Coleman v. First Nat. Bank

• Decision Date: 26 January 1901
• Citation: 64 S.W. 93
• Parties: COLEMAN v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF WAXAHACHIE.<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

64 S.W. 93

COLEMAN v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF WAXAHACHIE.¹

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

January 26, 1901.

Appeal from district court, Ellis county; J. E. Dillard, Judge.

Action by Mrs. R. J. Coleman against the First National Bank of Waxahachie. From a judgment in favor of defendant, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Seay & Seay, for appellant. M. B. Templeton, for appellee.

BOOKHOUT, J.

This is a suit instituted by the appellant, Mrs. R. J. Coleman, against the First National Bank of Waxahachie, in the district court of Ellis county, to recover certain money alleged to have been deposited in said bank in her name, and belonging to her separate estate. The bank answered, admitting a deposit by J. W. Coleman, the plaintiff's husband, of certain sums of money, aggregating $5,165.67, and that the same was deposited in the name of plaintiff, but alleged the payment of said entire sums on checks drawn from time to time by her husband. Plaintiff, by supplemental petition, filed a general denial, and further replied that the money deposited was known by the officers of the bank to have been her separate estate, and that Coleman, her husband, was a man of utterly dissolute and careless habits in regard to money, and that he squandered the same, and was an unsafe man to intrust with money; that the bank had notice of these facts, and, if it allowed the money to be checked out by her husband, it was guilty of gross negligence of her rights in so doing, and knew the same would be squandered. There was a trial, and verdict for the defendant bank, upon which judgment was entered, and plaintiff appeals. This is the second appeal of this case. The issues raised by the pleadings were the same as those discussed on the former appeal. 43 S. W. 938, 17 Tex. Civ. App. 132.

Conclusions of Fact.

In July, 1889, J. W. Coleman, the husband of the appellant, deposited with defendant bank the sum of $4,076.35, and thereafter other amounts, aggregating in all $5,165.17. Said money was the separate property of, and deposited in the name of, Mrs. R. J. Coleman. At the time it was deposited, J. W. Coleman stated to the cashier that he would deposit the money in the bank in his wife's name, but it was to be understood that it would be checked out by him. It was known to the cashier of the bank that the money so deposited was the separate estate of Mrs. R. J. Coleman. Between the time of the making of said deposits and up to the time of the death of J. W. Coleman, in September, 1893, he drew checks against said deposits on said bank (said checks being signed, "R. J. Coleman, by J. W. Coleman") in various sums of money, which checks were presented to the bank and paid in the usual course of business, amounting in the aggregate to the entire amount of said deposits. J. W. Coleman was a drinking man, and at times gambled. When drinking he was reckless in the use of money. The officers of the bank knew that he was a drinking man, but did not know that he gambled or that he was reckless in the use of money.

Conclusions of Law.

1. There is no error in the charge of the court. The charge on the authority of the husband to...