Goodfellow v. First National Bank

Citations

• 71 Wash. 554
• 129 P. 90
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1363

Syllabus

<p>Actions — -Parties Plaintipp — Capacity to Sue — Trustee op Express Trust. One having a deposit in a bank as agent may sue in his own name to recover the same, as he is a trustee of an express trust, within Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 179,180, providing that every action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, except that an action by a trustee of an express trust (defined as a person with whom or in whose name a contract is made for the benefit of another) may be prosecuted without joining the party for whose benefit the suit is prosecuted.</p> <p>Banks and Banking — Checks—Delivery to Agenos — Payment-Forged Indorsement. Where a check is drawn in favor of a principal and delivered to the payee’s agent, the drawer does not vouch for the right of the agent or other person to indorse the name of the payee on the check; and in the absence of negligence or fault by the drawer, the bank must ascertain the identity of the payee before making payment, and is liable if it -pays the check on a forged indorsement.</p> <p>Same — Delivery op Check to Agent — Negligence op Drawee— Evidence — Suppicibnoy. Findings that the drawer of a check, which he delivered to one who claimed to be the agent of the payee, exercised due care and cannot be held for loss on a forgery of, the payee’s indorsement, are sustained by the evidence, where it appears that the supposed agent applied for a loan claiming to act as agent for the owners of the property, who had been known to the drawer ten years previously, that the drawer inquired for their address, and wrote them a letter making inquiry about the loan, but received no answer, and the agent delivered a forged note and mortgage purporting to be executed by the payee of the check.</p>