First National Bank v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 34 Pa. Super. 488
• 1907 Pa. Super. LEXIS 167

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Telegraph company — Banks and banking — Forgery—Contributory negligence — Proximate cause — Evidence.</p> <p>In an action by a bank against a telegraph company to recover damages for a loss sustained by the payment of a forged draft, it appeared that the plaintiff paid to a stranger the amount called for by the draft, which purported to be drawn by a Verona bank on a New York bank. Plaintiff had previously received from the Verona bank a forged letter advising it of this draft, and requesting plaintiff to cash it, and also had previously received a forged telegram purporting to come from Verona in confirmation of the letter. The telegraph company had no office at Verona. The plaintiff was not a correspondent of the Verona bank, and there was no legal duty upon it to pay the draft. Plaintiff had a bank directory, which, if examined, would have shown that the cashier’s name signed to the letter and telegram, was wrongly spelled. The telegram if read without reference to the letter, was unintelligible. The man to whom the payment was made was not identified. Held, that the court committed error in not directing a verdict for the defendant.</p>