51 So. 843 | La. | 1910
V. Polizzotto, a commercial firm composed of Vincent, Sam and Frank Polizzotto, obtained judgment against the defendant bank for $571.11, on the ground that the bank had charged their deposit account with that amount without authority; the facts disclosed upon the trial of the case being as follows: About November 24, 1908, a man representing himself to be the agent and solicitor of the Florence Distilling Company (said to have been an Eastern, but as it turned out a fictitious, concern) called at the store of V. Polizzotto, in Plaquemine, and obtained from Sam Polizzotto the firm’s order for an invoice of liquors, which he appeared to be selling at a low price. He then asked Sam Polizzotto to give him some references, and he was given the names of several merchants, of the Iberville Bank & Trust Company, and of the People’s Bank. He then asked which of the banks V. Polizzotto did business with, and having been given that information and having written the names of the references on a piece or sheet of writing paper, with the name “People’s Bank” below the others, and having also been informed that Sam Polizzotto signed the checks of the firm, some of which (canceled) were exhibited to him, he requested Sam Polizzotto to put his signature on the paper, at a place' indicated by him, and which was about the width of, say, four lines below the name “People’s Bank” already written by himself, which request Polizzotto complied with, writing his name, “S. Polizzotto.” On December 6th following, there came to the People’s Bank for payment through the mail, in the usual course of business, from the German Insurance Bank, a reputable bank in Louisville, Ky., a check, bearing the signature “V. Polizzotto, by S. Polizzotto,” the “-S. Polizzotto” being underneath the “V. Polizzotto,” and being the same that had been placed there by Sam Polizzotto, on November 24th. The check was payable to the order of the “Florence Distilling Co.,” and appeared to bear the indorsements of that concern, of the Stitzel Distilling Company, and of the German Insurance Bank. It was wholly in writing and was dated “Plaquemine, La., November 24,1908.” It arrived on Sunday, and was received by an officer of the bank whose attention was attracted by its unusual appearance, and on the following day (Monday, December 7th) he and the cashier and the president consulted about it, and the cashier tried to reach Sam Polizzotto by telephone, but calling up the store and being told that Sam Polizzotto was absent or busy (he was unable to remember which) he, or they, compared the signature on the check in question with the signature of the firm of V. Polizzotto on the signature book and on other cheeks, and concluded that it was good and that no further inquiry was necessary. 1-Ie (the cashier) accordingly (on December 7th) mailed to the German Insurance Bank a draft on New York for $571.11, which draft was presented and paid on December 12th. In the meanwhile — that is to say, on the day that the draft was mailed — Sam Polizzotto called at the bank and made a deposit, and he says he had a conversation with the cashier (which, however, the cashier does not remember), but
“Q. Mr. Barker, is it not a fact that Mr. S. Polizzotto has no personal account with your bank, and has not had for some time? A. It is a fact. Q. That being a fact, Mr. Barker, should you receive a check on your bank signed ‘S. Polizzotto,’ would you pay the check? A. In the absence of Mr. Polizzotto, I would pay the check and charge the amount. Q. To whose account would you .charge it? A. Charge it to V. Polizzotto, unless I could see Sam Polizzotto.”
The cashier and another officer of the bank, whose functions appear-to be general, testify, in effect, that the payment of the check in dispute was proper under the circumstances, and Mr. Clay, a banker, called by defendant as an expert, seemed to sustain that view until the circumstances which plaintiff thinks should have excited defendant’s distrust were stated, when he said that he would-not have paid the check without hearing from the drawer. Mr. Desobry, a banker, called as an expert by plaintiff, after hearing a statement of the facts, testified that he would not have paid the check, and it was admitted that Mr. Grace, another banker, would have testified to like effect.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the application herein made be now dismissed at the cost of the applicant, and that the judgment of the Court of Appeal, here made the subject of review, remain undisturbed.