National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis v. Mechanics' American National Bank
| Decision Date | 05 April 1910 |
| Parties | NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE IN ST. LOUIS, Appellant, v. MECHANICS' AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK and ST. LOUIS BREWING ASSOCIATION, Respondents |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
[Copyrighted Material Omitted]
Argued and Submitted March 14, 1910.
Appeal from St. Louis City Circuit Court.--Hon. Matt. G. Reynolds Judge.
AFFIRMED.
STATEMENT.--The petition upon which this case was tried as well as the other case hereinafter referred to, the latter differing from this only in the names of the defendants and in the number of checks and in the amount, consists of two counts. By the first count it is charged that on or about the 15th of August the defendants presented to plaintiff for payment fourteen certain pretended checks, each dated the 12th day of August 1905, for various amounts, aggregating the sum of $ 549.25 each purporting to have been drawn on plaintiff by the St. Louis Car Company, to have been signed by said company by its president and its assistant secretary, and each purporting to be endorsed by the payee therein, each of which was endorsed by the defendants or by others and then by the defendants; that defendants represented to plaintiff that the checks were the genuine checks of the St. Louis Car Company, as they purported to be, and requested plaintiff to pay the same; that when the checks were purchased or otherwise acquired by the defendants "they negligently made no inquiry and took no action whatever to ascertain whether or not said checks were in fact the genuine checks of the St. Louis Car Company as they purported to be;" that they were endorsed by the defendants and presented to plaintiff for payment through the clearing house of the city of St. Louis, all being presented together, and that believing the representation of the defendants that the checks were the genuine checks of the car company and such appearing to be the case from such inspection of the checks as plaintiff was able to make under the circumstances and at the time they were presented for payment by the defendant bank and not knowing otherwise but relying upon the genuine endorsements thereon of the defendants, which also led plaintiffs to believe them genuine, plaintiff paid them to the defendant, the Mechanics American National Bank; that all of the checks were forgeries and not the genuine checks of the St. Louis Car Company, as represented by the defendants and as they purported to be, and were wholly worthless and valueless to the plaintiff; that the fact that the checks were forgeries was not discovered either by plaintiff or by any other person until on or about the 11th or 12th of September, 1905, and that immediately upon discovering that the checks were forgeries, plaintiff notified defendants of the fact and demanded refund of the amount of money paid which defendants failed and neglected and refused to do. It is further averred that the position of the defendants was not altered or changed and that the defendants had sustained no damage as the result of plaintiff's paying the checks to the defendant Mechanics American National Bank as requested by defendant at the time it notified defendants that the checks were forged and demanded a refund of the money, wherefore judgment is demanded for the amount of the checks, $ 549.25, with interest and costs. The second count is practically the same with the exception that it states that each of the checks purported to be endorsed by the payee therein and each of them was endorsed by the defendant St. Louis Brewing Association and by others and that the defendant represented to plaintiff that the checks were the genuine checks of the Car Company and that each of the checks was endorsed by the genuine signature of the payee named therein as endorser thereof as is purported to be; "that when said checks were purchased or otherwise acquired, by the defendants, they negligently made no inquiry and took no action whatever, to ascertain whether or not said checks were, in fact, the genuine checks of the St. Louis Car Company, as they purported to be, or whether the aforesaid endorsements thereon, were the genuine endorsements of the parties whose names appeared thereon;" and it is averred that the endorsements of the payees and other parties thereon as endorsers thereon "are not the genuine signatures of said payees, as represented by the defendants, and as they purport to be, and all are wholly worthless and valueless to the plaintiff." The other allegations are practically as in the first count of the petition.
The answer of the defendant bank admits the incorporation of the various parties, avers that the defendants believed the checks to be genuine and valid and that they had been duly endorsed by the payees named therein as payees and so believing deposited the checks to the credit of the defendant bank on current account; that they did this in good faith and in the belief that the checks were the checks of the Car Company and duly endorsed by the payees therein named and that in due course they presented the checks to the plaintiff bank for payment, through the clearing house association, in the usual and customary manner of collecting checks between banks in the city of St. Louis; that they were examined by the employees of the plaintiff and held by them to be the genuine checks of the Car Company and defendant's account was credited with the aggregate amount of the checks; that the plaintiff and defendant were at the time of the presentation of the checks members of the Clearing House Association of the city of St. Louis, and the rule of the Clearing House Association hereafter referred to is set up, it being averred that the plaintiff did not return defendant the checks on or before two o'clock of the day on which they were presented to plaintiff for payment through the Clearing House Association and did not inform defendant that the checks were as plaintiff alleges forgeries and not genuine checks of the Car Company or endorsed by the payees thereof until on or about the 11th or 12th of September, 1905, which defendant says was the first and only information that it had that the checks were not the genuine checks of the Car Company or endorsed by the payees thereof; denies making any representations as to the genuineness of the signatures; denies knowledge and information as to whether they were forgeries and denies negligence. The answer to the second count is practically the same, with the denial of any knowledge or information as to the forgery of the names of the endorsers.
The answer of the Brewing Association was a general denial except as to admissions of corporate capacity and that the Car Company was a depositor and customer of the plaintiff and engaged with plaintiff in the business usual and customary between banker and depositor.
Demurrers to the petition were interposed which were overruled. The reply was a general denial. Trial was had before the court, a jury being waived, this case being tried in the lower court and submitted and argued before us in connection with another case in which the National Bank of Commerce in St. Louis is plaintiff and appellant, and the German American Bank, the Bremen Bank and the Gast Brewing Company are defendants and respondents. As the facts which underlie the transactions involved are identical in the two cases, change of parties and of names only and of the number of checks distinguishing one from the other, the statement which we make for brevity and convenience as well as an intelligent understanding of the matter will cover the facts in both cases. With some changes we are following the statement of counsel for one of the respondents, as to the facts in evidence at the trial.
The works of the St. Louis Car Company are located in the extreme northern end of St. Louis and at a distance of at least seven or eight miles from the Bank of Commerce. At the time in question, the Car Company employed several thousand men, whose wages it paid twice a month in checks drawn on the appellant. Every other Saturday, after working hours, and therefore, after banking hours was pay-day. These checks were not presented to the bank by the individuals to whom they were issued, but being indorsed in the name of the payee, they were cashed by the grocers and saloon keepers in the neighborhood and the brewery salesman, who, on such occasions, appeared at the place of business of their customers. In cashing these checks, the workmen were arranged in line, and as each man presented his check it was examined, and if found to be endorsed in the name of the payee, it was cashed. The men presenting these checks wore the clothes and had the appearance of men who had just come from their work at the shops. No particular identification of any one man, as payee, was had or attempted, the presence of the men in the line of workmen and in the garb of the other workmen and no question being made by others in the line or present as to their being part of the working force being accepted as sufficient identification. On the 12th day of August, 1905, the St. Louis Brewing Association cashed a number of Car Company checks presented in this way; among them were 14 checks, seven or eight of which were bought direct by the brewery, the remainder being sent in by its customer, Daubendieck, in payment of his account. The brewery paid the full face value of these checks without any knowledge or suspicion that the signature of the Car Company was forged or that the party named as payee in the check was not its rightful owner.
Each of these fourteen checks is endorsed in the name of the payee therein named and the endorsee received its face value for it. The Brewing Association having thus acquired these checks, deposited them with...
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