Indian Head Nat. Bank of Derry v. Simonsen, 7085
| Decision Date | 30 May 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 7085,7085 |
| Parties | INDIAN HEAD NATIONAL BANK OF DERRY v. Edwin C. SIMONSEN et al. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
McLane, Graf, Green, Raulerson & Middleton and Judith D. M. Ransmeier, Manchester, for plaintiff.
Hamblett, Kerrigan, LaTourette & Lopez, Nashua (Joseph Kerrigan, Nashua, orally), for the defendants, Edwin C. Simonsen and Agnes Simonsen.
Rinden Professional Ass'n, and Eleanor Krasnow, Manchester (Paul A. Rinden, Concord, orally), for defendant Joan D. Simonsen.
This is an action by the bank to determine the rightful owner of a savings account. The principal issue is whether the Master (Leonard C. Hardwick, Esq.) properly excluded evidence at a hearing on the issue and properly found for the defendant Agnes Simonsen, who is Edwin's mother, on the grounds of res judicata. We hold that he did.
This case arose as an offshoot to the lengthy and somewhat complicated divorce proceeding between Joan D. Simonsen and Edwin C. Simonsen. While the divorce proceeding was still pending, Joan D. Simonsen, through her attorney, made representations to the bank that a certain account, under the name of Agnes Simonsen, came into being from the proceeds of a check which had been jointly made out to Edwin and Joan and to which Joan's name had been allegedly forged. To avoid the problems over the question of ownership, the bank brought an action equivalent to interpleader to settle all matters regarding ownership of the savings account.
At the June 24, 1974 hearing on the issue of ownership, the master excluded evidence proffered by Joan (1) which related to the validity of Joan's endorsement on the check and (2) which related to the actual sale price of certain property which had been jointly owned by Edwin and Joan which the check in question represented. He also found that the issue of ownership of the sale's proceeds which made up the account had already been decided adversely to Joan during the divorce proceedings. (Hardwick had sat as master in the divorce case.) The Trial Court (Morris, J.) sustained this position.
Joan excepted to both the evidentiary rulings and to the master's final decision which permitted Agnes Simonsen to retain the account. Evidence in the record shows while the divorce proceeding was still pending, Edwin, with Joan's approval, sole the parcel of jointly held property located on Berry Road, Derry, New Hampshire, to G. A. Bedard Construction Company. In return Edwin received a check in the name of both Edwin and Joan for the sum of $15,916.84 as payment. The check was endorsed in the names of Edwin C. Simonsen and Joan D. Simonsen, although Joan did not sign it. This check was presented to the bank on ...
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