United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Ottawa County Nat. Bank

32 F.2d 368, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1196
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMay 4, 1929
DocketNo. 32
StatusPublished

This text of 32 F.2d 368 (United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Ottawa County Nat. Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Oklahoma 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. Ottawa County Nat. Bank, 32 F.2d 368, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1196 (N.D. Okla. 1929).

Opinion

KENNAMER, District Judge.

This is a suit in equity involving the following facts:

Complainant, a surety company, had executed surety bonds guarantying payment of deposits of the United States and the county treasurer of Ottawa county, Oklahoma. Tho United States of America had on deposit in the Miami Trust & Savings Bank, when the bank was closed by the bank commissioner of Oklahoma, the sum of $2,970.54, and another deposit or fund, in the amount of $25,175. The county treasurer had on deposit the sum of $11,000, secured by warrants deposited by the bank with the county treasurer, of tho face value of $7,200. Complainant had guaranteed, by bonds, the payment of the deposits by the Miami Trust & Savings Bank to the United States of America, and the sum of $5,000 to the county treasurer. Complainant seeks a decree establishing a priority of payment from the assets of the failed bank as to the deposits of the United States of America, and decree of proration with other creditors as to the deposit of the county treasurer.

The Miami Trust & Savings Bank failed December 12, 1921, and the assets passed to the bank commissioner of Oklahoma for liquidation, as provided by the statutes of Oklahoma. Thereafter, and on December 17, 1921, upon application being made by the bank commissioner, the district court of Ottawa county, Oklahoma, made an order, in conformity to the statutes of Oklahoma, authorizing the bank commissioner to transfer all of the assets to the Ottawa County National Bank. The consideration for the transfer to the defendant, which was specified in the order of tho district court, was the assumption by the defendant of the liabilities of the Miami Trust & Savings Bank to its unsecured depositors. No funds or money passed to tho bank commissioner from the transfer; he was a mere conduit of title to the assets of the failed bank, having transferred them to the defendant as herein described.

The further fact is that the officers and directors of the failed bank voluntarily turned over the assets of tho Miami Trust & Savings Bank to the state bank commissioner on December 12,1921, and at a time when the bank was insolvent and did not have sufficient assets to pay all of its debts. The transfer of the assets by the bank commissioner to the defendant was made without notice to the United States, the county treasurer of Ottawa county, or to the complainant, the same having been made on the day the order was made by the district court, and the application therefor was made to the court on the same day the order was entered. On the other hand, the defendant took over the assets of the failed bank with notice of the deposits of the United States of America and the county treasurer of Ottawa county, and that the deposits were unpaid.

Complainant relies upon sections 3466 and 3468, Rev. Stat. U. S. (sections 191, 193, title 31, USCA), for its claim to priority of payment of the deposits of the United States of America in the failed bank, it having paid the sums to the United States. Section 3466 is as follows:

“Whenever any person indebted to the United States is insolvent, or whenever the estate of any deceased debtor, in the hands of the executors or administrators, is insufficient to pay all the debts due from the deceased, the debts due to the United States shall be first satisfied; and the priority established shall extend as well to eases in which a debtor, not having sufficient property to pay all his debts, makes a voluntary assignment thereof, or in which the estate and effects of an absconding, concealed, or absent debtor are attached by process of law, as to cases in which an act of bankruptcy is committed.”

Section 3468 provides:

“Whenever the principal in any bond given to the United States is insolvent, or whenever, such principal being deceased, his estate and effects which come to the hands of [370]*370his executor, administrator, or assignee, are insufficient for the payment of his debts, and, in either of such eases, any surety on the bond, or the exeeutor, administrator, or as-signee of such surety pays to the United States the money due upon such bond, such surety, his exeeutor, administrator, or as-signee, shall have the. like priority for the recovery and receipt of the moneys out of the estate and effects of such insolvent or deceased principal as is secured to the United States; and may bring and maintain a suit upon the bond, in law or equity, in Ms own name, for the recovery of all moneys paid thereon.”

The bank commissioner of Oklahoma, in taking over the assets of a failed bank, occupies a position analogous to that of a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy. His position is for the benefit of the creditors of the bank, and he takes the assets subject to the rights of its creditors. Ward v. Oklahoma State Bank of Atoka, 51 Okl. 193, 151 P. 852; Commerce Trust Co. v. State, 59 Okl. 14, 157 P. 717; Briscoe v. Homer, 50 Okl. 281, 150 P. 1101; Strain v. U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co. (C. C. A.) 292 F. 694.

There can be no doubt that the United-States of America was entitled to payment “out of the estate and effects” of the insolvent bank, and was given priority for such payment. It is likewise beyond doubt that the surety, paying the claim due the Umted States of America, is entitled to “the like priority for the recovery and receipt of the moneys out of the estate and effects,” etc. The paying surety is granted power to bring and maintain the action for such recovery in his (or its) own name, and the action may be brought and maintained in law or equity.

The provisions of the statute, supra, fairly construed, charge the assets of an insolvent principal, with the payment of such a claim, and priority therefor is expressly given. It is not necessary to construe the statute as attaching a lien upon the assets of an insolvent principal for the payment of a claim of the United States of America, but its clear language fixes a charge thereon and prescribes that the estate and effects shall be resorted to for the payment. A conversion of the estate or effects would justify an action at law for the recovery by a paying surety, and undoubtedly, if the estate or effects are available, such a surety can proceed in equity to reach the estate or effects, to obtain recovery of moneys it has paid to the United States of America. The statute affords the paying surety a remedy at law or equity, and a resort to equity is in the nature of an equitable execution, directed to the estate or effects of the insolvent principal herein, the Miami Trust & Savings Bank.

In the instant ease, the -defendant occupies the same position with reference to the deposits of the United States of America, and the paying surety, as the state bank commissioner, having taken over all of the assets of the failed bank with notice of the deposits. Too, defendant took over all of the assets of the Miami Trust & Savings Bank, and not any part of them. The consideration was the assumption of the liabilities of the failed bank to its unsecured depositors. It took the assets charged with the same responsibilities to the United States of America as the failed bank or the bank commissioner had, to wit, priority of payment out of the estate or effects.

Defendant insists that the bank commissioner should be held answerable to complainant for not paying the claim due the United States of America from the assets of the failed bank, and relies for such contention upon Rev. Stat. U. S. § 3467 (31 USCA § 192).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 F.2d 368, 1929 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-v-ottawa-county-nat-bank-oknd-1929.