Oil Well Supply Co. v. Exchange N. Bank

Citations

• 131 Pa. 100
• 18 A. 935
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1086

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. When the payee in a promissory note indorses it and has it discounted by a bank, the bank thereby becomes its owner: the payee having no further concern with it except his contingent liability as indorser, is uninjured by a neglect of the holder’s agent to present it to the maker at maturity, and if, with knowledge thereof, he afterwards voluntarily ■ pays it, such payment gives the .payee no right of action against such agent for his negligence: Harvey v. Girard N. Bank, 119 Pa. 212.</p> <p>(а) A bank, to which a note was sent for collection, failed to present it to the makers until a month after maturity, when they were insolvent, and then returned it to the holder with a letter stating that on presentation the makers said an arrangement with the indorsers had been made for its renewal, and requesting the holder to endeavor to arrange the matter without loss to itself, but directing that if this could not be done the note be returned for credit upon the holder’s account.</p> <p>(б) The holder sent the note to the second indorser, who was merely the agent of the payee and first indorser, together with a memorandum saying: “We are advised that maker has made arrangements with payee for renewal.” Thereupon, without inquiry of his principal as to the correctness of this advice, the payee’s agent paid and lifted the note for the payee, who, after reimbursing the agent, brought an action for deceit against the collecting bank.</p> <p>2. The statement made in the letter of the collecting bank, even if untrue, did not sustain the action: the letter was not a communication between that bank and the plaintiff, and if the payee’s agent relied upon anything, it was not the letter hut the memorandum made by the holder; moreover, that memorandum did not assert the fact of any arrangement but merely an advice thereof, which was true, and it was only a suggestion of a possible arrangement respecting which the agent was bound to inquire of the princi