Reading Trust Co. v. Thompson

Citations

• 254 Pa. 333
• 98 A. 953
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 729

Syllabus

<p>Gifts — Gifts inter vivos — Bonds deposited in safe deposit vault— Death of depositor — Evidence—Presumptions—Burden of proof.</p> <p>1. The general rule is that possession is prima facie evidence of ownership of negotiable securities.</p> <p>2. The deposit of bonds in a safe deposit vault of a bank is a bailment; where the custodian of the vault is in possession of the securities of a decedent which had been deposited in the vault and claims them as a gift inter vivos from him,, there is no presumption of ownership on the part of such custodian and the burden is upon him to prove the gift.</p> <p>3. In an action of replevin brought by executors to recover possession of certain bonds deposited by plaintiff’s decedent in the vault of a trust company a few days before his last illness, it appeared that the defendant, who was in active charge of the trust company and had access to the vault, was found in possession of the bonds after decedent’s death. Defendant claimed that decedent had made him a parol gift of the bonds. Defendant being incompetent as a witness, practically no evidence was offered in his behalf. Held, a verdict for the plaintiffs was proper.</p> <p>4; In such case the court did not err in excluding as too remote and as not being- connected with the subject-matter of the suit, the testimony of a witness to the effect that six months prior to decedent’s death he had said “I must take care of” the claimant, naming him, “he has taken care of me.”</p>