Youel v. Bank of Atchison Co.
| Citation | 117 S.W.2d 376 |
| Decision Date | 02 May 1938 |
| Docket Number | No. 19123.,19123. |
| Parties | MEL YOUEL, RESPONDENT, v. THE BANK OF ATCHISON COUNTY, APPELLANT. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Missouri (US) |
Appeal from Buchanan Circuit Court. — Hon. L.A. Vories, Judge.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
J.V. Gaddy and Clayton W. Allen for respondent.
W.L. Mulvania and A.F. Harvey for appellant.
This is an action for money had and received. There was a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $258.20 and defendant has appealed.
The facts show that plaintiff is a farmer, living near Fairfax. Atchison County: that defendant is a bank located at Rock Port in the same county; that C.G. McConnell was a resident of that county, residing on a farm and engaged in the business of buying and selling horses and mules; that on Saturday, February 1st, 1936, McConnell purchased of the plaintiff three mules for $495, for which he gave the plaintiff his check drawn upon the defendant bank; that the check was not handed directly to plaintiff, but was left at a filling station where plaintiff procured it the following Monday morning. The check included $10 for a prior indebtedness owing the plaintiff by McConnell, growing out of the purchase of another mule, and consequently, it was made for $505.
Beginning in May or June 1935 McConnell began purchasing horses and mules for the Government, the defendant advancing the money to buy them, the Government later paying the defendant. Later McConnell started buying and selling horses and mules on his own account, handling the financial end of the transaction, with the bank, the same way that he had done before. McConnell would buy horses and mules from farmers and give them his check in payment for the same drawn on the defendant, and at the end of each week defendant would draw a draft on the Kansas City Horse and Mule Company covering the checks. Some of the horses and mules bought by McConnell were shipped to the Kansas City Horse and Mule Company and sold for him by it. However, others were sold to farmers. At times McConnell would keep, for a period of time, the horses and mules that he purchased, on his farm or on the lot that he owned in Rock Port.
When McConnell began to purchase horses and mules he had no balance in the bank and, even afterwards, at times he would have overdrafts there. His bank account covered all of his transactions, both in the buying and selling of horses and mules, and included his checking account for personal expenses.
The mules purchased from plaintiff by McConnell were shipped by the latter to the Kansas City Horse and Mule Company on the day they were purchased and the check given by McConnell to plaintiff was presented for payment, without endorsement, to the defendant bank by plaintiff in person on the morning of Monday, February 3, 1936. Mr. Beasing, cashier of the bank, waited on plaintiff, took the check and examined it. On the bottom left-hand corner of the check was written the notation: "1 mule $180.00 1 Mule $165.00 1 Mule $150.00 Balance on Mule $10.00." After examining the check Mr. Beasing handed it to Mr. Boettner, president of the bank. Mr. Boettner then examined the check and returned it to Beasing, who, in turn, handed it to plaintiff with the statement that "they were not paying Charley's checks any more." Plaintiff then said, "If that is the case, I had better get hold of Charley McConnell." Beasing said, "he is in Kansas City, I think," and plaintiff replied, "I know he is, he took my mules there."
Plaintiff then took the check to the Exchange Bank at Fairfax and deposited it in the usual way. The check was presented to defendant for payment and protested on February 7, 1936. Afterwards plaintiff received from McConnell $265 cash, which plaintiff applied generally, on the check, but he had no understanding about the balance. The consignment of horses and mules in which plaintiff's mules were sold by the Kansas City Horse and Mule Company brought $1777.50: $150 of this went to the Nodaway Valley Bank, at Maryville and $1518.50, covered by a draft for $1100 and a check for $418.50 went to the defendant bank.
On January 17, 1936, one G.E. Sellers, deposited in the bank at Fairfax a check drawn by McConnell in his favor in the sum of $1125. After going the usual rounds it reached the defendant bank on January 21st. At that time there was not sufficient funds in the defendant bank to the credit of McConnell out of which to pay this check, so the cashier of the bank at Fairfax told Boettner not to protest the check but to hold it and the former would guarantee payment if sufficient funds did not arrive in a few days to pay the same.
On the morning of February 3, McConnell had to his credit in defendant bank the sum of $812.83. At that time McConnell had directed his employee. Myers to have defendant draw a draft on the Kansas City Horse and Mule Company in the sum of $500. On behalf of defendant, Myers testified that he went to the defendant bank about seven o'clock of the morning of February 3 and told Boettner or Beasing to draw the draft. This defendant did and credited the amount thereof to McConnell's account. The amount of this draft, together with the $812.83 then to the credit of McConnell's account, was sufficient to pay the draft for $1125, and the same was applied to the payment of said draft, leaving a balance of only $187.83 to McConnell's...
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