Texas American Bank/Farmers Branch v. Abrams Centre National Bank

780 S.W.2d 814, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 927, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 3045, 1989 WL 151036
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 25, 1989
Docket05-88-01317-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 780 S.W.2d 814 (Texas American Bank/Farmers Branch v. Abrams Centre National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Texas American Bank/Farmers Branch v. Abrams Centre National Bank, 780 S.W.2d 814, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 927, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 3045, 1989 WL 151036 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

OPINION

LAGARDE, Justice.

Texas American Bank/Farmers Branch (TAB) appeals from the trial court’s take-nothing summary judgment entered in favor of Abrams Centre National Bank (Abrams). In a sole point of error, TAB asserts that the trial court erred, as a matter of law, in granting Abrams’s motion for summary judgment and denying TAB’s motion for summary judgment. We disagree and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

The record in this case shows that four checks, drawn on Abrams, were given to TAB for payment on a letter of credit. After being processed by TAB, the checks were presented to MTech, Abrams’s off-site data processing center, some time before 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15, 1986. The checks were processed through MTech and physically delivered to Abrams at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, August 18, 1986. An officer for Abrams, William E. Lowe, received the checks that morning, and, because there were insufficient funds in the drawer’s account to pay the checks, Lowe telephoned the drawer. The drawer told Lowe that he would deposit funds to cover the checks by the end of the Monday banking day. The drawer never showed up, and Abrams made no effort to return the checks until 10:00 a.m. on August 19, 1986. With these facts in mind, we address TAB’s point of error.

TAB claims that in this case the provisions of the Texas Business and Commerce Code (hereinafter Texas U.C.C.) that gov [815]*815ern this type of transaction have been varied by contract. Abrams, on the other hand, claims that the express provisions of the Texas U.C.C. control. TAB concedes that if the Texas U.C.C. controls, it cannot prevail. Therefore, preliminarily, we will set out the applicable provisions of the Texas U.C.C. and, thereafter, we will examine TAB’s theory of how the “contract” varies the terms of the Texas U.C.C.

TEXAS U.C.C.

The Texas U.C.C. provides certain deadlines for the processing of checks. One such deadline requires a payor bank to return a check within a specified time limit; in pertinent part, it reads:

(a) Where an authorized settlement or a demand item (other than a documentary draft) received by a payor bank otherwise than for immediate payment over the counter has been made before midnight of the banking day of receipt the payor bank may revoke the settlement and recover any payment if before it has made final payment (Subsection (a) of Section 4.213) and before its midnight deadline it
(1) returns the item; or
(2) sends written notice of dishonor or nonpayment if the item is held for protest or is otherwise unavailable for return.

TEX.BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. § 4.301(a) (Tex. U.C.C.) (Vernon 1968) (emphasis added). The Texas U.C.C. further provides a definition for “midnight deadline” which states: “ ‘Midnight deadline’ with respect to a bank is midnight on its next banking day following the banking day on which it receives the relevant item or notice or from which the time for taking action commences to run, whichever is later.” TEX. BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. § 4.104(a)(8) (Tex. U.C.C.) (Vernon 1968) (emphasis added); see First State Bank of McKinney v. American Bank of Sherman, 732 S.W.2d 404, 405 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1987, no writ).

The code defines banking day as “that part of any day on which a bank is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions.” TEX.BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. § 4.104(a)(3) (Tex. U.C.C.) (Vernon 1968). Applying the above definitions to section 4.301(a), that section provides that a payor bank must return or send notice of dishonor or nonpayment on the next banking day (i.e., that part of any day on which a bank is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions) following the banking day on which it receives the relevant item. See TEX.BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. §§ 4.104(a)(3), 4.104(a)(8), and 4.301(a) (Tex. U.C.C.) (Vernon 1968). A bank “receives” an item when it is delivered on a banking day to the bank’s off-site data processing center.1 See Pulaski Bank & Trust v. Texas Am. Bank/Fort Worth, 759 S.W.2d 723, 730 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1988, writ denied). If the item is not returned by midnight of the banking day following the banking day on which the bank receives the item, then the bank is strictly liable for payment of the item. See Hamby Co. v. Seminole State Bank, 652 S.W.2d 939, 941 (Tex.1983); TEX.BUS. & COM.CODE ANN. § 4.302 (Tex. U.C.C.) (Vernon 1968). This case specifically deals with when the midnight deadline for the return of the items actually began.

Abrams asserts, and TAB concedes, that, under the express provisions of the Texas U.C.C., the midnight deadline only begins to run when an item is received on “that part of any day on which a bank is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions.” In this case, the item would have to have been received by MTech (Abrams’s off-site data processing center) by 3:00 p.m. Friday to be considered “received” during the Friday banking day.

TAB concedes that it cannot show that the checks were received prior to 3:00 p.m. Friday. Consequently, if the Texas U.C.C. applies, Abrams would have acted properly in treating the checks as received on Monday, instead of as received on Friday. By [816]*816treating the checks as received on Monday, Abrams would not have been required to return the checks until midnight on Tuesday; therefore, its return by 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 19, would have been timely. Thus, as TAB concedes, if the terms of the Texas U.C.C. apply, Abrams is not strictly liable for payment of the checks.

TAB’S VARIANCE THEORY

However, arguing that the Dallas Clearing House Rules constitute a “contract,” TAB asserts that, in this instance, the terms of the Texas U.C.C. have been varied by that contract. Specifically, TAB maintains that rule 7(a) of the clearing house rules varies section 4.104(a)(8) of the Texas U.C.C. In relevant part, rule 7(a) reads:

All members agree to have return items delivered to the DCHA office by 12:00 midnight of the first business day following presentment.

(Emphasis added.) TAB claims that the express language of rule 7(a) should be construed to mean “the first business day following the business day2 of presentment.” In essence, TAB is asking this court to rewrite rule 7(a) to add the words “the business day of” between the word “following” and the word “presentment.”

TAB’s interpretation of rule 7(a) and its definition of “business day” would vary the portion of Texas U.C.C. section 4.104(a)(8) which states:

‘Midnight deadline’ with respect to a bank is midnight on the next banking day following the banking day on which it receives the relevant item....

(Emphasis added.) TAB’s motivation for requesting this court to replace “banking day” with “business day” relates directly to TAB’s definition of “business day,” which, according to TAB, means anytime on Monday through Friday until 12:00 midnight.

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Texas American Bank/Farmers Branch v. Abrams Centre National Bank
780 S.W.2d 814 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)

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780 S.W.2d 814, 10 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 927, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 3045, 1989 WL 151036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-american-bankfarmers-branch-v-abrams-centre-national-bank-texapp-1989.