Stewart Office Suppliers, Inc. v. First Union National Bank

388 S.E.2d 599, 97 N.C. App. 353, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1269, 1990 N.C. App. LEXIS 130
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedFebruary 20, 1990
DocketNos. 8926SC163; 8926SC289
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 388 S.E.2d 599 (Stewart Office Suppliers, Inc. v. First Union National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stewart Office Suppliers, Inc. v. First Union National Bank, 388 S.E.2d 599, 97 N.C. App. 353, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1269, 1990 N.C. App. LEXIS 130 (N.C. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

EAGLES, Judge.

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” G.S. 1A-1, Rule 56(c). “If, on a motion for judgment on the pleadings, matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56.” G.S. 1A-1, Rule 12(c).

On this record, we conclude that summary judgment in favor of defendant Southern National was erroneous on the conversion [357]*357and breach of contract claims. We affirm the lower court’s holding with respect to all other claims against Southern National and all claims against defendant First Union.

I. Conversion and Breach of Restrictive Indorsement Claims

A. Claims Against Defendant Southern National

The plaintiff first assigns as error the trial court’s determination that defendant Southern National was not liable for conversion and breach of restrictive indorsement to plaintiff as a matter of law for paying checks inconsistent with the restrictive indorsement. Plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for defendant Southern National based on the Bank’s contention that there was not a material issue of fact in dispute. Plaintiff agrees that the facts were not in dispute but asserts that they warranted summary judgment in plaintiff’s favor. Plaintiff asserts that the entry of summary judgment for the bank is contrary to an admission by defendant Southern National and the plain language of G.S. 25-3-205(c). Plaintiff points out that defendant admitted in its answer that it was “a federally chartered Bank and received certain checks for deposit which were made payable to the order of the plaintiff and which bore varying restrictive indorsements.” After careful review of the record, we agree with plaintiff and accordingly reverse the summary judgment for the defendant Southern National on the conversion and breach of contract claims.

We note initially that General Statutes Chapter 25, the Uniform Commercial Code, governs commercial transactions in North Carolina. Chapter 25 begins with these general guidelines: “(1) This chapter shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies. (2) Underlying purposes and policies of this chapter are (a) to simplify, clarify and modernize the law governing commercial transactions; (b) to permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage and agreement of the parties; (c) to make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.” G.S. 25-1-102.

G.S. 25-3-205(c) provides that an indorsement is restrictive if it includes inter alia the words “for deposit” or “like terms signifying a purpose of deposit or collection.” G.S. 25-3-205. Also, G.S. 25-3-419(3) provides that:

[358]*358Subject to the provisions of this chapter concerning restrictive indorsements a representative, including a depository or collecting bank, who has in good faith and in accordance with the reasonable commercial standards applicable to the business of such representative dealt with an instrument or its proceeds on behalf of one who was not the true owner is not liable in conversion or otherwise to the true owner beyond the amount of any proceeds remaining in his hands.

Here, the record from the Southern National case includes a photostatic copy of a check which does in fact bear varying stamped restrictive indorsements. On the back of a check made payable to S.O.S. the following stamped indorsements appear:

(1) Stewart Office Suppliers For Deposit Only
(2) For Deposit Only Acct.: Illegible

Since both of the indorsements contain the language “For Deposit Only,” under G.S. 25-3-205(e) they are restrictive indorsements. They are the “varying restrictions” admitted by the defendant.

However, in order to hold defendant Southern National liable for “conversion or otherwise” plaintiff must show that defendant did not act with good faith or failed to use reasonable commercial standards.

G.S. 25-1-201(19) defines good faith as “honesty in fact in the conduct or transaction concerned.” The defendant Southern National knew of the contractual arrangement between the parties and acted in reliance on the contractual arrangement. Scott Anderson, an officer of Southern National, stated that he was “aware of the business relationship and contractual agreement.” He stated he knew that S.O.S. solicited orders for office products which LVP Corporation would fill and that S.O.S.’s accounts receivable were assigned to LVP Corp. in return for a certain percentage of commission for sales. From that we conclude its transactions with Key were done in good faith.

With respect to the commercial reasonableness, this court held in Parks Chevrolet, Inc. v. Watkins, 74 N.C. App. 719, 329 S.E. 2d 728 (1985) that “commercial reasonableness presents a factual issue to be determined by the jury in light of the relevant cir[359]*359cumstances of each case.” Id. at 722, 329 S.E. 2d at 728, citing ITT-Industrial Credit Co. v. Milo Concrete Co., Inc., 31 N.C. App. 450, 458, 229 S.E. 2d 814, 820 (1976). In Parks the defendant appealed on the issue of whether the resale of his automobile was commercially reasonable citing G.S. 25-9-504(3) which provided that every aspect of the disposition of collateral after default “including the method, manner, time, place and terms must be commercially reasonable.” Id. at 721, 329 S.E. 2d at 730. While the test Parks articulated for commercial reasonableness was under Article 9, the same test should apply to all commercial transactions under Chapter 25. “Because reasonable minds may differ over the application of a standard such as commercial reasonableness, this determination is inherently a jury question which does not readily lend itself to summary judgment.” Id. at 722, 329 S.E. 2d at 730.

Secondly, plaintiff argues that the trial court erred in allowing summary judgment for defendant Southern National on the issue of breach of restrictive indorsement. Our research discloses no North Carolina cases addressing whether an action exists for breach of restrictive indorsement in these circumstances. We hold that upon a proper showing, a plaintiff may recover for conversion and breach of restriction when a restrictive indorsement is violated. See Mid-Atlantic Tennis Courts, Inc. v. Citizens Bank and Trust Co., 658 F. Supp. 140 (D. Md. 1987). However, we note that G.S. 25-3-419(3) provides liability for conversion or otherwise will not exist beyond the amount of any proceeds remaining in his hands if the depository.bank acted in “good faith and in accordance with the reasonable commercial standards applicable to the business.”

Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s entry of summary judgment for defendant Southern National and remand the cause for further proceedings on the issues of conversion and breach of restrictive indorsement.

B. Claims Against Defendant First Union

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388 S.E.2d 599, 97 N.C. App. 353, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1269, 1990 N.C. App. LEXIS 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stewart-office-suppliers-inc-v-first-union-national-bank-ncctapp-1990.