Bear River Valley Orchard Co. v. Hanley

50 P. 611, 15 Utah 506, 1897 Utah LEXIS 73
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1897
DocketNo. 826
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 50 P. 611 (Bear River Valley Orchard Co. v. Hanley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bear River Valley Orchard Co. v. Hanley, 50 P. 611, 15 Utah 506, 1897 Utah LEXIS 73 (Utah 1897).

Opinions

Zaxe, C. J.:

On the 21st day of November, 1896, a decree was rendered against the defendants, and a motion for a new trial, duly served and entered, was overruled by the court-on the 29th day of the followúng March. From the judgment and order overruling the motion, the defendants appealed, on the 19th day of the following April. The [508]*508plaintiff moves the court to dismiss the appeal from the order. This court has repeatedly held that orders grant- . ing or denying motions for new trials are not final judgments, within section 9 of article 8 of our constitution. The motion to dismiss the appeal from that order is granted.

The plaintiff also contends that exceptions to the decision of the court below on the ground that it was not supported by the evidence cannot be considered by us in deciding the appeal from the judgment because it was not taken within 60 days after its rendition. In the case of Watson v. Mayberry, 15 Utah 265, this court held that the phrase “final judgment,” as used in the same section of the constitution, means judgments terminating the litigation between the parties in the court rendering it, and, when a motion for a new trial is duly made within the time prescribed by law, the judgment becomes final for the purposes of an appeal, when it is overruled; and that an appeal may be taken from a judgment within one year after the date of the order overruling the motion; but that an exception to the decision or verdict on the ground that it is not supported by the evidence cannot be reviewed on the appeal from such judgment, unless taken within 60 days after it becomes final. The notice of the motion for a new trial having been duly served and entered within the 10 days allowed by the statute, and the order overruling it having been made within 60 days before the appeal, it is our duty to consider such exceptions. The cases cited by plaintiff’s counsel were considered upon the hearing of the case of Watson v. Mayberry, supra, and found to be upon statutes under constitutional provisions differing from our own, or in cases not analogous to^ that case, which, upon the point under consideration, is entirely analogous to this. [509]*509Tbe case of Blyth & Fargo Co. v. Swenson, 15 Utah 345, also decided by this court, in effect approved of Watson v. Mayberry.

Tbe conflicting claims of tbe parties to tbe original complaint, and tbe cross complaint of tbe defendants against tbe Bear River Irrigation & Ogden Waterworks Company and others, and tbe cross complaint of tbe latter company against Peter M. Hanley and others, and the respective answers to those complaints, raise a question as to tbe respective rights of Hanley and tbe irrigation and waterworks company to 930 shares of tbe capital stock of tbe plaintiff, tbe orchard company. Tbe former-claims both tbe equitable and legal title to tbe stock, while tbe irrigation and waterworks company claims tbe equitable title, and insists that Hanley bolds tbe legal title in trust simply. In order to determine tbe question, it is necessary to examine the evidence in tbe record.

It appears that tbe Bear River Irrigation & Ogden Waterworks Company was organized under chapter 1, pt. 4, 2 Comp. Laws Utah 1888, on September 1, 1894, with its capital stock divided into 24,000 shares, of tbe par value of $100 each; that among its corporators and directors were William H. Rowe and Peter M. Hanley; that it was authorized to appropriate and acquire tbe waters of Bear River for irrigation and other purposes, to construct a canal and waterworks, to purchase, acquire, bold, cultivate, and convey lands, and to conduct other business. It further appears that tbe Bear River Valley Orchard Company was organized under tbe same law on tbe 25th day of January, 1895; that Rowe and Hanley were also among its corporators and directors; that tbe former was selected president, and tbe latter secretary and treasurer; that its capital stock was divided into 1,000 shares, of tbe par value of $100 each; that Rowe [510]*510.and Hanley subscribed for 10 shares each, and the latter .subscribed also for 930 shares.as trustee. The business •of the company, as set forth in its articles, was to acquire real estate and water rights, and to own, cultivate, irrigate, sell, and otherwise dispose of lands with water rights, to set out and cultivate fruit trees, and to sell and •otherwise dispose of orchards. It further appears that on and prior to March 5,1895, William H. Rowe held in trust for the irrigation and waterworks company the legal title to section 3, described in the pleadings, consisting of 640 acres of land; that, as such trustee, with the knowledge •of Hanley, he executed a warranty deed purporting to •convey the same to the orchard company, and on the same day also conveyed by deed, in the name of the irrigation waterworks company, to the same grantee, a perpetual ••right to water to be taken from the .canal of the grantor, to irrigate the land; and that the entire capital stock of the orchard company was paid in by those conveyances, •and no Other payment to the capital stock of the company was made, and all funds appropriated to the furtherance -of the business of the orchard company, except funds derived from the sale of portions of section 3, were furnished by the irrigation and waterworks company. It further appears that Hanley, as secretary of the orchard company, surrendered the 930 shares of stock in the company that had been issued to him as trustee of the irrigation and waterworks company, and, in lieu thereof, reissued the same in his individual name, without 'the consent or knowledge of the directors or other officers of the last-named company, except Rowe. It further appears that while Rowe and Hanley were directors of the irrigation and waterworks company, and the former was its president, and the latter its assistant secretary and ¿auditor, and while both were its acting managers, and [511]*511receiving. salaries therefrom, Rowe, in pursuance of an understanding with Hanley, made 10 promissory notes, bearing date December 13,1895,for the payment of $2,460 each, the first to become due April 1,1897, and one on the same day'and month of each year thereafter until all should become due, all bearing interest at seven per cent per annum, except the first, which drew no interest, and all payable to the Bear River Irrigation & Ogden Waterworks Company, and signed, “Bear River Yalley Orchard Co., by W. H. Rowe, President.” It also appears that a written contract purporting to be between the irrigation and waterworks company, by W. H. Rowe, its president, and P. M. Hanley, was made on December 13, 1895, in which the latter acknowledged himself indebted to the former in the sum of $24,600, the aggregate of the above notes of the orchard company, to be paid according to the terms of the notes; and, to secure their payment, Hanley agreed to pledge 300 shares of the orchard company stock reissued by him, upon the express condition that said shares, though in the possession of the irrigation and waterworks company, should remain the property of Hanley as if they were in his possession, except, upon his failure to pay any note within six months after it became due, the irrigation and waterworks company might sell the stock certificate securing it, or upon demand the same should be transferred upon the books of the orchard company.

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Bluebook (online)
50 P. 611, 15 Utah 506, 1897 Utah LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bear-river-valley-orchard-co-v-hanley-utah-1897.