103 Wash. 263 | Wash. | 1918
— The plaintiff steamship company seeks recovery from the defendant, J. & M. Cafe, of the amount of three certain checks which were issued and made payable to the order of the plaintiff and delivered to one Doan, as its agent, in payment of freight charges. The checks were indorsed by Doan, as agent for plaintiff, and delivered to the defendant, he receiving from it in cash the total amount of the checks, which were thereafter, in due course, collected by the defendant from the banks upon which they were drawn. The plaintiff seeks recovery from the defendant upon the theory that Doan was without authority, actual or implied, to indorse the checks and receive cash therefor. Trial in the superior court for King county, sitting without a jury, resulted in findings and judgment denying to the plaintiff the relief prayed for, from which it has appealed to this court.
Counsel for appellant invokes the general rule that an agent who is merely authorized to collect money for his principal in payment of debts due his principal is not thereby impliedly authorized to indorse checks which he receives in payment of such debts, and collect money thereon, citing: Deering & Co. v. Kelso, 74 Minn. 41, 76 N. W. 792, 73 Am. St. 324; Graham v.
We think, however, this rule is not applicable to the facts in this case, since it plainly appears that Doan was something more than a mere soliciting agent. He was, we think, the financial agent of appellant as well, in that he was authorized to pay from the collections made by him the expense of operating the boat; in other words, he was a disbursing as well as a collecting agent. This, it seems to us, warranted the trial court in concluding that he had authority to reduce his collections, made in the form of checks, to money, by indorsing checks so received, as agent for appellant. Observations made by this court in • Graton & Knight Mfg. Co. v. Redelsheimer, 28 Wash. 370, 68 Pac. 879, lend support to this conclusion. We have not lost sight of the fact that Doan’s employment as purser changed in October, 1916, and that the checks here involved were not cashed by him until February, 1917. But we think the trial judge was warranted in concluding that his employment continued under such circumstances as to indicate to respondent that he was still the agent of appellant, possessing the same authority as while he was acting as purser prior to October, and that respondent was warranted in believing, and did in good faith believe, that Doan’s relation to .appellant had not changed in so far as his authority was concerned. The question here to be determined, in its last analysis, is one of fact. Had the cause been tried in the superior court by a jury, resulting in a verdict in favor of respondent, we are quite convinced we would not be justified in disturbing such verdict. While, of course, we are not bound by the conclusions'of the trial court upon questions of fact as we would be by the verdict
The judgment is affirmed.
Main, O. J., Mitchell, Tolman, and Fullebton, JJ., concur.