Wells, Fargo & Co. v. United States

• Decision Date: 31 January 1891
• Citation: 45 F. 337
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: WELLS, FARGO & CO. v. UNITED STATES.

45 F. 337

WELLS, FARGO & CO. v. UNITED STATES.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. California.

January 31, 1891

This cause having come on regularly before the court, without the intervention of a jury, a jury having been duly waived by stipulation in writing of the parties, filed with the clerk of this court, Mr. E. S. Pillsbury appearing as counsel for plaintiff, and John T. Carey, United States district attorney, as counsel for the defendant; and evidence oral and documentary having been introduced by the respective parties and the cause having been submitted to the court for decision, and the court having duly considered the pleadings and the evidence, finds the following facts:

SPECIFIC FINDINGS OF FACT.

(1) That at all the times hereinafter mentioned plaintiff was and now is a corporation duly organized, existing and doing business as an express company, and engaged as such in the carriage of gold, silver and other chattels from place to place in the United States, and has its office and principal place of business at the city and county of San Francisco state of California.

(2) That prior to December 30, A.D. 1887, the United States became indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $1,995.75 for services theretofore rendered by it as an express company and on said December 30th adjusted its claim for that amount and issued a draft, No. 12,084, for said sum to said company on the U.S. treasury, payable to its order. That on January 6, 1888, plaintiff, by one of its employes, presented said draft, duly indorsed, at the U.S. treasury in San Francisco for payment; that the assistant U.S. treasurer at San Francisco, at that time was Samuel H. Brooks, who then received and retained said draft, and in payment thereof handed over to the said employe presenting the same the sum of $715.55 in cash, together with a certain check drawn December 10, 1886, by T. H. Allen, U.S. pension agent at San Francisco, to the order of one Henry P. Metcalf, for the sum of $1,280.20, as expressed on the face of said check when received by plaintiff and paid by said assistant treasurer, and which check and the payment thereof by said assistant treasurer is hereinafter more particular referred to and described. Said employe declined to receive said check, and demanded full payment of the draft in cash; the said assistant treasurer declined to make payment in any other manner, and arbitrarily held onto the draft, and told said employe that the officers of the company would understand his action; thereupon, the employe went away with said check and the said sum of $715.55, and reported the transaction to the president of the plaintiff, who thereupon consulted with its attorneys, and forthwith sent said employe back to the said assistant treasurer, with instructions to tender back to him the said check and said sum of $715.55 cash, and demand the return of said draft in its favor for $1,995.75, or full payment thereof, which was done by said employe, but said assistant treasurer still declined to give up said draft or pay it in any different way; thereupon the plaintiff brought this action to recover the amount unpaid on said draft, to-wit, $1,280.20.

(3) Touching the check so turned in by the said assistant treasurer in payment of said draft to the extent of $1,280.20, and hereinbefore referred to, the court finds the facts to be, that on December 22, A.D. 1886, plaintiff received said check for collection from the First National Bank of Denver, Colo., said check then calling on its face of $1,280.20, in figures and writing, and apparently regular in form, and was likewise duly indorsed by its payee, Henry P Metcalf, to said bank of Denver, and bore the further indorsement from said bank to plaintiff, 'Pay Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Bank, San Francisco, or order, for account First National Bank of Denver, G. E. Ross, Cashier;' and thereupon plaintiff indorsed thereon, 'Wells, Fargo & Co., by H. Wadsworth, Treas.;' and on said 22d day of December, 1886, presented it for payment to said assistant treasurer at San Francisco, who then accepted said check and paid to plaintiff $1,280.20 thereon, which said sum plaintiff received and immediately paid over, in the usual course of business, to its principal, said First National Bank of Denver, from which it was received for the purposes of collection only. Thereafter, and about January 12, 1887, the said assistant treasurer first informed plaintiff that said check had been repudiated by the maker, said U.S. pension agent, who claimed that it had been issued for...