United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Bank of Jasper v. First Nat'l Bank of Rome, 258 U.S. 112 (1922)

Bank of Jasper v. First National Bank of Rome, Georgia

Nos. 76, 73, 74, 77

Argued January 12, 1922

Decided February 27, 1922

258 U.S. 112

Syllabus

1. Under the law of Florida, an appeal to the state supreme court, taken solely to review an interlocutory order overruling a motion

Page 258 U. S. 113

to quash a pretended service by publication for want of jurisdiction, does not operate as a general appearance. P. 258 U. S. 117.

2. By an arrangement between a corporation, its agent, and a bank, purchasers of the corporation's shares were allowed to discount their notes at the bank, the resulting credits were transferred by the bank to the account of the agent in payment for the shares, and negotiable certificates of deposit were issued by the bank to the agent. Held that the certificates of deposit did not represent funds in the bank which, as res, could sustain service by publication upon a nonresident purchaser of the certificates in suits brought by the shareholders in the state court against such purchaser, the bank, the vendor corporation, and its agent to have the proceeds of the notes impressed with a trust in plaintiffs' favor and annul their purchases and notes and the certificates on the ground of fraud in selling the shares, and that judgments based on such service were void. P. 258 U. S. 118.

26 F. 83 affirmed.

These were actions in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida brought by the present respondents, respectively, as indorsees of certificates of deposit issued by the respective petitioners. The petitioners pleaded res judicata, based on judgments rendered by the Florida courts in suits to which it had been sought to make the respondents parties through service by publication. The district court held the service valid and the judgments conclusive, but the circuit court of appeals held otherwise, and its judgments, reversing those of the district court, are here by certiorari.

Page 258 U. S. 114