59 N.Y.S. 407 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1899
The plaintiffs are manufacturers and in the usual course of business receive checks from their customers. Twenty-four small checks, each payable to plaintiffs’ order, received by plaintiffs in the usual course of business, were stolen from the plaintiffs by one Wolfe, who forged plaintiffs’ name on each of said checks and fraudulently and feloniously negotiated the same. Said checks came into the hands of the defendant through a. depositor. The defendant collected the checks and paid the proceeds to the person who deposited them. This action is brought for the conversion of said checks and to recover as damages the amount so collected on said checks. On the trial the plaintiffs had the checks in court as evidence, but not otherwise. They do not own the checks and do not offer to deliver the checks to the defendant. This is an action in tort. The rules relating to principal and surety, exoneration and subrogation applicable to actions on negotiable instruments are not applicable to an action for conversion. A person or corporation who converts a promissory
Ordered accordingly.