City of Tacoma v. German-American Safe Deposit & Savings Bank

Citations

• 15 Wash. 294
• 46 P. 256
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 181

Syllabus

<p>BANKS AND BANKING — CITY WARRANTS DEPOSITED AS CASH — ESTOPPEL.</p> <p>In an action by a city to recover from a bank a sum of money alleged to have been deposited by its treasurer, the answer of the bank is demurrable, when it admits that it had given credit for the amount claimed as money received by it from the city treasurer, but alleges as a defense that no money had in fact been deposited, but merely city warrants which were void, the answer, however, making no offer to return the warrants or to account for them in any way.</p> <p>A bank is estopped to dispute its indebtedness to a city, where at various times during a period of two years it has given a city credit for money deposited, and entered the amounts in a pass book delivered to and kept by the city treasurer, although in fact city warrants instead of money had been actually received by the bank, when it has allowed the city to transact its business upon the assumption that the money in question was on deposit, and no attempt was made by the bank to avoid the transaction for a period of a year and a half after the last of such deposits had been made.</p>