Idaho First Nat. Bank v. First Nat. Bank of Caldwell
| Decision Date | 23 June 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 8565,8565 |
| Citation | 340 P.2d 1094,81 Idaho 285 |
| Parties | IDAHO FIRST NATIONAL BANK, a National Banking Association, as Administrator of the Estate of Walter Griffiths, Deceased, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CALDWELL, Caldwell, Idaho, Defendant, and Walter Griffiths, Jr., and Helen M. Griffiths, Husband and Wife, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Alexanderson & Davis, Gigray & Boyd, Caldwell, for appellants.
J. Ward Arney, Pat W. Arney and MeFarland & McFarland, Coeur d'Alene, amici curiae.
Meek & Miller, Laurence N. Smith, Caldwell, for respondent.
Re-rehearing was granted, and the opinion on rehearing, filed December 2, 1958, is withdrawn and this opinion substituted therefor.
The plaintiff, Idaho First National Bank, as administrator of the estate of Walter Griffiths, deceased, referred to herein as the administrator, instituted this action against the defendants, First National Bank of Caldwell, Walter Griffiths, Jr., and Helen M. Griffiths, husband and wife, to recover for decedent's estate certain funds from Walter Griffiths, Jr., and Helen M. Griffiths, and to determine ownership of certain land sale contracts executed by the deceased with various purchasers, and in addition to determine title to a promissory note.
Defendant First National Bank of Caldwell did not appeal from the judgment of the lower court, and will not be considered here on appeal. Walter Griffiths, Jr., and Helen M. Griffiths will be referred to hereafter as the defendants or appellants.
From a judgment in favor of the plaintiff administrator, defendants take this appeal.
The issues presented by this case are whether titles to the bank account, land sale contracts and a promissory note were transferred through the medium of a joint survivorship agreement as gifts inter vivos, or whether such an agreement was executed for the purpose of business convenience or necessity.
During his lifetime Walter Griffiths was by profession an attorney at law. His clientele for a time included the defendant bank, the First National Bank of Caldwell. He accumulated a sizable estate, in excess of $150,000. He left no issue, and died intestate on December 26, 1955, at about the age of 89 years. His next of kin consisted of nieces and nephews, one of whom is defendant Walter Griffiths, Jr.
The defendants were residing on one of Walter Griffiths' farms when in January of 1950 Walter Griffiths, because of his failing health, went to live with his nephew and the latter's wife, during which time he paid them $50 per month. During July, Griffiths suffered a severe illness which occasioned a surgical operation and hospitalization for approximately two months. At that time, he executed a bank signature card which authorized his nephew to craw checks on a checking account.
After the illness, Griffiths returned to his office and continued practice of his profession until September of 1954. In 1953, Griffiths made a gift of the farm on which they resided, and an automobile, to his nephew and the latter's wife.
On November 12, 1954, Griffiths relinquished management of his business affairs to his nephew, except for the execution to certain real estate contracts. On that date, Walter Griffiths, Walter Griffiths, Jr., and Helen M. Griffiths executed the following agreement:
'Agreement Regarding Joint Account Opened
'under the name of Walter Griffiths the undersigned, Joint Depositors, hereby agree, each with the other and with The First National Bank of Caldwell, Caldwell, Idaho that all sums heretofore or hereafter deposited by said joint depositors or either of them, with said bank, to their credit as such joint depositors, in the account above mentioned, shall be owned by them jointly, with the right of survivorship and be subject to the order or receipt of either of them or the survivor of them, and payments thereof, to either shall discharge said bank from liability to either, or the heirs, executors, administrators or assigns of either. This agreement shall not be changed or terminated without written notice to said bank and such notice shall not affect the deposits heretofore made. In case of the temporary closing of this account a deposit thereafter made by either party is subject to the conditions herein mentioned unless said bank is otherwise notified in writing and this agreement terminated.
'Dated Nov 12 1954
'The First National Bank of Caldwell, Caldwell, Idaho
Walter Griffiths
Walter Griffiths Jr.
Helen M. Griffiths Joint Depositors
'By EWE
'To The First National Bank of Caldwell, Caldwell, Idaho
'Below please find authorized signature(s) which you will recognize in the payment of funds or the transaction of other business on my (or our) account, and it is agreed that:
'In receiving items of deposit or collection, this bank acts only as depositor's collecting agent and assumes no responsibility beyond the exercise of due care. All items are credited subject to final payment in cash or solvent credits. This bank will not be liable for default or negligence of its duly selected correspondents nor for losses in transit, and each correspondent so selected shall not be liable except for its own negligence. This bank or its correspondents may send items, directly or indirectly, to any bank including the payor, and accept its draft or credit as conditional payment in lieu of cash; it may charge back any item at any time before final payment, whether returned or not, also any item drawn on this bank not good at close of business on the day following the day deposited.
'(Sign Here) Walter Griffiths
'(Sign Here) Walter Griffiths Jr.
'(Sign Here) Helen M. Griffiths
'Account Opened By
'Date 11/12/54
'If joint account is desired have both parties sign above and both parties execute agreement of back of card.
'Griffiths, Walter, Walter Jr., or Helen'.
The name of Walter Griffiths was not written in at the top of the agreement at the time of execution; and at the instance of Walter Griffiths, Jr., it was filled in by the bank manager, designating the account of the uncle to which the agreement would apply. This account, at the time of Walter Griffiths' death, had credited to it the sum of $44,141.42. Subsequent to November 12, 1954, Griffiths did not examine the account balance nor the bank statements, but would only ask the defendant, Walter, Jr., as to the balance in the checking account. This arrangement continued until Griffiths' death December of 1955. Immediately after his uncle's death, Walter Griffiths, Jr., withdrew $43,000 from the checking account and deposited it to his own account.
The trial court made findings of fact and concluded that the execution of the joint survivorship agreement was for business convenience and business necessity, and that it was not the intention of Griffiths to vest any ownership in the defendants of the amount credited to the bank account.
Between October, 1953, and November 23, 1955, Griffiths executed nine contracts of sale of real estate having a total balance due thereon after execution in excess of $93,000. The contracts were placed in escrow at the bank, with instructions to credit the payments under the contracts to his account. There was, in addition to the contracts, a promissory note executed in June, 1950, payable to Walter Griffiths, in the sum of $1,254.59, payments on which were to be deposited to Griffiths' bank account.
Appellants claim title to the bank account, the land sale contracts, and the promissory note, and base their assertion upon the executed joint account agreement.
Walter, Jr., checked at the bank to determine the type of card his uncle signed in 1950, and secured the joint account cards. When his uncle requested the cards, they were on hand at the home for execution. Appellants also emphasize the fact that the uncle had executed one card for convenience, and therefore intended something more by the new agreement.
Two witnesses testifying for appellants were contradictory in their testimony, one of them stating he understood Walter Griffiths to say that the contracts were fixed at the bank, and his nephew would receive them, whereas the other witness testified Walter Griffiths was disposing of his property by a will. The defendant Walter Griffiths, Jr., testified his uncle had developed love and affection for him, and at the time the joint account agreement was executed his uncle said, 'Everything is all yours now, Walter.'
The administrator introduced evidence to show that the deceased intended the agreement to be for business convenience and necessity. This evidence may be summarized as follows: (a.) there was a close and confidential relationship between defendants and the deceased; (b.) Walter Griffiths, Jr., acted in his uncle's stead for all business matters after November 12, 1954, the date the joint account agreement was executed; (c.) the agreement pertained to the joint checking account, and was not related to the land sale contracts held in escrow nor to the promissory note; (d.) at the time the joint agreement was executed, decedent was aged, physically infirm, with his hearing impaired, and required the use of a strong magnifying glass for reading; (e.) in the summer of 1955, the defendant nephew summoned Frank Meek, an attorney for his uncle, advising the attorney his uncle wished to make a gift of the entire estate to said defendant; when defendant Walter, Jr., requested his uncle in the presence of Frank Meek to turn all the property over to him, the uncle refused to discuss the matter; (f.) on November 22, 1955, Walter Griffiths, Jr., withdrew $2,000 from his uncle's checking account, and on the face of the check inscribed the word 'loan.'
The trial court, upon the facts, concluded that the agreement was executed for business necessity and convenience, and did not constitute a gift; that no valid transfer...
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