American Wheel Co. v. Scofield Buggy Co.

50 N.W. 753, 89 Mich. 15, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 585
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 21, 1891
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 50 N.W. 753 (American Wheel Co. v. Scofield Buggy Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Wheel Co. v. Scofield Buggy Co., 50 N.W. 753, 89 Mich. 15, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 585 (Mich. 1891).

Opinion

Ohamplin, O. J.

This is an appeal from an order of the circuit court fpr the county of Clinton, made under the supervisory authority given to the court over assign[16]*16ees and receivers by How. Stat. § 8749. The order was made upon the petition of the receiver appointed by the circuit court upon a bill filed to carry into effect a common-law assignment executed by the Scofield Buggy Company.

This company had, previously to making the common-law assignment, executed real and personal estate mortgages, covering nearly all of the assets of the company,, to Hiram M. High, to secure the payment of certain enumerated creditors for the amounts stated in the mortgages, and, among others, to the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, Mich., for $5,500 direct indebtedness, and a contingent liability upon commercial paper given, to the Scofield Buggy Company by its customers and indorsed by it and discounted at the bank, and avails received by the Scofield Buggy Company, for about $19,-000. No question is made as to the validity of these mortgages.

Before the trustee named in said mortgages proceeded to' foreclose, a receiver was appointed of all the property of the Scofield Buggy Company, who took possession and converted it into money, or is in the process of converting it into money. The mortgagees proved their claims before the assignee or receiver as secured debts, and it. seems to be conceded that they are to be paid pro rata out of the avails of the assets, or in full, if sufficient, before the unsecured creditors are to be paid. Mr. High accepted the trust under the mortgages, and represents: the interests of the mortgagees. The receiver has converted a sufficient amount of assets into money to warrant him in paying a dividend to Mr. High or to the mortgagees; but, as he was uncertain as to what pro rata amount he would be justified in paying over to each of the mortgagees, he filed his petition setting forth certain facts, and asked the advice of the court.

[17]*17It will only be necessary to refer to that portion of the petition, and the answer thereto of the trustee, and the-order appealed from, which affect the rights of the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids as a cestui que trust under the trust mortgages, as the appeal is brought in its behalf. The receiver sets forth in his petition—

“ That the claim of the Fifth Nat;onal Bank of Grand Rapids, filed December 10, 1890, and being one of the creditors secured by said mortgages, was for the sum of $14,262.99. Of this sum about $4,076.58 seems to have been on the Scofield Buggy Company’s paper, and the residue was upon customers’ and other paper discounted by the said Scofield Buggy Company with said bank.
“Your petitioner further shows that he is informed and believes that since the filing of the proof of claim aforesaid a great portion o.f this claim has been paid and taken up, and therefore is no longer in existence.”

He therefore prays — •

“That the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, Michigan, by and through their trustee, Hiram M. High,, be required by an order of this court to make additional proof of their claim, showing its true stahis at the present time — First, as to the actual amount of its direct claim against the Scofield Buggy Company; and, second,. as to- any and all claims it may hold against the saidScofield Buggy Company for paper indorsed by the saidScofield Buggy Company, and all other paper discounted by said Scofield Buggy Company with said bank; and-that they make proof showing any and all payments-received by them upon any of the indebtedness, either' direct or contingent, since the filing of their claim,, December 10, 1890.”

To this petition Hiram M. High, trustee, on behalf of the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, protesting against the order of the court made therein of May 18, 1891, requiring further proofs, and objecting thereto, for the reason that the same is not warranted in the statutes governing assignments, and because the time in which. [18]*18■the petition upon which said order is based should or ■could be filed has long since elapsed, for answer thereto says that he admits,—

“As stated in said petition, that there was due to the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, as appears by proof of debt filed by said bank on the 10th day of December, 1890, the sum of $14,262.99.
“This defendant denies, as stated in said petition, that $4,076.58 was loaned to said Scofield Buggy Company upon its paper, and also denies that the residue was upon customers" and other paper discounted by the said Scofield Buggy Company with said bank.”
He denies “that since the filing of the proof of claim aforesaid a great portion of the claim of said the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids has been paid and taken up.”
He says “ that no part of the claim proved by the said the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, and filed herein December 10, 1890, has been paid by the said petitioner, the receiver of said Scofield Buggy Company, or by the said the Scofield Buggy Company, and that no part of the property, or the avails thereof, covered by ¡the mortgages to this defendant as trustee for said bank .and others, has been delivered to or paid to the said the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, and that it has in no wise received any money or benefit, directly or indirectly, from the estate of 'the said the Scofield Buggy 'Company.
“ This defendant further says that, prior to the creation ■or existence of the indebtedness proved by said the Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids against the Scofield •Buggy Company, the Scofield Buggy Company, by its officers duly authorized, applied to the said the Fifth National Bank for a loan; that the said the. Fifth Natioual Bank refused to extend credit to the said the Scofield Buggy Company upon its property and credit, but required security for any loans to said company; that thereupon, on the 17th of August, 1889, the said Scofield Buggy Company, together with F. A. Scofield, George Bayne, H, Anderson, J. V. Retan, and Samuel F. Pearl, entered into an agreement with the said Fifth National Bank of Grand Rapids, by which the aforesaid persons jointly and severally bound themselves [19]*19to pay, and guaranteed the payment of, any and all checks, drafts, notes, or acceptances which the said bank might hereafter cash, credit, or discount for the Scofield Buggy Company, and thereby waived notice of demand and nonpayment of the same at maturity, and guaranteed the payment of the same at maturity or any time thereafter, with interest at 8 per cent, per annum until paid, and did then and there agree to pay all costs and expenses paid or incurred in collecting the same; that the said the Fifth National Bank of Grand Bapids, relying upon the undertaking made as aforesaid, thereafter loaned to the said the Scofield Buggy Company the sum of $22,558.19, taking for said loan, as collateral security to said agreement, the promissory notes and bills of exchange mentioned in the schedule ' attached to said proof of debt marked ‘Exhibit A;'’ that since the 1st day of October, 1890, and prior to the 10th day of December, 1890, the said bank received upon such indebtedness, and in part payment thereof, the sum of $8,295.20 from such collateral security; that on or about the 19th day of September, A. D.

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Bluebook (online)
50 N.W. 753, 89 Mich. 15, 1891 Mich. LEXIS 585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-wheel-co-v-scofield-buggy-co-mich-1891.