Court Opinion

ID: 9866129
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 00:26:56.122532+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:12:55.035971
License: Public Domain

On the Merits.
The sole remaining question in the case is whether or not the amount of $490.01 on deposit in the City Savings Bank & Trust Company in the name of R. T. Hem-perly belonged to him or to his son, R. F. Hemperly. For the sake of brevity, we will call the third opponent the son and the principal defendant the father.
On August 1, 1935, the son sent his father a check for $525, drawn by the son on a Shreveport bank, which check was payable to the order of the father. At the time the son was the treasurer of the TriState Transit Company of Shreveport. The father was operating a small store and filling station at Ludington, near De Ridder, on property standing in the name of the son. The check above referred to was sent from Shreveport by the son to the father at Ludington by one of the transit company’s busses along with a letter to the father instructing him how to use the money. We quote the following from that letter.
“Some time ago when you were up here you spoke to me about the condition of the residence and the filling station you are occupying at Ludington. You stated that the house or residence needed a new roof, screens and painting both outside and inside. You also stated that the filling station needed painting on the outside and inside. I believe that you said it would cost around $350.00 or $400.00 for labor and material for these improvements.
“I am really not in a position to have this work done right now but have decided to go ahead and have necessary repairs made as it would be lots easier to dispose of if it were in first class condition.
“I am attaching hereto my check for $525.00 and you may deposit it in your name in a DeRidder Bank and make withdrawals from this amount for necessary materials and labor in connection with the necessary repairs. If there is any amount left over after the repairs are made, you may use it for a supply of gasoline and oil and also for restocking the station with whatever necessary groceries you may need.”
On August 5, 1935, the father deposited this check in his name in the City Savings Bank & Trust Company, less $25 cash, which latter amount he testifies was used by him in paying some debts due by the store. He drew two checks on the deposit, one for $10 to the Texas-Joy Coffee Company, which check was paid, and one to Swift & Co., which was not paid. The garnishment appears to have been served on August 23d, almost three weeks after the deposit was made. The father explains the delay in making the repairs by saying that he had spoken to a Mr. Sims, who was to make an estimate of the cost; that he was working on a gin, and, as soon as he finished that job, he was going to see about making the repairs.
It is contended by plaintiff that the deposit of the money in the bank by the father in his name created the relation of creditor and debtor between the father and the bank, and therefore, as to plaintiff, its judgment debtor was a creditor of the bank. It is true that an irregular deposit in a bank subject to check creates the relation of creditor and debtor between the depositor and the bank. Such is the relation between the depositor and the bank, but there is nothing to prevent a third person having an interest from showing that the cash money, or its representative, so deposited belongs to him and that the money is on deposit in the name of another in a fiduciary relationship. See D. T. & A. T. Lee v. First Nat. Bank, 18 La.App. 586, 139 So. 63. The money on deposit in the garnishee bank did not lose its character as property so as to prevent the owner from showing that the money belonged to him, even though it was on deposit in the name of his agent.
It is true that there are some rather suspicious circumstances connected with the claim of the son. He admits receiving $710 from a mineral lease on property in which his father had a half interest. The lease was made two or three weeks before the check for $525 was sent by the son to the father, and the lease and draft for $710 were sent to the father by the son to sign and return to him. The inference might arise that, as the father had an interest in the $710, the check,for $525 was part of that amount. The son explains this by saying that his father owed him a considerable sum and he had been helping his father along from time to time. It is also shown *721that the son handled all matters pertaining to the lease. We have already mentioned the fact that the father had not begun the repairs before the money was seized, although some three weeks had elapsed. It is also noticeable that the father used some of the money for his own account and in paying the bills of the store.
However, these rather suspicious facts do not overcome the probative force of the letter which accompanied the check, written, as we must assume, at a time when the son did not anticipate a seizure of the money, as the letter itself shows that the money was to be deposited in a bank in De Ridder and drawn out for the purposes specified in the letter of instruction. Of course, it is possible that the son had in mind the seizure of the money under the judgment against his father when he wrote the letter, or, worse still, it is possible that he wrote this letter after the seizure was made. In such a case, the letter would be the worst form of a self-serving statement. But we have no right to make any such assumption.
We do not find sufficient error in the finding of fact of the trial judge to justify us in disturbing the judgment.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed from is. affirmed, at the cost of the appellant.