Bank of Hatfield v. Bruce
| Decision Date | 09 June 1924 |
| Docket Number | (No. 32.) |
| Citation | 262 S.W. 665 |
| Parties | BANK OF HATFIELD v. BRUCE. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Polk County; B. E. Isbell, Judge.
Action by Mrs. L. B. Bruce against the Bank of Hatfield. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Norwood & Alley, of Mena, for appellant.
Minor Pipkin, of Mena, for appellee.
This is an action by Mrs. L. B. Bruce against the Bank of Hatfield to recover the sum of $250.54, which she alleged was loaned the bank on the 19th day of January, 1921; that the bank was to pay her the sum of 10 per cent. interest on the loan from date. The bank denied that it borrowed any money from Mrs. Bruce and denied that it was indebted to her in any sum.
Mrs. Bruce testified substantially as follows: In January, 1921, she had money on deposit in the Bank of Hatfield. She had transacted business with the bank prior to that time. At that time she had a conversation in the bank with Louis Johnson who had been working several years in the bank. She transacted her business with the bank through him. She was thinking of taking her money out of the bank and loaning it to some farmer. Johnson asked her to loan it to the bank and told her that it would pay 10 per cent. interest. She replied that if she couldn't loan it in any other way she would let it go in that way. Johnson was vice president of the bank and in charge of the same at the time. He told witness that, if she would let the bank have the money, the bank stood good for it — "was behind every bit of it." She agreed with Johnson to let the bank have the money. She had on deposit in the bank at the time $250.54. She had no other understanding at all; only her money was in the bank safe and was to draw 10 per cent. interest. She afterwards received the following statement from the bank:
Attached to the statement was the following check:
Witness did not draw the check, but supposed the letter "L." was for Louis Johnson. She did not know whether the letters "B." of "H." meant Bank of Hatfield or not. After the loan was made in January, she made inquiries either in June or July. She wrote to M. J. Dover to know how much she had in the bank and in reply he wrote her the following letter:
After she had received the above information she went to the bank and obtained the note. She talked to Mr. Holder who was working in the bank at the time. She asked him about the note. She loaned the money to the bank in January and did not know that the note was there until May, or thereafter. She heard that she had a note, but did not know for certain until she went and saw it. When she went down and asked them for it, they said it was Louis Johnson's. That was the first time she knew who had signed the note. She saw it and left it there. When she got the note, she asked for her money, and they refused to pay her. After she instituted this action against the bank she received $10 from Johnson, and that is all she had ever received. At the time she loaned the money to the bank she did not talk to anybody except Johnson. She did not know at that time who the president or cashier of the bank was. She did not know what position Johnson held; supposed that he was the manager. At the time she loaned the bank the money she was already receiving 4 per cent. Johnson did not tell her that he would use the money himself. Two or three weeks after the deal was made in the bank there the check came to her through the mail. When she loaned the money to the bank, she never asked for any note. There was nothing said about a note. After Dover became interested in the bank she went down and got the note. Mr. Henry Miller went with her. Holder got the note and delivered it to her and read it to her at the time. She saw that the name of the bank was not signed to the note. This was some time in June or July, 1922. The note referred to was introduced in evidence, and the material parts thereof are as follows:
"One year after date, I, we, or either of us promise to pay to Bank of Hatfield, Mrs. L. B. Bruce or order the sum of two hundred fifty and 54/100 dollars for value received, with interest at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum from date, payable at the Bank of Hatfield."
The note was signed by L. H. Johnson and G. H. Johnson. Witness asked for the money when she got the note, and Johnson said:
"Mrs. Bruce: I am in hard shape now — I can't pay it now but I will pay it just as soon as I can."
She did not ask Johnson for the money — asked the bank for it. She did not get the note from Johnson. She was asking the bank to give her the note and asking them for her money, and she was talking to the bank and Johnson. Holder was the member of the bank to whom she was talking. She did not demand the money of any certain person, but demanded it of the bank. She took the note away and kept it. She wrote Dover the following letter:
She did not do the writing herself, but had her neighbor, Mrs. Miller, write it for her. She never saw the letter after it was written. She did not have Mrs. Miller to put what was in the letter about Johnson. Mrs. Miller drew on her imagination in writing that. She told Mrs. Miller how much she had loaned the bank and witness and Johnson were the ones that did the talking. Mrs. Miller is related to the witness. Witness asked Mrs. Miller to write the letter to Dover to see whether there had been any more money put in there besides the $75. She had been informed that $75 was all that had ever been put on the bank book for her. After the loan was made, the first and only statement she received was the one introduced in evidence. She saw from the statement that the amount was in there that she put in the bank. She didn't understand the balance of the statement — didn't understand the bank.
Witness Henry Miller corroborated the testimony of Mrs. Bruce to the effect that he went with her to the bank when she got the note. When she got there, she first asked for the note. They gave her the note, and she asked for the money, and they paid no attention to her, and she turned and walked out.
E. D. McDaniels testified that he was in the bank with Mrs. Bruce in January, 1921, and heard the conversation between her and Johnson about the money. Johnson had been talking to Bruce, and Bruce came back to where Mrs. Bruce was and told her the bank would take her money and pay her 10 per cent.; that was said in the presence of Johnson. Johnson replied, "Yes, we will take all you have got and pay you 10 per cent." Johnson had been working at the bank for a long time and was working there then, and witness supposed he was an officer, and it was here conceded that he was at that time the vice president of the bank.
E. D. Holder, who was a witness for the bank, testified that he was cashier for the bank in 1921. He remembered Mrs. Bruce coming and getting the note, but heard nothing said about paying the money. At that time witness and Carl Robins had the management of the bank and the borrowing and lending of money. Johnson's duties at that time were making collections on the outside. Because of previous mismanagement Johnson had been displaced by the banking department at Little Rock and by the officers of the bank from his position as manager. Witness kept the books and records in addition to his duties as the cashier. Johnson got the money as shown by the deposit slip to him. The bank never received any of it. Johnson got credit for it. He had no authority to borrow money for the bank. The bank never borrowed money and paid 10 per cent. on it.
Johnson testified that he was connected with the bank in January, 1921, working in and out of the bank. Mrs. Bruce had the money in controversy on deposit and was going to put it on time deposit at 4 per cent., so witness borrowed it at 10 per cent. After talking with Bruce, witness and Bruce then talked with Mrs. Bruce, and they loaned the money to witness. Witness gave his note. He was in the bank when Mrs. Bruce came and got the note. Witness made a payment on the note of $10 after he went to Muskogee in January, 1923.
At the conclusion of the above testimony the defendant in its prayer...
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