Bertha Zinc & Mineral Co. v. Clute

27 N.Y.S. 342, 7 Misc. 123, 57 N.Y. St. Rep. 70
CourtNew York Court of Common Pleas
DecidedFebruary 5, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 27 N.Y.S. 342 (Bertha Zinc & Mineral Co. v. Clute) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bertha Zinc & Mineral Co. v. Clute, 27 N.Y.S. 342, 7 Misc. 123, 57 N.Y. St. Rep. 70 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1894).

Opinion

BOOKSTAVER, J.

This action was commenced on the 16th August^ 1893, by the service upon the defendants, Hart and Clute, of copies of the injunction order herein and the papers on which the same was granted, together with the undertaking on injunction and the summons and complaint. On the 29th of the same month the defendant Clute, as assignee, moved to vacate the injunction order upon the papers upon which it was granted, which was denied, and from that order this appeal is taken.

As the motion was made upon the papers upon which the injunction was granted, the allegations in those papers must be taken as true. From them it appears that the plaintiff is a foreign corporation. Defendant Hart was doing business in the city of Hew York under the firm name of Lucius Hart & Co. This concern was plaintiff’s agent, selling goods manufactured by it on commission. These sales were generally made in its own name, but deliveries were made from a stock of metal kept in its hands by plaintiff. Bills for the goods so sold were also made out in defendant’s name, and collections made by it, and it rendered monthly accounts, paying plaintiff the net amount after deducting freights, commissions, etc. All sales were guarantied by Lucius Hart.& Co., for which that concern received a commission. On the 20th June, 1893, the defendant Hart, individually, and as the firm of Lucius Hart & Co., made a general assignment for the benefit of creditors to the defendant Clute, which was duly acknowledged and recorded. On June 23, 1893, the plaintiff gave notice to Clute of the fact that Hart had acted solely as its agent in making sales, and demanded the delivery of the stock of metal on hand, and also the proceeds of sales collected and unaccounted for, and the transfer to it of all uncollected debts. Clute delivered the metal belonging to plaintiff then on hand, but refused to recognize any claim to the proceeds of the sales of metal, whether collected or uncollected, by Hart & Co. The papers further show that Clute, as assignee, has, since the assignment, collected a portion of the outstanding sales, and that a portion still remains uncollected. Plaintiff claims that it is entitled to these proceeds of sales, and that such proceeds ought not to be regarded as a part of the general assets, and also claims that it is entitled to the proceeds of the uncollected accounts, or, if they shall be collected by the assignee, that they- should be collected for plaintiff’s benefit. Plaintiff also shows that it is apprehensive that, unless enjoined by the court, the assignee will divert the proceeds of sales collected, or to be collected, or will mingle the same with the general assets of Lucius Hart & Co., so that they cannot be distinguished, whereby the plaintiff would sustain irreparable dam[344]*344.age. , The judgment prayed for is that the rights, liens, and equities in respect to all proceeds of sales, collected and uncollected, may be ■established; that the rights of the plaintiff to the proceeds of any sale of its goods may be adjudged to belong to it; and that defendant may be restrained from intermeddling with or intermingling the proceeds of sales of its goods with the general assets of Lucius Hart & Co., and from not now separating and keeping separate accounts of such proceeds, and from collecting any of the outstanding accounts except for the benefit of the plaintiff, and from mingling any sums hereafter collected with the general assets of Lucius Hart & Co. This injunction was not granted under section 603 «of the Code, as appellant contends, but, as we conclude from the injunction order itself, the complaint, and the affidavits upon which it was granted, under section 604 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in which case the preliminary injunction may be granted at the time of issuing the summons. . But he contends that, if it was granted under that section, then no facts sufficient to warrant the granting of the order of injunction pendente lite were shown by affidavit. Where, in the complaint, the allegations are made unqualifiedly,—that is, not on information and belief merely, —and are sworn to as true, it will be treated as an affidavit. Code, § 3343, subd. 11; Roome v. Webb, 3 How. Pr. 327; Benson v. Fash, 1 Code R. 50; Minor v. Terry, 6 How. Pr. 208; Penfield v. White, 8 How. Pr. 87;. Woodruff v. Fisher, 17 Barb. 224; Jones v. Atterbury, 1 Code R. (N. S.) 87; Levy v. Ely, 6 Abb. Pr. 89; Hecker v. Mayor, etc., 18 Abb. Pr. 369; Cushing v. Ruslander, 49 Hun, 19, 1 N. Y. Supp. 505. The complaint in this action was so sworn to, «except “as to matters therein stated to be alleged on information and belief, and that as to those matters he believes it to be true.” Now, all the allegations in the complaint are stated as of the knowledge of the president of the corporation, except some in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, which are stated to be upon information and belief, and these' are stated in the affidavit of Mr. Moxham, the general agent and manager of the plaintiff, to be within his knowledge, except as to certain amounts, collected and uncollected, which he swears he obtained from the books of Lucius Hart & Co. From the positive allegations of the complaint it appears that:

“The said defendant Frank M. Olute, as assignee as aforesaid, has declined to recognize in any manner the rights, liens, and equity of -the plaintiff of, in, and in respect to the outstanding and uncollected accounts for said metal sold, or in and to such proceeds of sale collected by said assignee, subsequent to said assignment.”

And, further:

“Plaintiff further shows that it is apprehensive that, unless enjoined and ¡restrained by order of this court, the said defendants, or some one of them, «or the said assignee, will divert the proceeds realized and collected from the •sale of said metal of the plaintiff and the proceeds of sale which shall thereafter be collected, or will mingle them with the general assets of said firm -of Lucius Hart & Co., so that the same cannot be identified or distinguished, whereby this plaintiff will suffer and sustain irreparable loss and injury.”

We, think, as the learned chief justice has well said in his opinion «upon granting the injunction:

[345]*345“It is to be inferred from his [that is, the assignee’s] refusal to recognize the right of plaintiff, the consignor, to the proceeds of sale of the consigned goods, that he regards such proceeds as part of the assigned estate of the assignees, and it necessarily follows that he will dispose of them as such, in which case any judgment directing him to account therefor may be ineffectual.”

Such a state of facts is sufficient to sustain an injunction upon the ground that the defendant is about to do an act in .violation of plaintiff’s rights, as tending to render a judgment ineffectual. This is a specific fund; the collections can all be traced upon the books, and the persons from whom uncollected book accounts are due for Bertha spelter can also be ascertained. Under all the authorities, an injunction will be granted pendente lite to prevent dispersion and intermingling of such a fund. Keller v. Payne, (Sup.) 1 N. Y. Supp. 148; Bates v. Plonsky, 28 Hun, 113; Holmes v. Davenport, (Sup.) 14 N. Y. Supp. 738. A voluntary assignee for the benefit of creditors is not a bona fide purchaser. He takes subject to all equities, and has no greater rights in the assigned estate than his assignee had. It comes into his hands charged with all the equities existing with respect to it at the time of the assignment. Burrill, Assignm. (6th Ed.) 478, and cases cited; Van Heusen v. Radcliff, 17 N.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 N.Y.S. 342, 7 Misc. 123, 57 N.Y. St. Rep. 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bertha-zinc-mineral-co-v-clute-nyctcompl-1894.