A QUESTION OF ETHICS
Kirkman was involved in the horse business. He formed a business arrangement with an acquaintance, John Roundtree, who worked as a loan officer for American Federal Bank. Under the arrangement, Kirkman would locate buyers for horses, and the buyers could seek financing from American Federal. Roundtree gave Kirkman blank promissory notes and security agreements from American Federal, and Kirkman was to locate potential purchasers, take care of the paperwork, and bring the documents to the bank for approval of the purchaser's loan. Eventually, Kirkman entered into a purchase agreement with Gene Parker, a horse dealer. Parker agreed with Kirkman that they would jointly purchase a certain horse for 35,000. Parker signed a blank American Federal promissory note, with the understanding that Kirkman would cosign the note and complete the details of the transaction with the bank. Parker also signed a form authorizing the bank to release the funds to the seller of the collateral (the horse). Kirkman did not cosign the note and completed it for 85,000 instead of 35,000. He then took the note and authorization form to Roundtree, told Roundtree that he was the seller, and received from Roundtree checks totaling 85,000. After paying the actual seller of the horse the agreed-on 35,000 and seeing to it that Parker received the horse, Kirkman skipped town with the remaining 50,000. Parker paid American Federal 35,000 but refused to pay any more, claiming that he had agreed to pay only 35,000 and that the other 50,000 was unauthorized by him. In the subsequent action brought by the bank to collect the 50,000, the bank prevailed. The court found that the bank was a holder in due course of the promissory note and had not been negligent in the way it handled the transaction.