence does not support his conviction.

The essence of a violation of a § 561.460 is that an injured party must rely on some false or deceitful pretense or device and part with his property. State v. Kleen, supra; State v. Garner, 432 S.W.2d 259 (Mo.1968).

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Bluebook (online)
540 S.W.2d 221, 20 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 410, 1976 Mo. App. LEXIS 2558, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grothe-moctapp-1976.