Angola State Bank v. State Ex Rel. Sanders

52 N.E.2d 620, 222 Ind. 244, 1944 Ind. LEXIS 115
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 1944
DocketNo. 27,846.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 52 N.E.2d 620 (Angola State Bank v. State Ex Rel. Sanders) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Angola State Bank v. State Ex Rel. Sanders, 52 N.E.2d 620, 222 Ind. 244, 1944 Ind. LEXIS 115 (Ind. 1944).

Opinion

O’Malley, J.

This is an action by appellee, relatrix, against appellant, Angola State Bank, to require the bank to recognize her as the owner of five shares of the capital stock of said bank. The appellant, R. Waldo Sheffer, intervened and claimed ownership of the same stock.

The “special finding of facts” discloses that appellee purchased the five shares of stock in 1927 and received certificate number 33. That in 1929 the husband and. son of the appellee borrowed Four Hundred Dollars ($400.00) from the First National Bank of Angola and gave an unsecured note. Later the president of the bank asked for some security for this loan, and appellee *247 signed her name to the form assignment on certificate number 33 and delivered it to her husband who in turn delivered it to the bank, as collateral for this note and for no other purpose. This note was paid in 1930 but the stock was not returned. Later some other loans were made to the husband and son of appellee, but the books of the bank did not show any unpaid loans for which the bank held the stock as collateral. That appellant, R. Waldo Sheffer, was assistant cashier, of the First National Bank at. the time of the loan and knew the terms under which the stock was placed with the bank. The First National Bank merged with the Steuben County State Bank and under the direction of the State Banking Department the assets of the Steuben County State Bank were separated into two classes, and the certificate number 33 was placed in the undesirable class and turned over to1 three trustees along with other assets for liquidation for the benefit of the stockholders of the Steuben County State Bank. Ih the meantime, appellant Sheffer had become cashier of appellant, Angola State Bank, and traded stock of the Steuben County State Bank for the five shares of stock of the Angola State Bank represented by certificate number 33, and thereupon the trustees delivered this certificate to appellant Sheffer. Sheffer then filled in the blanks on the assignment above the name of appellee and turned the certificate over to the appellant bank and received a new certificate for five shares of stock of the Angola State Bank. In 1937, about a year and a half after Sheffer received the stock, the appellant bank started to pay dividends and appellee having heard of the dividends requested information as to why she received none and was informed that she owned no stock, and that the stock then belonged to Sheffer. She then demanded her certificate and upon refusal, she *248 filed an action first against Sheffer and later against the bank, in each of which she claimed ownership of the stock and asked its return. The suit against Sheffer is still pending, but appellee was successful in her suit against the bank and recovered damages in the sum of Forty-five Dollars ($45.00) and judgment that the bank either return the stock or pay its value in the sum of Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00). When Sheffer was sued, he went to the three trustees of the Steuben County State Bank and told them of the situation, and they agreed to defend actions against him and the Angola State Bank, to employ and pay for attorneys, costs, and damages, and in addition they turned over another certificate for five shares of stock of the Angola State Bank to the appellant bank. Neither Sheffer nor the Angola State Bank employed attorneys, but this was done by the trustees, who really conducted each case through the attorneys selected and paid by them.

The appellant bank claimed that there was a defect of parties and that the officers of the bank and R. Waldo Sheffer were necessary parties. The rule seems to be that where, as in this case, the defendant is a corporation capable of being sued, it is sufficient to proceed against it in its corporate capacity, without joining the officers or agents who must carry out the command to the corporation. Board of County Commissioners of the County of Leavenworth v. Ralph Sellew (1879), 99 U. S. 624, 25 L. Ed. 333; Wren v. The City of Indianapolis (1884), 96 Ind. 206, § 3-2202, Burns’ 1933, § 1091, Baldwin’s 1934.

*249 *248 The complaint is also challenged for failing to allege a demand, but an examination of the complaint shows *249 that it does allege facts from which it can be-inferred that a demand would have been a useless thing, and from which a refusal could be inferred. That is sufficient, and the court did not err in overruling the demurrer for insufficiency of facts. Lake Erie and Western Railroad Co. v. The State, ex rel. Mushlitz (1894), 139 Ind. 158, 38 N. E. 596; Finerty, Auditor v. State ex rel. Greenwald (1939), 215 Ind. 346, 19 N. E. (2d) 846.

While questions are raised relative to the overruling of demurrers to answers to cross-complaints, we feel that no harm could have been caused the appellants by these rulings because the cross-complaints were not in effect what the name would imply. The apellants merely alleged the same facts in those so-called cross-complaints as were averred in their answers and all evidence admissible under the cross-complaints or under the answers to cross-complaints was admissible under the complaint ' and answers. This was true in all except one answer to the cross-complaint of appellant Sheffer. This answer pleaded a pending cause as a bar to the cross-complaint. However, no evidence of the pending cause was admitted and no harm was done, therefore the ruling did not constitute reversible error. Washington Hotel Realty Co. v. Bedford Stone, etc., Co. (1924), 195 Ind. 128, 143 N. E. 156.

The findings disclose that in a prior action the appellee as plaintiff recovered judgment in replevin against the appellant, Angola State Bank. In that action appellee recovered damages in the sum of Forty-five Dollars ($45.00) and was awarded the return of the stock. To avoid paying the value of the stock as fixed in that suit the Angola State Bank turned over the certificate *250 of stock to the appellee and paid the damages and costs.

The appellants here claim that the only thing tried in the court below was the “right to possession” of the certificate and that the certificate is not stock, and that the appellee did not recover any stock or have her rights as a stockholder determined in that action. Ordinarily, replevin determines only the right of possession, but it may also determine ownership. Smith et al. v. Mosby et al. (1884), 98 Ind. 445.

The above case was decided on the authority of Landers et al. v. George et al. (1874), 49 Ind. 309, 321, where this court said:

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Bluebook (online)
52 N.E.2d 620, 222 Ind. 244, 1944 Ind. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/angola-state-bank-v-state-ex-rel-sanders-ind-1944.