White v. Berardina

Citations

• 75 Pa. Super. 346
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 15

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Banhs and banhing — Contract of deposit — Assumpsit —Affidavit of defense — Insufficiency.</p> <p>In an action of assumpsit to recover a bank deposit brought by plaintiff as administrator of the estate of a deceased depositor, it appeared that the defendant was a private banker in Philadelphia and that the deceased, ten days prior to his death, had deposited $225 with the bank. Letters of administration upon his estate were granted to the plaintiff by the register of wills of Delaware County, and the administrator having exhibited the evidence of his appointment to the defendant, demanded the amount of the deposit, which was refused. An affidavit of defense was filed, averring that the defendant, in pursuance of a written contract between himself and the decedent had forwarded, the amount of the deposit to the mayor of the decedent’s home town in Italy for distribution among the depositor’s heirs. He further averred as authority for this action a stipulation in the deposit book which read:</p> <p>“In the event of the death of the depositor, excepting previous dispositions to the contrary having been made by the same, the amount remaining to his credit shall be sent to the mayor of his town to be delivered to whom it shall be entitled.”</p> <p>Held: that the affidavit of defense was insufficient.</p> <p>The decedent being domiciled in Chester, Delaware County, at the time of his death, the orphans’ court of that county was the proper tribunal to determine the distribution of his estate,</p>