Winthrop v. Bank for Savings

Headnote

Banks and hanking — savings hanks — several accounts opened hy individual under fictitious names — interest recoverable only on amount permitted by statute to he deposited hy any one individual.

Winthrop v. Bank for Savings, 196 App. Div. 962 , affirmed.

Appeal, by permission, from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered June 1, 1921, unanimously affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff, but for less than the

amount claimed, entered upon a verdict directed by the court. The action was to recover the amount of six separate deposits opened under fictitious names by plaintiffs’ testatrix in the defendant bank. The defendant contended that these six separate accounts so opened by Mrs. Kingsland in fictitious names must be consolidated and treated as one aggregate deposit to the credit of the one individual. It was willing to repay the principal of these accounts, but maintained that it was only required to pay interest on their total at the rate allowed on similar accounts up to the statutory limit of $3,000 and on no larger amount, because (1) the statute in effect when these accounts were opened (L. 1892, ch. 689, § 113) limited deposits of any one individual at any one time in a savings bank to $3,000 and did not permit the payment of interest on any larger sum; and (2) by the terms of the agreement entered into between Mrs. Kingsland and the defendant bank when these fictitious name accounts were opened by her, interest was not to be paid to her on any sum in excess of $3,000. The trial court directed a verdict in plaintiffs’ favor for the amount admitted by defendant to be due.