Second Nat. Bank of Pittsburg v. Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Co. of Shamokin
| Decision Date | 09 July 1903 |
| Docket Number | 201 |
| Citation | 206 Pa. 616,56 A. 72 |
| Parties | Second National Bank of Pittsburg, Appellant, v. Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company of Shamokin |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued May 25, 1903
Appeal, No. 201, Jan. T., 1902, by plaintiff, from order of C.P. Northumberland Co., May T., 1901, No. 187, discharging rule for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense in case of Second National Bank of Pittsburg v Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company of Shamokin. Reversed.
Assumpsit to recover money paid on a draft with a forged indorsement.
The draft was as follows:
"SUPREME TENT,
K.O.T.M of the World.
Designated Depository.
D. P. MARKEY, Supreme Com.
G. J. SEIGLE, Supreme R.K.
The affidavit of defense was as follows:
That on October 6, 1900, O. J. Reed, a Record Keeper of Tent No. 175, Shamokin, Pa., of the Knights of the Maccabees, upon fraudulent proofs of death of a man by the name of Benjamin Davis, who was insured in the life benefit fund of the Supreme Tent of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, for the benefit of his brother, John Davis, obtained a draft from the order of Maccabees, for the sum of $3,000, payable to the order of John Davis. It was alleged that the said O. J. Reed forged the indorsement of the said John Davis upon the said draft, and presented the same to the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company of Shamokin, Pa., and through it had it forwarded for collection to the Second National Bank of Pittsburg, Pa., the depository of the Knights of Maccabees, which said bank, the plaintiff in this suit, remitted the amount of the said draft, so collected, to the defendant, that the said defendant had no notice of the said fraud or forgery until October 31, 1900, when notice was received by the defendant that it was suspected that a fraud had been perpetrated by the said O. J. Reed upon the Supreme Tent of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, in obtaining the said draft, which was finally confirmed by subsequent notice on November 2, 1900.
The deponent avers that it was through the carelessness and negligence of the Knights of the Maccabees and the fraud and forgery of its agent, the said O. J. Reed, Record Keeper of Tent No. 175, of Shamokin, Pa., that a death claim was approved by the said order, and a draft issued when, with proper precaution it would have been ascertained that the man insured was alive; that the said order of the Knights of the Maccabees put in circulation the said fraudulent draft by means of which the said defendant indorsed the same, and forwarded it for collection to its agent, the plaintiff, in the city of Pittsburg, and had not the said draft been carelessly and negligently issued and put in circulation by the Knights of the Maccabees, the said defendant would not be called upon to pay the said fraudulent and forged draft, and the deponent is advised, and therefore avers in behalf of the said defendant, that the said order of the Knights of the Maccabees cannot lawfully recover the amount of the said draft declared upon, so fraudulently issued by it and negligently put into circulation, and that the plaintiff in this suit, being the depository of the funds of the said order of the Knights of the Maccabees, is in no better position, and is not entitled in law to recover the amount of said draft so negligently put in circulation, for the reason that it is the agent of the said order of the Knights of the Maccabees, which is responsible for the amount of the said draft, by reason of its carelessness and negligent management, and carelessly and negligently putting into circulation the said draft, based upon a death claim when, with ordinary diligence, it could have ascertained that the person insured was alive.
The court discharged the rule for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense.
Error assigned was the order of the court.
The order discharging the rule is reversed, and the record is remitted to the court below with directions to enter judgment for the plaintiff unless other legal or equitable cause be shown to the court below why such judgment should not be entered.
W. H. M. Oram, for appellant. -- Whatever may be the law in other states, in Pennsylvania the right of the payor to recover back the money paid on a draft, the signature or indorsement of which is forged, is now settled, both by statute and authority: Act of April 5, 1849, P.L. 424; Corn Exchange Nat. Bank v. Bank of the Republic, 78 Pa. 233; United Security Co. v. Cent. Nat. Bank, 42 W.N.C. 145; Lehigh Coal & Nav. Co. v. Blakeslee, 189 Pa. 13; McConeghy v. Kirk, 68 Pa. 200; Iron City Nat. Bank v. Fort Pitt Nat. Bank, 159 Pa. 46; Land Title & Trust Co. v. Northwestern Nat. Bank, 196 Pa. 230; Tradesmen's Nat. Bank v. Third Nat. Bank, 66 Pa. 435; Rick v. Kelly, 30 Pa. 527; Roth v. Crissy, 30 Pa. 145.
S. P Wolverton, with him A. G. Marr, for appellee, cited: States v. First Nat. Bank of Montrose, 203 Pa. 69; Iron City Nat. Bank v. Fort Pitt Nat. Bank, 159 Pa. 46; Nassau Bank v. Nat. Bank of Newburgh, 159 N.Y. 456 (54 N.E. Repr. 66); Coggill v. American Exchange Bank, 1 N.Y. 113; Merchants' Loan & Trust Co. v. Bank of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Second Nat. Bank of Pittsburg v. Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Co. of Shamokin
... 56 A. 72206 Pa. 616 SECOND NAT. BANK OF PITTSBURG v. GUARANTEE TRUST & SAFE DEPOSIT CO. OF SHAMOKIN. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. July 9, 1903. Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County. Action by the Second National Bank of Pittsburg against the Guarantee Trust & Safe Dep......