Tobin v. McKinney

84 N.W. 228, 14 S.D. 52, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 7
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 21, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 84 N.W. 228 (Tobin v. McKinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tobin v. McKinney, 84 N.W. 228, 14 S.D. 52, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 7 (S.D. 1900).

Opinion

Corson, J.

From the year 1880 to the 1st of January, 1885, Charles E. McKinney, the defendant, was a partner in the firm of McKinney & Scougal, engaged in the business of banking in the cities of Sioux Falls and Yankton. At the last mentioned date the partnership was dissolved, and the business was continued in Yankton by Scougal, one of the said partners, at the same place, using the same kind of bank checks, bills, drafts, certificates of deposit, and letter heads, excepting the ommission of the name of C. E. McKinney on one corner of the letter heads, and retaining the same sign on the bank and building that the firm of McKinney & Scougal had used. [56]*56There was evidence tending to prove that the plaintiff, Catherine To-bin, in June, 1884, deposited $40 in the bank at Yankton, and in September deposited $35 more, which sums were withdrawn therefrom in the fall of 1884, and spring of 1885. Certificates of deposit with the name of “McKinney & Scougal, Bankers,” printed at the top, and the firm name of McKinney & Scougal signed at the bottom, were given to the plaintiff for said deposits. On the 16th' day of July, 1889, she deposited in said bank $500, for which a certificate was issued as follows: “No. 2,599. McKinney & Scougal, Bankers, Yankton, Dakota, July 16th, 1889. Certificate of deposit, not subject to check. $500. Catherine Tobin has deposited in this bank five hundred dollars, payable to the order of herself in current funds on return of this certificate properly indorsed. With interest at 6 per cent, per annum if left 6 months. McKinney & Scougal.” Upon this certificate interest was paid semi-annually "from 1890 to 1892, inclusive. The plaintiff had resided in Yankton from 1877 to the time of the trial. Scougal was a resident of Yankton, and the defendant, McKinney, was a resident of Sioux Falls. It was claimed that no personal notice of the dissolution of the firm was given to the plaintiff, and that she had no actual notice or knowledge of the dissolution of the firm until after the death of Scougal, in January, 1893. Notice of such dissolution was published in January, 1885, in a newspaper in Yankton and in one in Sioux Falls. The plaintiff brought this action in July, 1898, to recover of the defendant the amount of said certificate of deposit. The case was tried to a jury, and on motion of the defendant a verdict was directed in his favor. From the judgment the plaintiff appeals to this court.

The motion for a direction of a verdict was made upon the following grounds, among others : That the plaintiff has failed to show that she was a customer of the bank, or had had business transactions [57]*57with it to the extent of giving credit to the bank prior to 1885, or that she continued such business upon the faith that this defendant remained a partner of said Scougal subsequent to that time; that the claim in question is barred by the statute of limitations, the certificate having been issued in July, 1889. The court directed a verdict upon the latter ground, but, as there are other grounds stated in the motion, this court is not precluded from affirming the judgment if it finds either of the grounds stated, well taken, though it may not be the ground upon which the verdict was actually directed.

The case as we view it presents two questions: (1) Was the action barred by the statute of limitations? (2) Did the plaintiff have such dealings with the partnership during its existence as to entitle her to personal notice of its dissolution, and in the absence of such notice enable her to maintain this action? The first question is substantially disposed of by the decision in Cornwall v. McKinney, 12 S. D. 118, 80 N. W. 171. In that case this court held in effect, that an action upon a cerifícate of deposit issued by a bank in the usual form cannot be maintained until payment of the same has been demanded, adopting the view of Mr. Daniel in his work on Negotiable Instruments. Upon the subject of the statute of limitations Mr. Daniel says: “The better opinion seems to us to be that the statute of limitations only begins to run when there is an actual demand of payment in due form, and that such demand must precede a suit.” Daniel, Neg. Inst. § 1707a. There is a conflict in the authorities, but the rule as stated by Mr. Daniel is fully sustained by the courts of New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Maryland (Munger v. Bank, 85 N. Y. 587; Howell v. Adams, 68 N. Y. 314; McGough v. Jamison, 107 Pa. St. 336; Bellows Falls Bank v. Rutland Co. Bank, 40 Vt. 377; Institution v. Weedon, 18 Md. 320), and is, in our opinion, the better rule. In Howell v. Adams, supra, the court of appeals of [58]*58New York uses the following language: “The defendant insists that the cause of action on the certificate issued in 1863 was barred by the statute of limitations. The action was commenced in 1871, and it is claimed that the right of action accrued immediately upon the issuing of the certificate without previous demand. This question has been settled by authority. Downes v. Bank, 6 Hill, 297; Payne v. Gardiner, 29 N. Y. 146. We think it is in accordance with the general understanding of the commercial community that a bank is not liable to depositors except after a demand of payment. The fact that a certificate is given upon a deposit being made, payable on the return of the certificate, instead of leaving the deposit subject generally to check or draft, does not change the reason of the rule that the banker must be first called upon for payment before an action can be Maintained.” As no right of action accrued upon this certificate of deposit before a demand, and the statute of limitations not commencing to run until demand is made, this action was not barred, as no demand was made until a short time prior to the commencement of the action.

The second question involved'in this case is one of more difficulty. Upon this subject our code provides as follows: “The liability of a general partner for the acts of his copartners continues, even after a dissolution of the partnership, in favor of persons who have had dealings with, and given credit to, the partnership, during its existence, until they have had personal notice of the dissolution; and in favor of other persons, until such dissolution has been advertised in a newspaper published in every county where the partnership, at the time of its dissolution, had a place of business; to the extent, in either case, to which such persons part with value, in good faith, and in the belief that such partner is still a member of the firm.” Section 4059, Comp. Laws. The first question arising under this section is, what construction is to be placed upon the clause, “in favor of [59]*59persons who have had dealings with, and given credit to, the partnership, during its existence, until they have had personal notice of its dissolution?” It is contended on the part of the appellant that the plaintiff in this action, by making the two deposits of $40 and $35 in 1884 brought herself within the provisions of the section, and is entitled to recover in this action unless she had actual notice of the dissolution of the partnership. The respondent, on the other hand, contends that these two deposits do not constitute evidence that she was in the habit of dealing with the partnership, and that by reason of these acts she cannot be said to be a person who has “had dealings with, and given credit to the partnership,” within the meaning of the section above quoted. Section 4059 of our code is a verbatim copy of Section 1315 of the civil code prepared by the commissioners for the state of New York. In a note to that section the commissioners refer to Vernon v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 N.W. 228, 14 S.D. 52, 1900 S.D. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tobin-v-mckinney-sd-1900.