Negotiable Instruments Digest: METROPOLITAN BANK AND TRUST COMPANY (formerly ASIANBANK CORPORATION) V. BA FINANCE CORPORATION and MALAYAN INSURANCE CO. INC.

METROPOLITAN BANK AND TRUST COMPANY (formerly ASIANBANK CORPORATION)  V. BA FINANCE CORPORATION and MALAYAN INSURANCE CO. INC.

[G.R. No. 179952, Dec. 4, 2009] (607 SCRA 620)

FACTS:

            Lamberto Bitanga (Bitanga) obtained from respondent BA Finance Corporation (BA Finance)  a loan to secure which, he mortgaged his car to respondent BA Finance. Bitanga thus had the mortgaged car insured by respondent Malayan Insurance Co., Inc. (Malayan Insurance). The car was stolen. On Bitangas claim, Malayan Insurance issued a check payable to the order of B.A. Finance Corporation and Lamberto Bitanga for P224,500, drawn against China Banking Corporation (China Bank). The check was crossed with the notation For Deposit Payees Account Only.

            Without the indorsement or authority of his co-payee BA Finance, Bitanga deposited the check to his account with the Asianbank Corporation (Asianbank), now merged with petitioner Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank). Bitanga subsequently withdrew the entire proceeds of the check.

            In the meantime, Bitangas loan became past due, but despite demands, he failed to settle it. BA Finance thereupon demanded the payment of the value of the check from Asianbank but to no avail, prompting it to file a complaint for sum of money and damages against Asianbank and Bitanga alleging that, inter alia, it is entitled to the entire proceeds of the check.

            On the issue of whether or not BA Finance has a cause of action, Metrobank  contends that Bitanga is authorized to indorse the check as the drawer names him as one of the payees. Moreover, his signature is not a forgery nor has he or anyone forged the signature of the representative of BA Finance Corporation. No unauthorized indorsement appears on the check. Absent the indispensable fact of forgery or unauthorized indorsement, the payee may not recover from the collecting bank.

ISSUE 1:

            Whether BA Finance has a cause of action against Metrobank even if the subject check had not been delivered to BA Finance by the issuer itself?

HELD:

            YES. Section 41 of the Negotiable Instruments Law provides:

            Where an instrument is payable to the order of two or more payees or indorsees who are not partners, all must indorse unless the one indorsing has authority to indorse for the others.

            Bitanga alone endorsed the crossed check, and petitioner allowed the deposit and release of the proceeds thereof, despite the absence of authority of Bitangas co-payee BA Finance to endorse it on its behalf. Petitioners argument that since there was neither forgery, nor unauthorized indorsement because Bitanga was a co-payee in the subject check, the dictum in Associated Bank v. CA does not apply in the present case fails. The payment of an instrument over a missing indorsement is the equivalent of payment on a forged indorsement or an unauthorized indorsement in itself in the case of joint payees.

            Accordingly, one who credits the proceeds of a check to the account of the indorsing payee is liable in conversion to the non-indorsing payee for the entire amount of the check.

ISSUE 2:

            Is Metrobank liable to BA Finance for the full value of the check, under the Negotiable Instruments Law?

HELD:

            YES. Section 68 of the Negotiable Instruments Law instructs that joint payees who indorse are deemed to indorse jointly and severally. When the maker dishonors the instrument, the holder thereof can turn to those secondarily liable the indorser for recovery.

            A collecting bank, Asianbank in this case, where a check is deposited and which indorses the check upon presentment with the drawee bank, is an indorser. his is because in indorsing a check to the drawee bank, a collecting bank stamps the back of the check with the phrase all prior endorsements and/or lack of endorsement guaranteed and, for all intents and purposes, treats the check as a negotiable instrument, hence, assumes the warranty of an indorser.

            Petitioner, as the collecting bank or last indorser, generally suffers the loss because it has the duty to ascertain the genuineness of all prior indorsements considering that the act of presenting the check for payment to the drawee is an assertion that the party making the presentment has done its duty to ascertain the genuineness of prior indorsements.