92 Wis. 93 | Wis. | 1896
The defense to plaintiff’s cause of action, relied upon, turns wholly upon whether plaintiff was guilty of negligence in failing to receive and forward the check for collection in time for presentation to the drawee for payment before the bank failed. If there was such negligence,
Though, in the foregoing, the case is considered from the standpoint of defendants’ claim that the plaintiff should be held to have received the check at Neillsville on the 19th, the facts do not warrant such a conclusion. The check was not actually received by him until it came to his hands through the mails at Shortville. That was after the bank had suspended, and we are unable to see anything in the record to charge him with negligence because he did not receive it sooner. He had been residing at Shortville for about two years. His mill was there. His principal place of business was there. He had directed the postmaster at Neills-ville to forward all mail addressed to him at Neillsville to his proper address at Shortville, and the letter in question was so forwarded without any unnecessary or unusual delay; certainly, without any delay for which he is answerable to the defendants.
It follows that, in any view of the case, the evidence does not show laches on plaintiff’s part to the prejudice of defendants, and the evidence on the subject is not such as would have warranted the trial court in submitting the question to the jury. Hence the direction of the verdict in plaintiff’s favor was proper.
By the Court.— The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.