Title: Beehive State Bank v. Rosquist
Citation: 21 Utah 2d 17, 439 P.2d 468
Docket Number: 11053
State: Utah
Issuer: Utah Supreme Court
Date: April 4, 1968

439 P.2d 468 (1968) 21 Utah 2d 17 BEEHIVE STATE BANK, a corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Deon ROSQUIST et al., Defendants, First Security Bank of Utah, N.A., a corporation, Garnishee, Fred L. Painter, Intervenor and Respondent. No. 11053. Supreme Court of Utah. April 4, 1968. Robert M. Anderson, Stephen D. Swindle, of Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall &amp; McCarthy, Salt Lake City, for appellant. Will L. Hoyt, Nephi, for defendants. L. Ridd Larsen, of Ray, Quinney &amp; Nebeker, Salt Lake City, for garnishee. ELLETT, Justice. The Beehive State Bank was a judgment creditor of Ila R. Painter, and during her lifetime it attached a joint checking account standing in the names of Ila R. Painter and Fred L. Painter, her husband. Upon the death of Ila, her personal representative was substituted as a defendant in the case. The respondent, Fred L. Painter, intervened and moved the court to release the funds from garnishment. In support thereof he filed an affidavit wherein he stated that the funds deposited in said account were at the respective times of deposit his sole property and not the property of his *469 wife. He further states in the affidavit that he and his wife were indebted to the garnishee bank in an amount greater than the joint account. Beehive made no effort to counter this affidavit. The court granted the respondent's motion and ordered the funds released from garnishment. The Beehive State Bank appeals, contending that since Ila could have withdrawn all of the funds and kept them, it as a judgment creditor is entitled to apply all of the funds held by the garnishment in satisfaction of its judgment against Ila R. Painter. There is no claim made that there is any formal defect in the garnishment proceedings. However, the respondent claims all of the funds as his own by reason of the original ownership thereof as set forth in his affidavit. It is well settled that a joint bank account is subject to garnishment by a judgment creditor of only one of the joint depositors. However, it has also been held that where the depositor has no interest in the joint bank account, although his name is on the signature card, the account is not subject to garnishment under a levy of execution by his judgment creditor. See 30 Am.Jur.2d, Executions, § 800, wherein it is said: Cases discussing this point are collected in the annotation in 11 A.L.R.3d 1473 (1967). Decisions are listed from the United States Federal Courts, as well as from the States of Arkansas, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas. Only Minnesota has held the entire fund to be subject to garnishment by a judgment creditor of one of the depositors. The law regarding rights of parties to joint accounts has been on shifting sands in Utah. Prior to 1934 the survivor's right was established only by his showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a joint tenancy had in fact been created or that a completed gift of the fund had been made to him. The court did not then regard the contract with the bank as being sufficient proof to establish a joint tenancy agreement between the parties, and so extrinsic proof was required. Holman v. Deseret Savings Bank, 41 Utah 340, 124 P. 765 (1912); Columbia Trust Co. v. Anglum, 63 Utah 353, 225 P. 1089 (1924). In the case of Holt v. Bayles, 85 Utah 364, 39 P.2d 715, decided in 1934, this court thought that the bank depositors' signature card purporting to create a joint tenancy was sufficient in and of itself to create a joint interest of each depositor in and to the fund, absent a showing of fraud, mistake, incapacity, or other infirmity. In 1941 this court attempted to place a limitation upon the Holt case when it had before it the case of Neill v. Royce, 101 Utah 181, 120 P.2d 327. This latter case involved a contest between a third party and a codepositor and did not involve the rights of a surviving codepositor to a fund. At page 188 of the Utah Reports at page 330 of 120 P.2d this court said: Cardozo, C.J., in his concurring opinion in Moskowitz v. Marrow, 251 N.Y. 380, *470 167 N.E. 506, 512, 66 A.L.R. 870, points out that This view is consistent with our opinion expressed in Holt v. Bayles, supra, and in this case. The Neill case thus holds that the contract of joint tenancy raises a presumption of the joint interest which can be overcome by an intervenor only by clear and convincing proof to the contrary. See Braegger v. Loveland, 12 Utah 2d 384, 367 P.2d 177. In 1960 this court was not ready to break entirely with its holding in Holt v. Bayles, supra, and in the case of First Security Bank of Utah v. Demiris, 10 Utah 2d 405, 354 P.2d 97, said at page 408 of the Utah Reports, at page 99 of 354 P.2d In 1961 Holt v. Bayles, supra, was overruled by the case of Tangren v. Ingalls, 12 Utah 2d 388, 367 P.2d 179. At page 390 of the Utah Reports, at page 181 of 369 P.2d this court said. And at page 394, at page 184 of 367 P.2d the court said: In 1965 this court decided Haywood v. Gill, 16 Utah 2d 299, 400 P.2d 16, stating at page 302 of the Utah Reports, at page 18 of 400 P.2d: The case of Culley v. Culley, 17 Utah 2d 62, 404 P.2d 657 (1965), affirms the holding in the Tangren case in the following language at page 63 of the Utah Reports, at page 658 of 404 P.2d: The latest pronouncement by this court is in the case of Hanks v. Hales, 17 Utah 2d 344, 411 P.2d 836, decided in 1966, wherein it was held that the recited facts of joint tenancy with right of survivorship as set forth in the written agreement must be given effect unless it is successfully attacked on some proper ground, and that it can only be overcome by clear and convincing evidence. It seems to us that what all of the recent cases in Utah have been trying to say is this: We hold that the law is as above indicated. We are of the opinion that this case cannot be settled by a summary judgment based upon the undisputed evidence now before the court. The interest of Ila R. Painter in and to the fund while she was alive, if any she had, should be applied toward the satisfaction of the appellant's judgment against her. The judgment of the trial court is, therefore, reversed with directions to proceed in accordance with this opinion. The appellant is entitled to its costs. CROCKETT, C.J., and TUCKETT, J., concur. CALLISTER, J., concurs in the result. HENRIOD, Justice (dissenting). I dissent, but concur in the observation that joint accounts have been on shifting sands in Utah. I might add that the same is true elsewhere. I have no quarrel with the general principles enunciated in the main opinion but hesitate to say they are apropos here. Painter filed an affidavit, saying he was the sole contributor to the joint account. It stood unchallenged at the time of motion for summary judgment.[1] Perhaps no one could refute the affidavit. At least no one did. That results in a factual situation where there was a survivor of a joint account. Presumably he owned it all. There was no pleading, proof or offer of proof to refute the contention by clear and convincing evidence based on equitable principles. The trial court was faced with a situation where there existed no genuine issue of fact, and there remained only a question of law. In concluding that the account was not subject to attachment, I believe the trial court followed the only course consonant with the rules of civil procedure and the cases attempting to construe them. The trial court should be sustained on procedural grounds alone, although I concede that the action of this court in hurdling the rules by remanding the case to take evidence could eventuate in a different result on the shifting joint account sands of Utah, which, because of this case, may shift again. [1] This case seems to be reminiscent of Dupler v. Yates, 10 Utah 2d 251, 351 P.2d 624 (1960).