21 F. 773 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Missouri | 1884
I think the defendant is entitled to judgment. The facts bring the case within the rules laid down in Bank Metropolis v. N. E. Bank, 1 How. 234; S. C. 6 How. 212; Sweeny v. Easter, 1 Wall. 166.
The Indiana bank was the apparent owner of the paper, made so by the unrestricted indorsement of the plaintiff. It forwarded the paper to the defendant for collection and credit. The defendant had
So far as any hardship on the plaintiff is concerned, he has no one but himself to blame. By a restricted indorsement he could have given notice to every one of his title. He chose to give an unrestricted indorsement, and thus permitted it to pass into the channels of trade as apparently the property of the Indiana bank. He trusted that bank, and must abide the consequences of his confidence. That the indorsement to the defendant was for collection is immaterial. The question in these cases is not whether title is apparently transferred to the collecting bank, but whether it has a right to treat the transmitting bank as the owner. It had such right in this case, and therefore judgment will be entered in favor of defendant.