Harriett Schwenker v. St. Louis County

Appellant Highlands Insurance Company (Highlands) appeals from an order of the trial court dismissing without prejudice Highlands' third party petition against respondent Addison State Bank (Addison) for lack of personal jurisdiction over Addison. We dismiss the appeal. In 1977, St. Louis County National Bank (County Bank) issued a $21,000 certificate of deposit bearing the names ""Harriett S. Schwenker or Jack H. Schwenker, Jr."" Jack H. Schwenker, Jr. is the grandson of Harriett S. Schwenker who claims she has, at all times, had possession of the certificate of deposit issued by County Bank. Grandson, a Texas resident, obtained a $21,000 lost securities bond from Highlands, also in Texas, in favor of County Bank upon his representation that the original certificate of deposit issued and in the possession of his grandmother had been mislaid. After presenting the lost securities bond to County Bank in January 1980, grandson obtained a replacement certificate of deposit from County Bank issued in the same names as the original certificate of deposit. Grandson then assigned the replacement certificate of deposit to Addison, a Texas bank, in payment of a debt incurred in Texas by grandson and owed to Addison. Addison forwarded the certificate of deposit signed by grandson in a letter dated November 12, 1980, to County Bank for cashing. On November 24, 1980, County Bank cashed the certificate of deposit and sent Addison a cashier's check for $20,322.20 payable to Addison for the grandson. The check was returned through the banking system for final payment.