Altman v. McClintock

20 F.2d 226, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1234
CourtDistrict Court, D. Wyoming
DecidedMay 21, 1927
DocketNo. 1653
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 20 F.2d 226 (Altman v. McClintock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Wyoming primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Altman v. McClintock, 20 F.2d 226, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1234 (D. Wyo. 1927).

Opinion

KENNEDY, District Judge.

This is a suit in equity, in which the plaintiff seeks an accounting and-permission to examine the books of an insolvent bank in the hands of one of the defendants. The suit was originally brought against the defendant MeCIintoek as receiver, and the defendant McIntosh, as Comptroller of the Currency of the United States. In a hearing upon a plea to the jurisdiction of the court, the defendant McIntosh was eliminated from the suit by court ruling. The sufficiency of the bill entitling the plaintiff to the relief prayed for was also challenged as to the defendant MeCIintoek by motion to dismiss, and that motion overruled; the reason of the court being set forth in the memorandum of the court under date of June [227]*2273,1926. An answer was then filed, which was met on the part of the plaintiff by a motion to strike, and this motion by another on the part of the defendant that the motion to strike search the record to the first defect. Under this highly technical condition of the lawsuit when the hearing upon the motions was called, it being admitted by counsel that the controlling facts themselves were not in dispute, the court suggested that the matter be submitted upon an agreed statement of facts, which was accordingly done, and the ease was then presented, argued, and submitted upon final hearing, in which situation it is now before the court for final disposition.

Inasmuch as the case is now at issue, and the substantive plea and prayer of the plaintiff is to the effect that he is entitled to a decree for an accounting, together with an order permitting him to examine the books of the bank in the defendant’s possession, which alleged rights on the part of the defendant are challenged and denied, it may not be necessary to scrutinize the pleadings, for the reason that the legal situation may be ascertained from an examination of the facts. These appear to be substantially as follows:

That the First National Bank is a corporation organized under the laws of the United States; that the plaintiff is a citizen of the state of Wyoming, and that on July 9, 1924, he had on deposit in said bank approximately $75,000, upon which he has filed his proof of claim and the same has been duly allowed; that the plaintiff is the chairman of the depositors’ committee of said bank, appointed at a meeting called for the purpose of adopting some plan for liquidation, but that no meeting of the depositors was ever held to authorize this suit; that the defendant McClintock is the duly commissioned, qualified, and acting receiver of said bank, which was found to be insolvent on July 9, 1924, he having been appointed as such by the Comptroller of the Currency on that day; that he gave a bond in the sum of $100,000, conditioned upon his obedience to the instructions of the Comptroller; that as such receiver he is now in possession and in charge of all books and records of said bank, for the purpose of liquidating its assets and winding up its affairs, and that such charge and custody is at all times subject to the directions and control of the Comptroller; that during the month of June 1924, a national bank examiner examined said bank, upon which he found that among the assets of said bank there was a large amount of notes which he-considered unsatisfactory, and which he ordered to be taken out of the affairs of the bank, he believing the bank to be at the time in a precarious condition; that, in order to give the officers and directors of the bank an opportunity to meet his requirements, said examiner left Cheyenne on July 1, 1924, and returned about five days later, being recalled by the officers of the bank; that on July 8th the bank conducted its business in the regular order, but did not reopen on the morning of July 9th, it being temporarily in charge of said examiner until turned over to the defendant receiver; that one Abbott who was president of said bank, was also a member of the board of directors of the Wyoming National Bank of Casper, and that one Brooks, president of said Wyoming National Bank, was a stockholder of said First National Bank; that Brooks was present at a meeting of the officers of said First National Bank on July 1st when the affairs of the First National Bank were considered and discussed; that these banks were correspondent banks and that the credits to the account of the Wyoming National Bank in the First National Bank were reduced from some $273,000 plus on July 1st to some $2,000 plus on July 9th when the bank closed; that some of this reduction in account was caused by telegraphic instructions sent by officers of the First National Bank on July 7th to the Omaha National Bank to transfer $60,000 of its credit on the books of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to the Wyoming National Bank; that out of this controversy a suit arose in Omaha, in which the defendant receiver here was defendant there, and in which said suit a pleading was filed by counsel in his behalf, which pleading had never been seen by defendant, denying the legitimacy and legality of the transfer of funds aforesaid; that subsequently a compromise between the defendant receiver and the Wyoming National Bank was entered into with the approval of the Comptroller of the Currency, which was subsequently submitted to this court upon the facts and such compromise approved; that in the matter of said compromise the defendant receiver was represented by competent counsel, whose opinion was given that said agreement was an advantageous one for his receivership; that, if it should become material to the determination of this suit, the parties reserved the right to try out the legitimacy and legality of the compromise settlement; that prior to the institution of the suit at bar representations were made to the defendant receiver and the Comptroller of the Currency that circumstances gave good ground for suspicion that the law had been violated and the directors might be personally liable for negligence, and that a formal written demand was made upon [228]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 F.2d 226, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/altman-v-mcclintock-wyd-1927.