36 Misc. 154 | N.Y. App. Term. | 1901
On November 10, 1898, one Frieda Maas, domiciled in Hudson county, N. J., had on deposit in the defendant bank in the city of New York, the sum of eighty dollars. On the date named the said Frieda Maas died in said county and State,
The question is therefore a narrow one, and may be stated thus: Does the voluntary payment made in good faith to the foreign administrator, without notice of the issuance of letters of administration in this State, discharge the debtor, when in fact letters of administration had been granted on the estate of the intestate in this State?
If letters of administration on the estate of the intestate had not, when the defendant paid over the deposit, been granted by the courts of this State, it would seem that the defendant’s liability would have been discharged (Williams v. Storrs, 6 Johns. Ch. 353; Doolittle v. Lewis, 7 id. 45; Vroom v. Van Horne, 10 Paige, 549; Wilkins v. Ellett, 9 Wall. 740; Schluter v. Bowery Savings Bank, 117 N. Y. 128; Petersen v. Chemical Bank, 32 id. 21; Matter of Butler, 38 id. 397; Wilkins v. Ellett, 109 U. S. 654, 656), although the foreign representative could not in this State have enforced the claim by action. Chapman v. Fish, 6 Hill, 554; Parsons v. Lyman, 20 N. Y. 103. In Vroom v. Van Horne (10 Paige, 549, 556, 557), Chancellor Walworth stated that the results of the cases in this State seem to be that a foreign
The fact that the foreign administrator had possession of the , pass-book does not affect the defendant’s liability. As the learned trial justice says in his opinion: “It is insisted, however, that the bank had, under the provisions of its by-laws, which had been assented to by the depositor, the right to pay upon production of the pass-book, and that it would not be liable to any depositor for frauds committed on it or its officers by producing the pass-book and drawing money without the knowledge or consent of the owner.’ That this provision of the by-laws was. for the bank’s protection solely will not be denied. Nor does it excuse the bank from the necessity of using due care in ascertaining if the person demanding payment is the person entitled. This provision may well apply to a payment of a part of the fund, and still not be binding on the depositor when an attempt is made to close the account and draw out the entire fund. In the latter case it .would seem that more than ordinary care should be required of the bank. The production of the foreign letters would have been sufficient to put the bank upon its inquiry as to whether there was any officer authorized by the courts of this State to take possession and control of the assets of the decedent, and this it does not appear to have done. Ignorance of the law excuses no one, and the bank'had the undoubted right to demand of the foreign administrator the production of some kind of a certificate that there was no one in this State authorized to receive. It would, moreover, have been amply protected in refusing such payment altogether, because the'foreign administrator could not maintain an action in this State to recover. And, such being the case, we are forced to the conclusion that due care and diligence were not exercised in this instance.” Appleby v. Erie Oo. Savings Bank,
The defendant knew that the intestate had property within the county of New York, and that administration might in consequence be had there as well as at the intestate’s place of domicile. This was sufficient to put the defendant upon inquiry, and the rule is that whatever is sufficient to make it the duty of one to inquire as to the rights of others is considered legal notice to such person of those rights which inquiry would disclose. Ellis v. Horrman, 90 N. Y. 466, 474; Peck v. Bank of America, 7 L. R. A. 826; Commercial Bank v. Lee, 19 id. 705.
Judgment was properly rendered in favor of plaintiff, and it must be affirmed, with costs.
Freedman, P. J., and Gildersleeve, J., concur.
Judgment affirmed, with costs.