28 La. Ann. 727 | La. | 1876
The plaintiffs, merchants of New Orleans, bring suit against the Mississippi Valley Bank of Vicksburg, in the State of Mississippi by attachment of the property of the defendants situated in New Orleans, the object of th.e suit being to recover from the Valley Bank the amount of various drafts drawn upon the plaintiffs by one of their customers residing in the parish of Madison in this State, which drafts were cashed at Vicksburg by the Valley Bank and forwarded by that bank to New Orleans for collection, which plaintiffs paid, and which it turned out were forged and passed off to the Valley Bank that discounted them. The defendants filed a general denial, and allege there was gross carelessness in the plaintiffs in not knowing the signature of their customer, and paying forged drafts upon themselves, thereby misleading the bank which took the drafts in the usual course of business in good faith and for a valuable consideration. There was judgment in favor of the plaintiffs,' and the defendants have appealed.
The facts seem to be that a planter of largo business and credit, residing in the parish of Madison, Louisiana, at no great distance from Vicksburg, named Ultz, was in the habit, for the purpose's of his plantation business and engagements, of drawing drafts on the plaintiffs, his factors, in New Orleans, and his drafts were promptly paid when presented. These drafts were in general for sums less than five hundred dollars; few of them as large as four hundred dollars; some of them for
The drawee of a bill is presumed to have a better knowledge of the signature of the drawer than the holder. It is for him to rely upon his own knowledge and means of information on the subject, and not upon presumptions arising from the opinions of others. In this ease the plaintiffs, it is shown, had in their possession at the time these forged
It is therefore ordered that the judgment of tho district court be annulled, avoided, and reversed. It is further ordered that there be judgment in favor of the defendants, with costs in both courts.