B. G. Carbajal, Inc. v. Enochs

68 F.2d 169, 1934 U.S. App. LEXIS 4852
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 6, 1934
DocketNo. 7092
StatusPublished

This text of 68 F.2d 169 (B. G. Carbajal, Inc. v. Enochs) 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
B. G. Carbajal, Inc. v. Enochs, 68 F.2d 169, 1934 U.S. App. LEXIS 4852 (5th Cir. 1934).

Opinion

WALKER, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory decree appointing a receiver pursuant to the prayer of a bill in equity filed July 17, 1933, for the foreclosure of a deed of trust or mortgage made by the appellant, a Louisiana corporation, covering sundry parcels of real estate in the city of New Orleans, including the Marbere Hotel, to secure the principal and interest of bonds, having serial maturities, issued by the appellant, and a chattel mortgage covering described movable property contained in the Marbere Hotel, made by the appellant to subject that movable property to the lien of the first mentioned mortgage; the mortgages covering also the income and profits from the mortgaged properties. The bill contained allegations as to the appointment, on July 14, 1933, of appellee as trustee under the mortgage as successor of the Canal Bank & Trust Company, the original trustee named therein, after the latter had become .incapable of acting as trustee, as to defaults under the mortgage by the failure of the mortgagor to pay principal and intierest of the secured bonds when duo, and to pay taxes on the mortgaged property when due, as to the appellee, after the happening of the above-mentioned defaults, and after having received a written request to do so from the holders of more than 50 per cent, in amount of the secured bonds then outstanding, declaring all the secured bonds to be due and payable immediately, and demanding the immediate payment thereof, as to the appellant having no adequate remedy at law, and as to the necessity, pending the suit, for the appointment of a receiver of the mortgaged properties for the protection of the rights of the bondholders, the bill alleging that the “property covered by the mortgage above referred to comprises a hotel [170]*170and office building properties in the City of New -Orleans the value of which can be conserved only by continued operation.” The bill contained a prayer that pending the suit a receiver be appointed of the mortgaged properties and of the earnings, income, rents, issues, and profits thereof. By its return to an order of the court, made on the day the bill was filed, that the appellant show cause why a receiver should not be appointed as prayed for in the bill, the appellant set up that, prior to the date of the filing of the bill, the bondholders through their agent, the Whitney National Bank, with the full acquiescénce and consent of appellant, through its agent and representatives, assumed control of the said hotel, and operated and managed the same as a going concern, and were actually doing so at the time of the institution of this suit, and had continued to do so up to the time of the making of such return, for the use and benefit of said bondholders: that no one has ever requested the appellant to surrender to the bondholders the care and administration of the other real estate subject to the mortgage sought to be. foreclosed, but that -appellant was willing either to turn over the administration of said real estate to said bondholders, or to their designated representative, or to turn over all gross receipts and rents as received from said real estate to the representative of said bondholders up to the termination of the present litigation; and Athat the bondholders, therefore, already have, or axe in a position to- have, amicably and without the expense, formalities and delays incident to the appointment of a receiver, complete administration' and control of the properties subject to the mortgage, and are actually receiving all the benefits and avails thereof.”

The evidence adduced in the hearing on the order to show cause and the return thereto consisted of affidavits filed by the appellant and by the appellee. Those affidavits showed the following: In September, 1932, by agreement between appellant and the Canal Bank & Trust Company, the original ‘trustee named in the mortgage (which agreement so far as appears was subject to be revoked at any time), J. J. Monaghan, as manager, was put in possession and control of the Marberc Hotel, collecting all receipts and making all disbursements, and depositing all receipts in the Canal Bank & Trust Company, the original trustee. After the formation of a committee of bondholders under a protective agreement entered into on April 25, 1933, and after the original trustee, the Canal Bank & Trust Company, on or about May 20; 1933, became incapable of further acting as trustee, Monaghan, as manager, remained in possession and control of the Marberc Hotel and deposited receipts in the Whitney National Bank, which, under the above-mentioned agreement, was the depositary of bonds and coupons. That bank was not the agent of the bondholders with reference to the possession or control of any of the mortgaged properties. The evidence did not show that the appellee or the bondholders’ committee was a party to any agreement as to the possession and control of ^ the hotel. It did not show that appellant consented to rents and income from the mortgaged properties collected during the pendency of the suit being subject to the control of the court or to be applied, under orders of the court, to the payment of taxes on the mortgaged property which ■were in default. Prior to the institution of the suit, the bondholders’ committee, through its secretary, requested the appellant to turn over to the trustee or to a representative of the bondholders all rentals collected from the mortgaged property. That request was not complied with. At the time of the hearing, collections from rentals of mortgaged properties other than the Marberc Hotel exceeded $1,000 a month.

The appointment of a receiver in a mortgage foreclosure suit to take possession of the mortgag-ed property pending the suit is a matter resting largely in the discretion of the court, which is under a duty to inquire whether, under all the circumstances, considering the interests of the parties and the public, it is wise and proper to take possession of the property. The facts that the mortgage covers property the value of which ma.y be impaired if it is not continued in operation pending the suit, and that the mortgagee’s interest is endangered by defaults in the payment of taxes on the mortgaged properties, are circumstances having a bearing on the exercise by the court of its discretion in passing on the question whether it is or is not proper for the court to take into its custody and control pending the suit the mortgaged properties and the rents and income therefrom, to the end that, under orders of the court, the mortgaged properties be conserved while the suit is -pending and until the arrival of the time which the court deems appropriate for a foreclosure sale, and that the income therefrom be applicable to the payment under orders of the court of taxes on the mortgaged properties, and for other lawful purposes. Bosworth v. Terminal Railroad Association, 174 U. S. 182, 186, 19 S. Ct. [171]*171625, 43 L. Ed. 941; Shepherd v. Pepper, 133 U. S. 626, 652, 10 S. Ct. 433, 33 L. Ed. 706; Appleton Waterworks Co. v. Central Trust Co. (C. C. A.) 93 F. 286; Cassedy v. Strauch, 61 App. D. C. 21, 56 F.(2d), 493; 19 R. C. L. 563. On the state of facts disclosed in the hearing on the notice to show cause and the return thereto, we think there was no abuse of its discretion by the court in appointing a receiver, notwithstanding the objections to that action on the grounds stated in the return.

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Related

Nauvoo v. Ritter
97 U.S. 389 (Supreme Court, 1878)
Shepherd v. Pepper
133 U.S. 626 (Supreme Court, 1890)
Bosworth v. St. Louis Terminal Railroad Assn.
174 U.S. 182 (Supreme Court, 1899)
Cassedy v. Strauch
56 F.2d 493 (D.C. Circuit, 1932)
Bound v. South Carolina R.
78 F. 49 (Fourth Circuit, 1897)

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Bluebook (online)
68 F.2d 169, 1934 U.S. App. LEXIS 4852, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-g-carbajal-inc-v-enochs-ca5-1934.