Savannah Bank & Trust Co v. Groover

• Citation: 56 Ga.App. 27,192 S.E. 49
• Decision Date: 22 May 1937
• Docket Number: No. 26099.,26099.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Parties: SAVANNAH BANK & TRUST CO. v. GROOVER.

56 Ga.App. 27

192 S.E. 49

SAVANNAH BANK & TRUST CO.

v.GROOVER.

No. 26099.

Court of Appeals of Georgia,

Division No. 2.

May 22, 1937.

Rehearing Denied June 18, 1937.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Where any one of several disjunctive averments in the same count of a petition is insufficient, as against a general demurrer the petition will be construed as pleading no more than the insufficient cause or theory.

2. Where a certificate of stock is transferred in blank by a wife and delivered to her husband for the purpose of borrowing money thereon, it is immaterial whether she gave it to him for a limited purpose or loaned it to him, and the title passed into the husband.

3. Such a transfer carries with it the presumption that its holder has the right to dispose of it, and he may fill in the blanks.

4. Married women are as bound by estoppel as other persons.

5. A transferee in blank of stock has the right to have new scrip issued in his own name.

6. Under the construction placed on the petition in this case, when the wife transferred a stock certificate in blank and placed it in her husband's hands, and he borrowed money from the defendant bank and delivered the stock to it as security forthe loan, the title to the stock passed to the bank. The subsequent act of the defendant bank in having the stock reissued to the husband in his name was not a conversion of the stock even if the defendant bank acted on a forged letter purporting to come to it from the wife and so authorizing it, since the husband had the right to have this done without the authority apparently contained in the forged letter, and what he could do he could do through the defendant bank as his agent.

7. Various contentions of the wife discussed.

Error from City Court of Savannah; B. B. Heery, Judge ex officio.

Suit by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Groover against the Savannah Bank & Trust Company. To review a judgment overruling its general demurrer to the petition, defendant brings error.

Reversed.

Mrs. Elizabeth L. Groover filed a trover suit against the Savannah Bank & Trust Company, which, as amended, reads as follows: "1. Savannah Bank and Trust Company (hereinafter called defendant), is a corporation created by and existing under the laws of the State of Georgia, and has its principal place of business in Chatham County, Georgia. 2. On or about October 30, 1935, petitioner was the owner and in possession of 100 shares of the common capital stock of Coca-Cola International Corporation (hereinafter called Coca-Cola Stock), which ownership was evidenced by Certificate No. 5539 of said Corporation, registered in her name, a copy of which is hereto attached, marked 'Exhibit A' and hereby made a part of this petition. 3. On or about October 30, 1935, petitioner's husband, Robert N. Groover, who was in partnership with Beekman Huger in the insurance business, told petitioner that he had dissolved his partnership with the said Huger and that it was necessary for him to raise Eight Thousand Dollars to pay for his said partner's interest in the firm, and that he wished petitioner to lend him her said Coca-Cola stock on which to borrow said amount, whereupon and for that purpose, petitioner delivered to her said husband said Coca-Cola stock, at the same time signing the transfer printed on the back thereof, the places in said transfer for the name of the transferee, the attorney to make the transfer, and the date, being left blank.

4. Savannah Bank and Trust Company, defendant herein, came into possession of the said Coca-Cola stock under the circumstances hereinafter stated, and converted the same on or about November 18, 1935, as hereinafter set forth, for which conversion petitioner brings this her action of trover against said defendant. 5. Petitioner alleges upon information and belief that the said Robert N. Groover procured a loan from the defendant in the sum of Thirty Thousand Dollars, and hypothecated said Coca-Cola stock to secure said loan; but these facts were not known to petitioner at the time, and only came to her knowledge some time after the conversion by the defendant of said stock. Petitioner was informed on or about January 8, 1936, that the said Robert N. Groover had procured the said loan of Thirty Thousand Dollars from the defendant. 6. The proceeds of said loan of Thirty Thousand Dollars were entered October 30, 1935, by the defendant as a deposit in a Savings Department Pass Book of the defendant in the name of Mrs. Robert N. Groover. This fact was not known to the petitioner at the time and did not come to her knowledge until sometime after the conversion of said stock by the defendant. Petitioner was informed on or about January 8th, 1936, that the proceeds of the loan of Thirty Thousand Dollars made by the defendant was entered as a deposit in the Savings Department pass book in the name of Mrs. Robert N. Groover. 7. The said Savings Department pass book was not in the possession of petitioner at the time of said loan, but was in the possession of petitioner's husband. The said pass book was always kept by petitioner's husband in his possession and all of the deposits in said Savings Department of the defendant which appear in said pass book were made by petitioner's husband without petitioner's knowledge. Petitioner had been told by her husband that he had opened a small account in her name in the Savings Department of defendant, and that there was on deposit there to her credit a sum less than $100. Petitioner never saw the said pass book until sometime after the conversion of said stock by the defendant. The nearest petitioner can recollect she was informed by her husband some time in the summer of 1934 that he had opened an account in her name in the Savings Department of the defendant. Petitioner first saw the pass book of the defendant a few days after January 11, 1936, the exact date peti-tioner does not recall. 8. On or about October 30, 1935, petitioner's husband asked her to sign a check to pay a small debt (the nature and amount of which petitioner does not now recall), and at his request she signed in blank a check drawn on the Liberty National Bank & Trust Company of Savannah in which she had an account. This check was altered without petitioner's knowledge or consent, by striking out the name of the bank on which it was drawn and substituting in place thereof the name of 'Savannah Bank & Trust Company' and the words 'Savings Department;' and the amount of $25,000 was written in the face of said check and made payable to cash, without petitioner's knowledge or consent; and the check so altered was indorsed by Robert N. Groover and paid by Savannah Bank & Trust Company to him, and the amount entered on the pass book as a withdrawal. A copy of said check, as presented to the defendant, is hereto attached, marked 'Exhibit B' and hereby made a part of this petition. 9. On or about November 5, 1935, petitioner's husband asked her to sign another check to pay a small debt (the nature and amount of which petitioner does not now recall), and at his request she signed in blank a check drawn on the Citizens & Southern National Bank, in which she had an account. This check was altered without petitioner's knowledge or consent by striking out the name of the bank on which it was drawn and substituting in place thereof the name 'Savannah Bank & Trust Company' and the words 'Savings Department;' and the amount of $5,085.32 was written in the face of said check and made payable to Robert N. Groover, petitioner's husband, without petitioner's knowledge or consent; and the check so altered was indorsed by the said Robert N. Groover and paid by the Savannah Bank & Trust Company to him, and the amount entered on said pass book as a withdrawal. A copy of the said check, as presented to the defendant, is hereto attached marked 'Exhibit C and hereby made a part of this petition. 10. Petitioner does not know whether or not the note or notes given to the defendant for said loan of $30,000 were signed in the name of petitioner, but if they were so signed, the signature or signatures were a forgery. Petitioner never signed any notes for said loan, has never seen said note or notes, and had never had any communication of any kind with the defendant with reference to said loan until after the conversion of said stock by defendant. 11. The said loan of $30,000 was not made by defendant to petitioner as a matter of fact or law and petitioner was never liable to the defendant on said loan. Petitioner never received the proceeds of said loan or the benefit of the loan. The checks described in paragraphs 8 and 9 above, which were signed by petitioner, were not drawn by petitioner on defendant, but were altered, as hereinbefore set forth, after she signed them and without her knowledge. 12. The transfer of said Coca-Cola stock by petitioner as hereinbefore described was an attempt to bind her separate estate by a contract of suretyship, and an attempt to assume the debts of her husband, and in either respect was contrary to the law and null and void. 13. The defendant knew that the relationship of husband and wife existed between petitioner and the said Robert N. Groover. The transfer of said stock certificate signed by petitioner in blank on the back of said certificate shows that it was not a gift of said stock to her husband, and if said transfer should be regarded as a sale of stock to her husband, it would be contrary to law and null and void because not allowed by order of the Superior Court of the domicile of petitioner, which is Chatham County. The hypothecation of said stock to defendant as security for said loan was contrary to law and null and void, because it was apparent on the face of the transaction that Robert N. Groover had no lawful title to the said stock and could not have transmitted any title thereto to the defendant, and the hypothecation of said stock to the defendant was contrary to law and null and void for the further reason that the...