Capital Bank & Trust Co. v. Wall

• Decision Date: 03 April 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83,83
• Citation: 448 So.2d 225
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US
• Parties: CAPITAL BANK & TRUST CO. v. Dorothy O'Connor WALL and Carolyn Jane Wall. CA 0586.

Page 225

448 So.2d 225

CAPITAL BANK & TRUST CO. v. Dorothy O'Connor WALL and Carolyn Jane Wall.

No. 83 CA 0586.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana First Circuit.

April 3, 1984.

Hampden R. White, Baton Rouge, for plaintiff-appellee Capital Bank & Trust Company.

Stuart R. Thomson, Baton Rouge, for defendants-appellants Dorothy O'Connor Wall and Carolyn Jane Wall.

Before SHORTESS, LANIER and CRAIN, JJ.

SHORTESS, Judge.

Dorothy O'Connor Wall and Carolyn Jane Wall (defendants) appeal the trial court's decision which granted a summary judgment in favor of Capital Bank & Trust Co. (plaintiff).

Plaintiff sued defendants for $25,000.00 for damages allegedly resulting from defendants' fraudulent misrepresentation. Its petition alleges that:

On or about September 17, 1982, Thomas Alexander, President of Power Packing Company, signed a check drawn on the corporation's account at Capital Bank & Trust Co. in the amount of $25,000.00, made payable to the order of Rudolf Wolff. Mr. Alexander, on that date, gave the check to his assistant, Perry Vass, for processing and mailing. Mr. Vass gave the signed check, with a sample letter showing Mr. Wolff's mailing address, to Carolyn Jane Wall, in her capacity as secretary of Power Packing Company, and instructed her to mail the check to Mr. Wolff.

The defendant, Carolyn Jane Wall, gave the check to her mother, the defendant, Dorothy O'Connor Wall.

On or about September 20, 1982, the defendant, Dorothy O'Connor Wall, presented the subject check for payment at Petitioner's Main Street Branch, forging the endorsement of Marie Wolff on the back of the subject check with the knowledge that the endorsement of Rudolf Wolff on the back of the check was not the payee's signature. Because the check was for such a large amount, she was referred to the branch manager, Paul Villemarette. The defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall, fraudulently represented to Mr. Villemarette that she was Marie Wolff, wife of Rudolf Wolff; and that her husband had been injured in a work-related accident and said the check was payment for workmen's compensation benefits to enable them to pay his hospital and doctors' bills.

Mr. Villemarette refused to cash the check at this time and asked the defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall, to bring the various hospital bills to his office, at which time he would consider having her endorse the check and issue Petitioner's checks to the various hospitals and doctors.

On or about September 21, 1982, the defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall, representing herself to be Marie Wolff, wife of the payee, Rudolf Wolff, again came to the Petitioner's Main Street branch, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She fraudulently advised Mr. Villemarette that her husband, Rudolf Wolff, insisted upon getting cash for the September 17, 1982 check in the amount of $25,000.00 and suggested that he verify the check by calling the office of the Power Packing Company. Mr. Villemarette then called the Power Packing Company to verify the authenticity of the check being presented by the defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall. He was advised by the defendant, Carolyn Jane Wall, the only person in the business office at that time, that Mr. Alexander was out, but she was familiar with the check, that it was authentic, in proper order, was due and owing to Rudolf Wolff, who had been injured on the job and the check represented compensation benefits.

At or about 12:28 P.M. on that date, Mr. Villemarette had the defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall, who had represented to him that she was Marie Wolff, wife of the payee, endorse the check and delivered $25,000.00 to her, thinking she was Marie Wolff, wife of the payee, Rudolf Wolff, and that the check had been properly endorsed by her alleged husband and payee, Rudolf Wolff.

The defendant, Carolyn Jane Wall, over the telephone on September 21, 1982, during the noon hour, fraudulently misrepresented to Paul Villemarette, Branch Manager of the Petitioner's Main Street branch, that she was a person named Kathy Grant; the said defendant also fraudulently misrepresented to Mr. Villemarette that the September 17, 1982 check for $25,000.00, made payable to Rudolf Wolff, was a check for workmen's compensation benefits and was in proper order to be cashed by the defendant, Dorothy O'Conner (sic) Wall, with whom she wrongfully conspired and whom she...