112 Ga. 461 | Ga. | 1900
Halliday instituted an action of trover against the Bank of Stewart County, to recover possession of two hundred and thirty-three bales of cotton. On the trial of the case the plaintiff introduced evidence which tended to show the following facts:
Halliday was a cotton-buyer, and arranged with the bank to pay for such cotton as he might purchase, and warehouse receipts for the cotton were deposited with the bank as the cotton was paid for. Under tins arrangement the bank had paid about $5,500 or $5,600 for the cotton in question, holding the receipts in pledge. The contract further stipulated that Halliday was to keep the bank protected by a deposit to cover a depreciation in the value of the ■cotton. The bank desired to collect the amount due by Halliday, and the latter drew a draft on Blanchard, Humber & Co., cotton' merchants in the city of Columbus, payable to the bank, for the amount of the indebtedness, and attached a bill of lading, it being drawn to Halliday’s order, notify Blanchard, Humber & Co.; and the cotton was duly shipped to Columbus under said bill of lading. This draft was not paid, and the cotton being in Columbus, it was .agreed between the parties that W. O. Bradley, another cotton merchant in the city of Columbus, should handle the cotton, and sell the same and pay out of the proceeds the amount due the bank, turning over the balance to Halliday. This agreement was not ■executed; but the bank, without any authority, through one of its officers, sold the cotton to other parties for a price below its value. It was contended that such sale by the bank was a conversion of the cotton to its own use, and entitled the plaintiff to recover in trover. The price of the cotton was proved in connection with the above; and this constituted the evidence submitted by the plaintiff in relation to the title.
The plaintiff having closed, the defendant moved for a nonsuit on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to show title to the property. The motion was granted, and the plaintiff excepted.
The question which arises, under the evidence, is whether or not the title of the cotton was in the plaintiff at the time of the insti
Judgment reversed.