77 F. 401 | 4th Cir. | 1896
On June 33,1803, the treasurer of the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company of Forth Carolina drew two drafts upon his company for the aggregate sum of $4,766.26 in favor of the Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond, Ya. The drafts were passed, for value, to the First Fational Bank of Richmond, which became the owner of them. The Richmond Bank indorsed the drafts “for collection,” and, in due course of mail, sent them to the Bank of New Hanover, of Wilmington, N. 0., “for collection and remittance.” The New Hanover Bank, on the loth of June, presented the drafts to the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Company at its office in Wilmington for payment; and received for the drafts, from the railroad company, two checks, one of them upon itself for $3,952, and the other upon the Atlantic Fational Bank of Wilmington for $2,000. When the checks were received by the New Hanover Bank, that: hank charged the check drawn upon itself to the account of the railroad company on its books, and entered a memorandum of the charge upon its “remittance blotter.” The check upon the Atlantic National Bank was not presented during banking hours of the 15th, but in the afternoon was, together with other checks of the Atlantic National Bank, which the New Hanover Bank held, transmitted to that bank by a runner of the New Hanover Bank, and an account was stated between the checks held by the New Hanover Bank against the Atlantic Fational Bank and the checks held by the Atlantic Fational Bank against the New Hanover Bank, and the difference of $2,051.36 in favor of the New Hanover Bank was paid in money by the Atlantic National Bank to the New Hanover Bank. The New Hanover Bank did not send the First National Bank of Richmond any money, or make other remittance in payment of the money col
The two principal questions presented by the record are whether the New Hanover Bank was the mere agent of the Richmond Bank for collecting the amount of the two drafts from the railroad company, and, as mere agent, was bound to remit that very money to the Richmond Bank; and, second, whether the railroad company was bound by the words “for collection,” placed on the drafts, to see that the very money which it paid to the New Hanover Bank was transmitted specifically to the Richmond Bank. The court below, in its instructions to the jury, and in its judgment upon the verdict of the .jury, held in the negative on both of these questions; and gave judgment against the plaintiff below.
In Armstrong v. Bank, 148 U. S. 50, 13 Sup. Ct. 533, the agreement was that the bank should collect for the plaintiff and remit every 10 days; and the United States supreme court held that, as soon as the paper was collected, the bank became a debtor to the plaintiff for the amount collected. This was equivalent to holding that on •collecting the proceeds of drafts the bank ceased to be an agent bound to remit the very money collected; but became a debtor for