13 Wash. 345 | Wash. | 1895
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Substantially the only question of fact involved in the decision of this cause was as to the nature of a deposit made by the respondent T. P. Watson, in the Washington Savings Bank, of which the appellant is now the receiver. The trial court found that this deposit was a special one and that the title-to the money deposited never-passed to the bank; that it held it in trust for said Watson for certain purposes. If there is evidence to sustain this finding, certain important questions of law as to the tracing, of trust funds must be decided. If the evidence does not sustain such finding, and if, notwithstanding it,
It is not possible in this opinion to go at any length into the proofs upon which we have come to a conclusion as to the nature of this deposit. We must be satisfied with stating such conclusion and briefly referring to some of- the evidence which has induced it. Substantially the only testimony tending to show that the money when deposited was received by the bank as a special deposit was that of the respondent Watson, and upon such testimony the finding of the superior court, must haye been -founded;, for while it is true that certain other statements and circumstances were relied upon, they were none of them of such a character that they could not have consistently existed if the deposit had been a general- one. To meet this proof there was little positive testimony. The president of the bank with whom the business-was transacted was unable to state the circumstances connected with such deposit, and if there had. not appeared in the proofs certain papers which had been delivered by the bank to said respondent and others signed by him and delivered to it, his testimony would not be so contradicted that it should not be given
That this would have been the result of the entering of the deposit upon such a slip and a delivery of a duplicate thereof to the depositor without anything excepting the fact of such deposit having been written thereon, is substantially conceded by the respondents; but it is contended that the writing upon said slip of the words “ Security for signing bond to be held by bank,” showed that the deposit was not to be treated as an ordinary general deposit. But to our mind these words written upon said slip should be given little or no force in determining whether by'the deposit the bank became the debtor or the trustee of .the depositor. The only thing that these words indicated was that whatever the relation between the depositor and the bank on account of the deposit, such relation had been assumed for the purpose of securing a surety upon a bond, and should be continued until such surety should be released from liability.
If there were nothing else in the case to affect the testimony of said respondent, it would none too well
The only way in which their force is sought to be. met is by the general statement by said respondent that he did not understand their force and effect when he received or signed and delivered them; that all he supposed he was doing was in one instance getting a receipt for his money and in the other giving his own receipt therefor. But in the absence of any proof of fraud on the part of the bank in inducing him to re
The judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded with instructions to deny the petition. •
Scott and Dunbar, JJ., concur.
Gordon, J., dissents.