United States Fidelity &. Guaranty Co. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Shull

43 F.2d 532, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 3914
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 11, 1930
DocketNo. 215
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 43 F.2d 532 (United States Fidelity &. Guaranty Co. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Shull) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States Fidelity &. Guaranty Co. v. Oklahoma ex rel. Shull, 43 F.2d 532, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 3914 (10th Cir. 1930).

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.

This is an action to recover on a fidelity bond executed February 16, 1925, by Harvey D. Price, vice president and cashier of the First State Bank of Keota, Oklahoma, as principal, and the United Státes Fidelity & Guaranty Company, as surety.

The bond was approved by the board of directors of the bank on Febiruary 16, 1925, and by the bank commissioner of Oklahoma on February 28,1925.

The bank was adjudged insolvent and taken charge of by the bank commissioner of Oklahoma on February 21, 1927.

The application for the bond, made February 6,1925, in part, read as follows:

“3. Is applicant in debt to your bank? No. (a) If so, in what amount? (b) is indebtedness Secured?.... How?.... (e) Has loan written approval of Board of Directors?---- (d) Are the applicant’s accounts now entirely correct? Yes. (e) Is there now or has there been a shortage due you by applicant? No. (f) What means have you used to ascertain whether his accounts are correct? Examination three times a year by State Examiner, (g) When were his accounts last examined? November 28, 1924. (h) How often will his books or accounts be examined? Three times a year, (i) Who will make examination? State Bank Examiner.
“4. The applicant will authorize the loans and discounts of the bank. Yes. (a) In what amount? All loans to be approved by directors.
“5. Will the applicant determine as to when losses are to be charged off? Yes. * * *
“10. What officer or committee of your bank will check books and accounts to see that all of the rules and regulations required by the Bank Commissioner are being kept? Directors. How often?---- (a) As to excess loans. Monthly meetings. * * *
“It is agreed that the above representations are warranties, and are to be taken as the basis of the bond applied for, or any re’ newal or continuation of same that may be issued by the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company at the request of the undersigned on behalf of the said applicant.”
The condition of the bond was that the surety company should pay “such pecuniary loss, not exceeding Ten Thousand ($10,000.-00) Dollars as said The First State Bank of Keota, of Keota, Oklahoma, aforesaid, may sustain by reason of failure of the principal from and after the date of the beginning of the suretyship to faithfully perform all duties required of such principal while said principal is actually employed by said bank aforesaid.”

The bond provided that the suretyship thereunder should “begin on the 6th day of February, 1925, and * * *‘ end (a) with the date of the discovery by said bank that such principal has not faithfully performed all of his duties. * * * ”

During each day of the period from January 2, 1923, to February 21, 1927, Price, as cashier, paid overdrafts of various customers of the bank, the aggregate amounts of which ranged between $200 and $4,200. The personal account of Price in such bank was overdrawn almost continuously from January 6, 1916, to February 4, 1925. The officers and directors of the bank had knowledge of such overdrafts when the application was made for the bond.

The personal account of Price was not overdrawn from February 4, 1925, to February 9, 1925. It was continuously overdrawn from February 9,1925, to February 21,1927. The amount of such overdrafts was $298.26 between February 9, 1925, and March 21, 1925. .The amount of such overdrafts on February 21, 1927, was $2,200.00. The board of directors made examinations of the books of the bank at monthly meetings held in March, April, May and June, 1925, and March and June, 1926. . Certificates signed by all of the officers and directors of the bank showed overdrafts in the bank on July 14, 1925, aggregating $279.01.

The board of directors did not hold monthly meetings and make monthly examinations of the books of the bank to ascertain whether the rules and regulations of the bank commissioner were being kept, except for the six months above enumerated.

All of the loans were made by Price, as cashier, and none of them were approved by the board of directors before the money was paid out on such loans. After such loans were consummated, the approval of the board [535]*535of directors was secured, as a matter of form, at the next meeting of such hoard.

During the period between June 6, 1925, and February 21, 1927, Price, in addition to hi3 personal overdrafts, failed to perform faithfully the duties imposed upon him as such cashier, resulting in shortages in his accounts and pecuniary loss to the bank in the aggregate of $6,350.15.

The state sought to recover the amount of such shortages and also the amount of his personal overdraft existing on the date the bank closed. The trial court found against the state on the claim for overdrafts but gave judgment on the other claims of $6,350.15 with interest from July 27,1927, the date demand was made upon the surety company.

The applicable Oklahoma statutes are:

Section 4119, C. O. S. 1921, which reads, in part, as follows:

“The board shall require the cashier and any and all officers having the care of the funds of the bank to give a good and sufficient bond, to be approved by them, and held by the state banking board.”

Section 4119 — 1, C. O. S. Supp. 1926, which was passed in 1923 and went into effect March 30, 1923, and which reads as follows:

“Bonds of Employees. — It is by this Act made mandatory that all persons who are actively engaged in the state banking business in the State of Oklahoma and all aetive employees of any such bank shall from and after the passage and approval of this Act give fidelity bonds, to the State of Oklahoma, executed by a surety company in the amount fixed by the bank commissioner, and when executed to be approved by the bank commissioner for the faithful performance of their respective duties and every active officer and employee of such- state banks shall give such bond within thirty days after such officer shall become active as an officer or employee in a state bank in the State of Oklahoma.”

Section 4119, C. O. S. Supp. 1926, which was passed in 1924 and became effective March 22, 1924, and which in part reads as follows:

“The board shall require all aetive employees of all State banks, to give fidelity bonds to the State of Oklahoma, as provided for in House Bill No. 122, Chapter 157, of the Session Laws of 1923, to be approved by them, and held by the State Banking Board.”

Section 4143, C. O. S. 1921, which reads as follows:

“Liability for Overdrafts. Any bank officer or employee who shall pay out the funds of any bank upon the cheek, order or draft of any individual, firm, corporation or association, which has not on deposit with such bank a sum equal to such check, order or draft, shall be personally liable to such bank for the amount so paid, and such liabilities shall be covered by his official bond.”

And section 4127, C. O. S. Supp-. 1926, which reads as follows:

“Officer — Borrowing Money. — 1.

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43 F.2d 532, 1930 U.S. App. LEXIS 3914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-v-oklahoma-ex-rel-shull-ca10-1930.