Anglo-California Trust Co. v. French American Bank

This is an action brought by the plaintiff Anglo-California Trust Company to recover from Bank of America of California (successor to French American Bank), R. McColgan and M. D. Bailey, defendants, the sum of $1500 paid by the plaintiff bank on a forged indorsement of a cheek drawn by G. L. Crabtree on the plaintiff bank (where said Crabtree had an account), to the joint order of M. D. & Lillian Bailey. The defendant Bank of America of California filed a cross-complaint against the said defendants, R. McColgan and M. D. Bailey, to recover the same amount alleged to have been paid by it to said Bailey on the same check. Judgment was rendered by the court below in favor of plaintiff, against defendants Bank of America and Bailey, on the complaint and against both of said cross-defendants on the cross-complaint. McColgan appeals and the Bank of America of California appeals from the judgment against it.

The facts are briefly these:

Said R. McColgan, as a broker, negotiated a loan from G. L. Crabtree, a depositor in the Anglo-California Trust Company, to said M. D. Bailey and Lillian L. Bailey, his wife, for $1500, and said Crabtree drew his check on said depositary for $1500,…