City Savings & Trust Co. v. Branchieri

• Decision Date: 03 July 1916
• Docket Number: 17528
• Citation: 72 So. 196,111 Miss. 774
• Parties: CITY SAVINGS & TRUST CO. v. BRANCHIERI
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

72 So. 196

111 Miss. 774

CITY SAVINGS & TRUST CO. v. BRANCHIERI

No. 17528

Supreme Court of Mississippi

July 3, 1916

APPEAL from the circuit court of Warren county, HON. J. C. BRYSON Special Judge.

Suit by Mike Branchieri, administrator against the City Savings and Trust Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Judgment affirmed.

Brunini Hirsch & Griffith, for appellant.

T. G Birchett and Henry & Canizaro, for appellee.

OPINION

HOLDEN, J.

Mike Branchieri, administrator of the estate of Peter Branchieri, filed this suit in the circuit court of Warren county against the City Savings & Trust Company, and obtained a judgment for one thousand and eighty-two dollars and forty-two cents, from which judgment the City Savings & Trust Company, defendant below, appeals here.

Briefly stated, Peter Branchieri, the father of appellee Mike Branchieri, was a resident of Vicksburg, Miss., where he lived with his family until August 14, 1909, when he moved with his wife to Lexington, Ky. There he engaged in the saloon business until March 4, 1911, when he died. While he was living in Vicksburg he deposited in the appellant bank the sum of one thousand dollars, which he left there on deposit drawing interest, when he moved to Lexington, Ky. After the death of Peter Branchieri, the appellee, Mike Branchieri, his son, went to the appellant bank on March 28, 1911, and notified it that Peter Branchieri had died, and inquired as to whether or not he had left any money on deposit with this bank, and requested the appellant bank to hold such money as might be in its hands, as it was his intention to take out letters of administration upon his father's estate and collect the money. He was informed by the appellant bank that there was on deposit to the credit of Peter Branchieri one thousand dollars, and interest thereon. On April 27, 1911, Mike Branchieri was appointed administrator of the estate of the said Peter Branchieri, and qualified as such in Warren county, Miss. The deceased, Peter Branchieri, also left certain other property in Warren county, consisting of furniture and bar fixtures, etc.; and he also owed various persons living in Vicksburg different amounts of indebtedness, who afterwards duly probated their accounts against his estate in Warren county, Miss.

On March 23, 1911, the Lexington Banking & Trust Company, of Lexington, Ky., was appointed administrator of the estate of the said Peter Branchieri at Lexington, Ky., and qualified as such under the laws of the state of Kentucky. After the appellee, Mike Branchieri, was appointed and qualified as administrator by the Warren county chancery court on April 27, 1911, he went to the appellant bank and presented his letters of administration and demanded that the bank pay over to him the amount of his father's deposit, so that he could properly administer same and pay the debts due by his father to persons living in Vicksburg. The appellant bank then notified appellee that the money deposited by Peter Branchieri had been already drawn out of the bank by the Kentucky administrator, and refused to pay him. On April 12, 1911, the Lexington Banking & Trust Company, the foreign administrator, had drawn a draft on the appellant bank for the full amount of the deposit and interest, which was one thousand and eighty-two dollars and forty-two cents, attaching to the draft the passbook, which draft the appellant bank paid on April 14, 1911. When this draft for one thousand and eighty-two dollars and forty-two cents was paid by the appellant bank, the foreign administrator, the Lexington Banking & Trust Company, had failed to comply with section 2099, Mississippi Code of 1906. It appears from the record that about two years after the appellant bank had paid the amount of the deposit to the foreign administrator a certified copy of the appointment, with certificates showing the appointment of the foreign administrator, were filed in the office of the chancery clerk as required by section 2099, Code 1906.

It further appears from the record that there were certain rules and regulations of the appellant bank contained and printed in the deposit passbook that was issued to the decedent, Peter Branchieri, which attempted to prescribe certain conditions and stipulations between the bank and the depositor, all of which were void if in conflict with the statutory law of the state. The appellee, Mike Branchieri (local) domestic administrator of the estate of Peter Branchieri, deceased, on June 21, 1911, filed this suit in the circuit court of Warren county to recover this deposit and interest from the appellant bank; and from a judgment in his favor, the bank prosecutes this appeal.

There seems to be but one question necessary for us to decide in this controversy, and that is whether or not the Lexington Banking &...