Gustin-Bacon Mfg. Co. v. First Nat. Bank of Englewood

• Decision Date: 08 February 1923
• Docket Number: No. 14729.,14729.
• Parties: GUSTIN-BACON MFG. CO. v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF ENGLEWOOD.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

306 Ill. 179

137 N.E. 793

GUSTIN-BACON MFG. CO.

v.FIRST NAT. BANK OF ENGLEWOOD.

No. 14729.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 19, 1922.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 8, 1923.

Error to Appellate Court, First District, on Appeal from Municipal Court of Chicago; Charles A. Williams, Judge.

Action by the Gustin-Bacon Manufacturing Company against the First National Bank of Englewood. Judgment for plaintiff was affirmed by the Appellate Court (224 Ill. App. 457), and defendant brings certiorari.

Affirmed.Harris F. Williams, of Chicago (Cyrus Heren, James A. O'Callaghan, and Eldon M. Votaw, of Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

W. T. Alden, of Chicago (Charles Martin, of Chicago, of counsel), for defendant in error.

CARTWRIGHT J.

The court allowed a writ of certiorari to obtain a review of the record of a judgment of the Appellate Court for the First District affirming a judgment recovered in the municipal court of Chicago by the Gustin-Bacon Manufacturing Company, defendant in error, against the First National Bank of Englewood, plaintiff in error, for the amount of a check drawn by the defendant in error on the New England National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., payable to the order of John Lord's Sons and collected by the plaintiff in error under a forged indorsement of the name of the payee.

Harry Lord and Charles Lord were partners under the name of John Lord's Sons, engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling cotton and woolen waste, with their principal office in Philadelphia and a branch office in Chicago at 939 West Van Buren street. H. W. Melvin was in charge of the Chicago office and Walter J. Riddle was employed as a solicitor and clerk in the office. Riddle secured an order from the plaintiff to John Lord's Sons for a carload of cotton waste, which was shipped to the plaintiff at its place of business in Kansas City, Mo. The car of waste was rejected by the plaintiff, and was returned to John Lord's Sons at their Chicago office, placed in a warehouse, and resold by Melvin to other parties. Notice that the car of waste had been rejected was received at the Chicago office, and shortly afterward a check of the plaintiff dated October 10, 1919, for $2,175.92, the price of the carload of waste was also received. Sending the check was evidently due to some mistake or misunderstanding, and Melvin told Riddle that the plaintiff must have sent it before the refusal to accept the waste, and directed him to send the check right on to John Lord's Sons at Philadelphia with the notice of the rejection. John Lord's Sons had no bank account in Chicago, and checks received at the Chicago office were mailed to them at Philadelphia. The check was put with the other checks to be mailed, to be sent out that day. Riddle took the check, and, instead of forwarding it as directed, indorsed it with the name of John Lord's Sons, and wrote his own name, W. J. Riddle, under the indorsement of the payee's name. He deposited the check with the defendant, the First National Bank of Englewood, which received it for collection for his personal account. The defendant forwarded the check to Kansas City, where it was paid through the clearing house, and the defendant then credited the amount to Riddle's account. Riddle checked out the proceeds with the exception of $18.54. He had no authority to indorse checks for John Lord's Sons, and his indorsement was a forgery.

The facts as above stated have been conclusively settled by the judgment of the Appellate Court, and only questions of law are open to review by this court. The trial was before the...