Keys v. Ponder
| Citation | 247 P. 33,1924 OK 103,118 Okla. 234 |
| Decision Date | 29 January 1924 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 12738 |
| Parties | KEYS v. PONDER et al. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Oklahoma |
¶0 1 Assignments--Rights of Assignee of Chose in Action as to Existing Claims and Equities.
The assignee of a chose in action takes it subject to all existing claims and equities and acquires no greater interest therein than his assignor had at the time of assignment, unless third persons claiming or having an interest in it, have placed in the hands of the assignor evidence of ownership and permitted the assignor to exercise dominion and control over said chose in action as his own, which would estop such third persons from asserting their claims of interest or ownership in said chose in action against a bona fide purchaser.
2. Same--"Bona Fide Purchaser."
To constitute a bona fide purchaser, three things must exist: (a) A purchaser in good faith; (b) for value; c) and without notice.
3. Same--Notice--Effect of Putting Assignee on Inquiry.
Whatever is notice enough to excite attention and put a reasonably prudent person on his guard and calls for inquiry is notice of everything to which such inquiry might have led. When a person has sufficient information to lead him to a fact, he shall be deemed conversant with it.
4. Same--Assignee not Bona Fide Purchaser.
Record examined, and held, that the plaintiff is not a bona fide purchaser.
Commissioners' Opinion, Division No. 2.
Appeal from District Court, Greer County; T. P. Clay, Judge.
Action by W. P. Ponder against John C. Keys and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and named defendant appeals. Reversed, with instructions.
S. P. Freeling, E. E. Hood, and J. I. Howard, for plaintiff in error.
H. H. Edwards and A. R. Garrett, for defendant in error.
¶1 C. P. Walker, Cy Williams, and R. A. Baird were convicted of a misdemeanor in the county court of Greer county, and an arrangement was made and entered into whereby a cash deposit was made in the City State Bank of Mangum (now the Guarantee State Bank of Mangum, Okla.) for the purpose of procuring T. S. De Arman and Percy Cornelius, president and cashier, respectively, of said bank, to sign the appeal bonds of the defendants in appealing their case to the Criminal Court of Appeals. Acting on instructions contained in a telegram received from John C. Keys, who was in New York, Albert H. Keys, his son, wrote a cheek on the account of John C. Keys in the Citizens' State Bank of Lawton, Okla., for $ 4,500 and caused three cashier's checks of $ 1,500 each to be issued therefor, and said cashier's checks were delivered to C. P. Walker who carried the, same to the City State Bank of Mangum, and, on October 27, 1914, deposited $ 3,600 thereof to the credit of De Arman and Cornelius, and said $ 3,600 was not subject to check. The appeal bond of each defendant was then signed by De Arman and Cornelius as sureties, and each bond was for $ 1,200, making a total of $ 3,600, and this left a balance of $ 900 out of the original $ 4,500, and C. P. Walker procured a cashier's check from the City State Bank of Mangum for this amount and deposited the same to the credit of John C. Keys in the Citizens' State Bank of Lawton.
¶2 At the time the $ 3,600 was deposited, a written contract was entered into between De Arman and Cornelius, as parties of the first part, and C. P. Walker, as party of the second part, wherein it was agreed that the $ 3,600, or so much thereof as necessary, was to be used by the parties of the first part, as sureties on said bonds, to pay any sum for which they might become liable on said bonds, and said contract further provided:
¶3 The Criminal Court of Appeals reversed the judgment against Walker and his associates, and, on August 7, 1919, the county court of Greer county dismissed the case against said defendants and entered an order exonerating the appeal bonds and discharged the sureties from any liability in connection therewith. John C. Keys immediately made demand on the bank for the $ 3,600, which was refused because W. P. Ponder was claiming the same by virtue of an assignment he had procured from C. P. Walker of his interest in the contract with De Arman and Cornelius, and said assignment is as follows:
(Signed)
C. P. Walker.
"Witness: J. H. Guyton."
¶4 On August 8, 1919, John C. Keys filed suit in the district court of Greer county against the Guarantee State Bank, T. S. De Arman, Percy Cornelius, and C. P. Walker for said $ 3,600. On October 7, 1919, W. P. Ponder filed suit in the district court of Greer county against the same defendants for said $ 3,600. Thereafter, said actions were consolidated and W. P. Ponder was treated as plaintiff and John C. Keys and the three defendants, above named, were considered as defendants, and said action, as consolidated, was proceeded with to determine who had the prior right to said fund. A jury was waived and the cause submitted to the court resulting in a judgment for the plaintiff, from which the defendant Keys brings error.
¶5 It is clear, from the record, that John C. Keys was the owner of the $ 3,600 and that he merely caused the same to be deposited by C. P. Walker in the bank at Mangum to indemnify the officers of said bank in making appeal bonds for Walker and his codefendants and that Walker never had any interest in said funds. Therefore, Walker breached the trust that was imposed in him by Keys when he fraudulently assigned said contract to the plaintiff on December 8, 1917.
¶6 The first question is: What rights did the plaintiff, as assignee of said contract, acquire, in or to the $ 3,600? Said contract is merely a chose in action and it is the general rule that the assignee of a chose in action takes it subject to all existing claims and acquires no greater interest therein than his assignor had at the time of the assignment. Gillette & Libby v. Murphy, Carroll & Brough, 7 Okla. 91, 54 P. 413; Jack v. Nat. Bank of Wichita, 17 Okla. 430, 89 P. 219; Guaranteed State Bank of Durant v. D'Yarmett, 67 Okla. 164, 169 P. 639. But the plaintiffs contend that this rule...
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