Mccranie v. Bank Of Willacoochee, (No. 13624.)

• Decision Date: 08 February 1923
• Docket Number: (No. 13624.)
• Citation: 116 S.E. 202,29 Ga.App. 552
• Parties: McCRANIE. v. BANK OF WILLACOOCHEE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

29 Ga.App. 552

116 S.E. 202

McCRANIE.

v.BANK OF WILLACOOCHEE.

(No. 13624.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Feb. 8, 1923.

. Rehearing Denied March 1, 1923.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

[Ed. Note.—For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, Tort.]

Error from City Court of Nashville; W. R. Smith, Judge.

Action by the Bank of Willacoochee against G. F. McCranie and another. Judgment for plaintiff, and the defendant named brings) error. Affirmed.

R. A. Hendricks, of Nashville, and Dick-erson & Kelley, of Douglas, for plaintiff in error.

E. K. Wilcox, of Valdosta, E. R. Smith, of Willacoochee, and John P. & Dewey Knight, of Nashville, for defendant in error.

JENKINS, P. J. This was a petition expressly founded In tort, brought by the Bank of Willacoochee in the city court of Nashville against G. F. McCranie, a resident of Atkinson county, and T. R. Cox. a resident of Berrien county, to recover damages on account of alleged misappropriations of funds. The petition alleges that the two alleged joint tort-feasors, the former as vice president and cashier of said bank, and the latter as bookkeeper thereof and under the control of McCranie, conspired and.colluded together to cheat and defraud, and did actually thus cheat and defraud, the petitioner, in that they did from time to time abstract from said bank certain funds belonging to it. While the second count of the petition avers that all the funds thus alleged to have been embezzled were converted tothe use of the said McCranie, the allegations are that such acts were the joint acts of the defendants, not only done with the knowledge and consent of the bookkeeper, Cox, but in which he actively participated by manipulating and falsifying the books and records of the bank; and, w⁷hile the pe-tion shows that all the alleged acts complained of were committed more than four years prior to the beginning of the suit, it is further shown that the alleged acts of misfeasance were kept secret by the defendants, and were artfully concealed by the making] of false entires on the books of the bank and by a studious manipulation of its records so as to render it impossible, by semiannual audits or otherwise, to discover the wrongful extraction of its funds, and that by reason of such acts both it and the state officials who examined it were prevented from ascertaining the true status until a named date, which was less than four years prior to the beginning of the suit. In this connection, an amendment to the petition shows as follows:

"Between July 31, 1912, and May 5, 1916, petitioner's board of directors met on the following dates: October 23, 1912, January 3, 1913, January 7, 1913, March 21, 1913, July 31,

1913, October 31, 1913, January 6, 1914, January 31, 1914, March 5, 1914. March 14, 1914, July 31, 1914, August 19, 1914, December 9,

1914, January 5, 1915, April 26, 1915, and October 26, 1915. At each of said meetings the said George F. McCranie submitted to the board a statement purporting to reflect the true condition of the bank, and represented that said statement was correct, but in truth and in fact each and every statement so submitted and furnished by him was alleged and did not reflect the true condition of the bank, in that none of said statements showed the correct amount of deposits subject to check. In making up each of said statements the said George F. McCranie, acting for himself and his confederates, to wit, M. H. McCranie and T. R. Cox, with a view to and for the purpose of preventing the...