159 Ga. 515 | Ga. | 1925
J. Z. Marshall brought an equitable petition against J. M. McRee and the Oconee County Bank, praying for a general judgment against J. M. McRee for the amount of principal, interest, and attorney’s fees due on a -certain promissory note, and that he have a special lien on two certain pieces of real estate described'in the petition, and that the deed held by the Oconee County Bank to certain of the' property be canceled as a cloud upon petitioner’s title, or that it be decreed inferior to plaintiff’s deed, and that it also be decreed that a li. fa. issue and each piece of property be sold separately under the fi. fa., which shall pass a perfect title to the purchaser. There was also a prayer for general relief. On the trial of the cáse the evidence tended to show that Marshall had on general deposit in the Oconee County Bank $6000. C. H. Ashford was the cashier of the bank, and Marshall approached Ashford and requested him to loan the above sum of money for him. Ashford made arrangements with McRee by which the latter was to borrow the above amount from Marshall and secure him by a deed' to certain real estate, which was to be a first lien on the property, consisting of a farm of 200 acres, and a city lot in the town of Watkinsville, Georgia. This deed was accepted by Marshall. After the loan was consummated, Ashford claimed that he was acting in the transaction merely as an individual and friend of Marshall, and that neither he nor the bank received any compensation for this service, and that the bank did not participate in making the loan. After the loan was made, this money was used to pay some of McRee’s indebtedness to the bank. In the meantime McRee had become insolvent, and Marshall brought the present suit, alleging that the bank through its cashier, Ashford, had made the loan, and that it was the duty of the bank to use the $6000 in clearing a lien on the property of McRee held by the bank as security, the bank transacting the whole matter for the plaintiff as his agent; that the $6000, being a part of the general deposit, became a special fund to be
We- are of the opinion that the excerpts from the charge set out are not erroneous for any reason assigned. On the argument here counsel for plaintiff in error took the position that a bank in Georgia can not act as a money broker and lend money for others. The evidence in the case shows that the Oconee County •Bank was a regular State bank, incorporated under the general banking laws as contained in the Civil Code of 1910. Section 2266, par. 7, of the code is quoted in support of the above contention. The reply to the above contention is that this court has held that “The lending of money on deposit for a customer and depositor by a bank in this State, at his instance and as his agent, is not necessarily ultra vires. An agency to lend the money of one of its customers in his name and in his behalf in good faith, and using ordinary diligence as an agent, is within the range of the legitimate business of a bank, unless expressly prohibited by its charter, and is an incidental power of the bank when deemed expedient to be exercised in the course of its business.” Morgan County Bank v. Poullain, 157 Ga. 423 (2) (121 S. E. 813). Our attention has not been called to anything in the charter of the bank prohibiting the lending of money by the bank for any of its customers.
It is further contended that the evidence in the case fails to show any corporate action whatsoever that any officer of the bank knew anything of this transaction, or that the board of directors
Judgment affirmed.