Ft. Worth Elevator Co. v. State Guaranty Bank
| Decision Date | 09 October 1923 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 11658 |
| Citation | 93 Okla. 191,1923 OK 757,220 P. 340 |
| Parties | FT. WORTH ELEVATOR CO. v. STATE GUARANTY BANK. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. Carriers -- Bill of Lading - - Transfer--Warranties -- Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Under Act of Congress, approved August 29, 1916, the person who negotiates or transfers for value a bill by indorsement or delivery, unless a contrary intention appears, warrants: That the bill is genuine; that he has a legal right to transfer it; that he has knowledge of no fact which would impair the validity or worth of the bill; that he has a right to transfer the title to the goods, and the goods are merchantable or fit for a particular purpose whenever such warranties Would have been implied if the contract of the parties had been to transfer without a bill the goods represented thereby.
2. Same--Forged Bill of Lading--Liability of Bank Indorsing. Where a bank receives from a party a draft with a bill of lading attached, and the bank gives the party credit for the amount and then indorses the bill and sends through his usual channel to the party on whom it is drawn and the same is paid and the bill proves to be a forgery, said bank is liable to the person paying same for the amount paid by him.
L. A. Maris, for plaintiff in error.
J. E. Curran, for defendant in error.
¶1 The parties appear in this court as they did in the court below, and will be referred to as plaintiff and defendant. This is a suit by the plaintiff against the defendant for the payment of an amount paid on a draft with bill of lading attached for $ 2,440 drawn by H. L. Tankersley and deposited in the defendant bank at Blackwell, Okla., which sent it through its usual course to the plaintiff at Ft. Worth, Tex., which paid the draft. The bill of lading attached to the draft proved to be a forgery. It was on the regular form of bills of lading issued by the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company at Hunnewell, Kan., and purported to be for a carload of wheat shipped to Galveston, Tex. As before stated, the draft with the bill of lading was deposited in the State Guaranty Bank at Blackwell, Okla, being the defendant bank, and Tankersley was given credit for same on his account. This draft was dated January 26, 1917, and on December 30, 1916 Tankersley had drawn another draft with bill of lading attached which was identical with the draft and bill of lading involved in this case, except date and amount. That draft was proved to be a forgery and a suit involving that draft was instituted in Texas and reached the Civil Court of Appeals and was decided by that court in May, 1919, and reported in 214 S.W. 656. The court in that case held the bank not liable. It is insisted that that case is not a precedent for the case at bar, for the reason that the act of Congress approved August 29, 1916, relating to bills of lading in interstate and foreign commerce, by the last section of this act which is as follows: That "this act shall take effect and be in force on and after the first day of January next after its passage." It will be seen that this act was not in force at the time the draft with bill of lading attached was given on December 30, 1916, but was in force on the 26th day of January, 1917, when the draft and bil...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Ft. Worth Elevator Co. v. State Guaranty Bank of Blackwell
-
First Nat. Bank of Heavener v. Kempner
...entirely settled by the Fort Worth Elevator Company v. State Guaranty Bank of Blackwell, recently decided by this court and found in 93 Okla. 191, 220 P. 340, where it was held that in a case involving interstate commerce the federal law passed by Congress August 29, 1916, is applicable, pa......
-
Am. Nat. Bank of Lawton v. J. Rosenbaum Grain Co.
...but these cases are not based upon the federal act relating to bills of lading. ¶6 In the case of Fort Worth Elevator Co. v. State Guaranty Bank, 93 Okla. 191, 220 P. 340, which involves facts similar to the facts in the case at bar, it is held: "Where a bank receives from a party a draft w......