Andrews v. Missouri State Life Ins.

61 F.2d 452, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4298
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 29, 1932
DocketNo. 6754
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 61 F.2d 452 (Andrews v. Missouri State Life Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrews v. Missouri State Life Ins., 61 F.2d 452, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4298 (5th Cir. 1932).

Opinion

SIBLEY, Circuit Judge.

Missouri State Life Insurance Company sued Mrs. Leontine C. Andrews at law and got judgment for $6,000 on defaulted interest coupons due November 1, 1930, from bonds signed by her. The coupons were payable at Chemical National Bank in New York. She. pleaded payment, in that the Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville, Tenn., the surviving trustee under the bond mortgage which was exhibited, had pursuant to its terms collected from the mortgaged property sufficient money to pay all the -coupons then maturing, and had it on hand until! November 5, 1930; when the bank failed. The ease is rested on the contention that the bank held the money as the agent and trustee of the bondholders, and that its possession of it on November 1 operated as payment of the coupons, and that any loss arising from the subsequent failure of the bank falls upon their owners. The striking on demurrer of this the sole defense is the error assigned.

The exhibited trust mortgage is lengthy. It discloses that Mrs. Andrews owned a fifty-year leasehold upon valuable properties of the state of Georgia, in Atlanta, and that thefee properties had been subleased by her to others for monthly rentals sufficient to pay the annual rentals due to the state, to pay the semiannual interest coupons oh the bonds which she was issuing and securing, and to leave a surplus income for her. To secure the bonds and coupons the instrument conveyed the leasehold and her rights as lessor in the subleases to the Bank of Tennessee and an individual, since deceased, as trustees, with the power and duty to collect the monthly rents from the subleases, to discharge the claims of the state, to retain each month one-twelfth of a sum sufficient to pay the coupons and bonds maturing- that year, and to pay the remainder over to her. There was also a provision whereby on published notice she might retire any or all of the bonds before maturity at a premium by depositing money with the corporate trustee for that purpose. On payment of all tho bonds and coupons in due course, or on deposit of money therefor with the trustees, the trust mortgage was to cease and be ean-eeléd. With this general view of the bond scheme premised, we are prepared to consider • and apply the particular provisions here relied on.

There is no question of innocent holder for value. The holder of the coupons sued on. is alleged to be the original lender on the bonds. Moreover, the coupons refer to the bonds and the bonds refer to the trust mortgage, so that notice would be imputed to any holder of all the provisions of each. McClure v. Oxford, 94 U. S. 429, 24 L. Ed. 129. These instruments wore executed at the same time as parts of the same transaction, and the problem is to construe them together to arrive at the true meaning of all.

Clearly it was not the intent of the contracting parties that the mortgaged property alone was to he looked to for payment; Each bond and each coupon is the absolute promise of Mrs. Andrews to pay a fixed sum of money at a fixed date at the Chemical National Bank of New York in gold coin of a stated weight and fineness. Each bond recites that it is secured by the trust mortgage, and contains her waiver of all homestead and exemption rights, not of such rights'in-the mortgaged property alone. The mortgage states that the mortgaged property is there- < by conveyed “in order to secure the due and punctual payment of the interest and principal of said bonds and the punctual performance of all covenants and agreements on the part of said ■ Leontine G. Andrews.” (All italics and parentheses ■ in quotations from the mortgage are supplied.) Among the particular covenants of the mortgage is one that: “She will pay or cause to be paid duly and punctually to the holder of every bond issued and secured thereby the principal and interest accrued thereon at the dates and places and in the manner mentioned in such bonds, and in the coupons thereto belonging, and in this indenture according to the true tenor thereof.” Outside of the security of the mortgage there is thus a plain general and personal obligation of Mrs. Andrews to pay these coupons at maturity in gold at the Chemical National Bank.

[454]*454The condition of the mortgage is: “Provided, however, and these presents are on the express condition that if Leontine C. Andrews * * '* shall well and truly pay or cause to be paid to the holders of bonds to be issued'hereunder when the same shall become due and'payable the whole amount of principal and interest due upon all the bonds and coupons hereby secured and then outstanding * * * ' or shall provide for such payment by depositing with the Trustees hereunder for the payment of such bonds ánd ■coupons the entire amount to be''paid thereon, principal-and-interest * -then the said Trustees shall reconvey the pr.operty’herein described to said.Leontine G. Andrews,. etc.” The deposit withT'the' trustees in lieu of payment here referred to does not apply to'.the recurring maturities .of semiannual coupons, but to a final deposit::to pay all outstanding bonds and coupons -whieh terminates the business and abrogates the mortgage. This is further illustrated in article II of the mortgage, wherein- redemption of. bonds before maturity is provided-for.on published notice. The provision there is: “If such notice shall have been. So.given, published .and mailed, and such deposit .made (with the corporate Trustee), the bond or bonds so called for redemption shall be considered redeemed and shall be payable upon such redemption date at the office of the corporate Trustee and no further interest shall accrue upon any such notes called for redemption, -and any coupons-for interest maturing after such date shall- be wholly null and void,- and such notes and coupons, shall-cease to be obligations of the party of the first part, or be entitled to- any -further right or benefit hereunder, -and the owner or holders thereof'shall-looh for’payment solely and only.:to 'said deposit in the hands, of the corporate Trustee, anything in such notes or -coupons or herein to the contrary notwithstanding.” ■-These provisions mean that bonds duly called before maturity .become payable at the Bank of Tennessee,-instead of at the Chemical National Bank, and upon the call' date-instead of their date, of maturity* and that thereafter the deposit with the. Tennessee bank is payment and belongs, to the bondholders; Mrs. Andrews being,discharged;' If all outstanding unmatured: bonds are thus called, the mortgage is to be .canceled, But coupons maturing in due course remain payable at- the Chemical .National. Bank and are not within -this provision, .which makes deposit with the'.corporate trustee -equivalent to payment. ■

More confident reliance is placed by' Mrs: Andrews upon the following two covenants: “That she will deposit with the Trustees at' the Bank of Tennessee at Nashville, Tenn., at least thirty days prior to- the date when the semi-annual interest payments are due, a sum equal to the semi-annual interest to be paid on the next semi-annual interest'date, (with a like provision for any matured prim eipal.) and time is of the essence of this covenant” ; and “The said party of the first part further covenants and agrees that any and all rents or other payments due or to be paid under the terms of said subleases * * * shall' be collected by the Trustees hereunder and does hereby appoint said Trustees as trustee for her, -to receive and collect all payments due on said subleases.

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Bluebook (online)
61 F.2d 452, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrews-v-missouri-state-life-ins-ca5-1932.