Bartlett v. Sutorius

2 Silv. Sup. 23
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1889
StatusPublished

This text of 2 Silv. Sup. 23 (Bartlett v. Sutorius) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bartlett v. Sutorius, 2 Silv. Sup. 23 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1889).

Opinion

Van Brunt, P. J.

The only question necessary to consider upon this appeal is whether the complaint states facts sufficient to show that the defendant was liable to an order of arrest.

The allegation of the complaint is that the plaintiff shipped certain goods consigned to the defendant, then his .agent in New York, to sell for cash or on thirty days’ credit; [24]*24that the defendant received said goods on account of plaintiff, and thereafter sold the same, with the exception of a small amount, and that the defendant has collected the proceeds of such sale, and has neglected, and still neglects, and refuses to render to the plaintiff a just and true account of such sales, and has also neglected and refused to pay over the proceeds to the plaintiff, with the exception of a small amount, and has wrongfully converted the same to his own use.

Section 549 of the Code provides that a defendant may be arrested in an action where the action is brought to recover for money received, or to recover damages for the conversion or misappropriation of property, where it is alleged, in the complaint that the money was received or the property was embezzled or fraudulently misapplied by a public officer,, attorney, solicitor or counsel, or an officer or agent of a corporation, or banking association, in the course of his employment, or by a factor, agent, broker, or other person in a fiduciary capacity, where, on such allegation, the plaintiff cannot recover unless he proves the same on the trial of the action, and a judgment for the defendant is not a bar to a new action to recover the money or chattel.

It is clear, for the reasons stated in the case of Hollis v. Bleckert, herewith decided, that the complaint to justify an arrest in an action against the agent, must contain a specific allegation that the money or property, for the misapplication of which the action is brought, was received by such agent in a fiduciary capacity. The complaint in this case containing no such allegation, the motion for judgment upon the pleadings in favor of the defendants should have been granted.

The judgment must be reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to appellant to abide event.

Bartlett and Brady, JJ., concur.

[25]*25Note on Arrest for Misapplication of Property Received in a Fiduciary Capacity.

Before the amendment of 1886 to subdivision 2 of section 549 of the Code, the facts, upon which the right to an arrest depended in an action to recover money received, or property misapplied, by a person acting in a fiduciary capacity, were to be proved by affidavits or other extrinsic evidence, upon which the order of arrest was granted, and issues thereupon arose upon the defendant’s counter-affidavits, and were determined upon his application to vacate the order of arrest. But the effect of this amendment is to require the matters of fact, upon which the right to arrest depends in this case, to be alleged in the complaint, and to be made the subject of issues and proof in the action. Where the plaintiff makes such an allegation in his complaint, in order to lay the foundation for an order of arrest, he is obliged to prove the averment on the trial, in order to recover. But if he fails to establish the allegation on the trial, and thereby suffers a defeat in the action, the judgment for the defendant is not a bar to a new action, to recover the money or chattel.

Section 549 of the Code as amended by chap. 672 of the Laws of 1886, in respect to the point under consideration, reads as follows:

Section 549. A defendant may be arrested in an action, as prescribed in this title, where the action is brought for either of the following causes:

2. -or to recover for money received, or to recover property or damages for the conversion or misapplication of property, where it is alleged in the complaint that the money was received, or the property was embezzled or fraudulently misapplied, by a public officer or by an attorney, solicitor or counselor, or by an officer or agent of a corporation or banking association in the course of his employment, or by a, factor, agent, broker, or other person in a fiduciary capacity.

Prior to this amendment, the allegation as to the receipt of the money by the agent in a fiduciary capacity was not required, and, therefore, decisions ¡irior thereto are of no value in the discussion of the question. Hillis v. Bleckert, 53 Hun. 499.

The plaintiff must, when he invokes the remedy of arrest on the ground that the defendant has, while in his employment, received his money in a fiduciary character, and improperly converted it to his own use, tender an issue on that subject by proper allegation in the complaint and prove it on the trial. Hillis v. Bleckert, 53, ante. A statement of facts and circumstances which might justify the legal conclusion of money received in a fiduciary capacity does not comply with section 549 of the Code, inasmuch as this section requires such an allegation to be made in the complaint, and de[26]*26dares that the plaintiff cannot recover unless he proves the same on the trial. Id. In this ease, there was no allegation that the money mentioned was received by the defendant in a fiduciary capacity, and the complaint was therefore held to be deficient in an essential element. And in the case of Bartlett v. Sartorius, above reported, it was held that,to justify an arrest in an action against an agent, the complaint must contain a specific allegation that the money or property, for the misapplication of which the action is brought, was received by such agent in a fiduciary capacity, and that, as the complaint therein contained no such allegation, the motion for judgment on the pleadings in favor of the defendant should have been granted. See Bartlett v. Sartorius, 55 Hun., 608.

In subdivision 2 of section 549 of the Code, the words “in a fiduciary capacity,” qualify the factor, agent, broker, or other person, therein specified. Decatur v. Goodrich, 44 Hun, 3. The statement that defendant, as agent, became possessed of a sum of money, is insufficient under this section. It is necessary to understand that the money must have been received upon some trust or 'duty in some fiduciary capacity—more than is implied by the word agent. Id. It is not every case of agency that renders the agent liable to arrest for moneys received. Id.; Walter v. Bennett, 16 N. Y. 250; Greentree v. Rosenstock, 61 Id. 583. There must be some violation of the trust shown; some wrongdoing on the part of the defendant, more than the mere non-payment of money received, even though it was receievd by an agent. Decatur v. Goodrich, ante. The court, in Stoll v. King, 8 How. 298, held that the criterion in every such case is to determine whether the specific moneys received ought, in good faith, to have been kept and paid over to the employer; or whether the defendant, upon receiving such moneys, had the right to use them as his own, holding himself accountable to his principal for the debt thus created.

Where a factor, according to the general custom of the trade of which the plaintiff is aware, and in which he had acquiesced in all their dealings for many years mingles the proceeds of the sales, whenever made, indiscriminately with his own funds, and pays by his check on Saturday for all merchandise delivered during the week whether sold or unsold, the relation between the parties is not a fiduciary one, but the ordinary one of debtor and creditor exists. Donovan v.

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Bluebook (online)
2 Silv. Sup. 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bartlett-v-sutorius-nysupct-1889.