In O'Neal v. Deese, 23 Ga. 477 (1857), a man named Yopp sent five bales of cotton to the railroad station with instruction that they be shipped to a cotton broker. When rain washed away the identification on the bales, they were mistakenly marked as belonging to O'Neal and sent to the same broker along with O'Neal's bales. O'Neal collected the total payment when the broker sold the cotton. Yopp called upon the railroad to account and the railroad paid him the value of the five bales. The railroad then recovered the money from its own station agent, Joel Deese, whose mistake had caused the loss. Despite the fact that Deese did not pay out any money until sometime after O'Neal wrongfully came into possession of Yopp's money, the Supreme Court held that Deese was able to proceed against O'Neal with a claim of money had and received. Id. Indeed, the court noted that O'Neal needed to explain "why he apparently holds on to money which does not belong to him, and which an innocent man has had to pay to the rightful owner." Id. at 479.