Beverly Farms, Inc. v. Olson Farms, Inc.

9 Pa. D. & C.2d 630, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 17
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Butler County
DecidedMarch 30, 1955
Docketno. 4
StatusPublished

This text of 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 630 (Beverly Farms, Inc. v. Olson Farms, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Butler County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beverly Farms, Inc. v. Olson Farms, Inc., 9 Pa. D. & C.2d 630, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 17 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

Shumaker, P. J.,

This is an equity proceedings in which plaintiff seeks to impose a trust upon certain funds in possession of defendants on the theory that said moneys were collected by defendants in a fiduciary capacity for plaintiff and wrongfully withheld by said defendants.

A receiver in equity has, since the filing of this action, been substituted for defendant Olson Farms, Inc.

From a practical point of view, the question is whether moneys collected by defendants for plaintiff constitute a trust entitling plaintiff to preference in the • distribution of the assets of defendant Olson Farms, Inc., now in receivership, or whether plaintiff is but a common or general creditor of said corporate defendant and entitled only to participate in the distribution to be made by the receiver on a prorata basis after preferred claims under law are first paid. The amount claimed is $16,036.07.

Not intended as findings of fact but merely as statement by way of explanation of this opinion, the matter in controversy arose when defendant Olson Farms, Inc., on December 1, 1951, sold for valuable consideration to the plaintiff Beverly Farms, Inc., certain milk and dairy products routes and customers in Allegheny County, both of these companies being engaged in the milk and dairy products business.

Two of the customers involved in the transaction were the City of Pittsburgh for the. Highland Park Zoo and the County of Allegheny for Mayview Home and Hospital.

[632]*632After the contract, above mentioned, was entered into by these dairies, Beverly Farms, Inc., undertook to supply said customers with its products but was later informed by the said customers that since Olson Farms, Inc., had obtained the customers by being the lowest bidder and that such contracts could not be transferred, sublet or assigned, the municipalities could not pay Beverly Farms, Inc., on the latter’s billings.

An arrangement was thereafter worked out, satisfactory to all parties involved, that Beverly Farms, Inc., should continue its service but the billings would be made on Olson Farms, Inc., stationery or billheads, the customers would make payment to Olson Farms, Inc., which, in turn, would pay over to plaintiff, Beverly Farms, Inc., the moneys so collected.

In the contract for the purchase of said part of the Olson business by plaintiff, it was agreed in writing that John L. Boyle, president of Olson Farms, Inc., would be employed by plaintiff for a period of six months, beginning January 1, 1952, at a fixed salary.

Boyle received the checks for the dairy products delivered by Beverly Farms, Inc., to Mayview and the zoo, endorsed some checks directly over to plaintiff but deposited certain other checks so received in Olson Farms account in the Butler branch of the Mellon National Bank and Trust Company, and for some time paid the money so received to plaintiff by checks drawn on the Olson Farms, Inc., account in said bank.

Sometime later, however, plaintiff discovered that money had been paid on the zoo and Mayview accounts to defendants, the amount involved in this litigation, which was retained by defendants and not paid over to plaintiff under the above mentioned arrangement.

The question involved here becomes more complicated by the fact that defendant Olson Farms, Inc., is now in receivership, and the opinion and decree here [633]*633being written is of special significance and importance, for if defendants were in fact trustees for plaintiff of the collections made and retained on these two accounts, then plaintiff recovers in full and the creditors and stockholders of the corporate defendant participate in the distribution of the balance of the liquidated assets in the hands of the receiver. If, however, no such trust is impressed on the funds held by said receiver, then plaintiff appears in the role of a common or general creditor in looking to the assets of the insolvent corporate defendant and will participate in the distribution to be made by the receiver on a percentage basis and the other creditors will accordingly be benefited.

Defendants assign as their reason for refusing to make settlement with plaintiff that plaintiff is indebted to defendants in another transaction between them which is a set-off against plaintiff’s claim here asserted.

We turn now to the procedural status of the case:

The bill of complaint filed May 20, 1953, set forth with particularity the claim of plaintiff as summarized above and prayed for a decree that the amount in controversy is held by defendants, or either of them, as trustees for plaintiff and is not an asset of the Olson Farms, Inc., an injunction enjoining said defendant from paying its creditors or stockholders until plaintiff had been paid in full, an order directing defendants to pay said sum to plaintiff and for such other relief as the court may deem proper.

On May 18, 1953, the Hon. William B. Purvis, then sitting as chancellor, issued a preliminary injunction, restraining the Olson Farms, Inc., from paying its creditors and/or stockholders in dissolution or otherwise until plaintiff had been paid and enjoining said defendant from selling, assigning or transferring any [634]*634of its assets not for sale in the regular course of business, set the injunction bond required at $500 and set May 25, 1953, at 10 a.m., as the time for hearing in the matter. The preliminary injunction was supported by proper affidavits, proper service of the proceedings was made on defendants and required bond was posted.

On May 25, 1953, on motion of all the attorneys involved in this case, Judge Purvis continued the injunction and the hearing until June 29, 1953.

On June 4, 1953, defendant, Olson Farms, Inc., was put into receivership by this court and Richard B. Kirkpatrick was duly appointed and qualified as receiver, all at equity no. 2, September term, 1953.

On June 26, 1953, defendants, with joinder of the receiver, filed preliminary objections to the bill on the ground that upon the facts averred plaintiff had a full, complete and adequate remedy at law.

On August 26,1953, the preliminary objections were overruled and dismissed and defendants were directed to answer.

Answer to the bill of complaint was filed by the receiver on September 11, 1953, and in behalf of the individual defendant on October 19, 1953.

The hearing on the merits began April 6, 1954, and there being so many amendments to the pleadings filed, counsel for plaintiff were directed to file an amended complaint to include all amendments allowed by the court, which was done on June 9, 1954. The court also requested counsel to submit suggested findings of fact and conclusions of law, the last of which was filed on November 3, 1954.

Findings of Fact

From the testimony taken at the hearings in this case and from the admitted or undenied averments [635]*635in the bill of complaint as amended, the court makes the following findings of fact:

1. That Beverly Farms, Inc., was and is engaged in the milk and dairy products business in Allegheny County, and prior to December 1, 1951, was in the wholesale distribution of such items.

2.

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9 Pa. D. & C.2d 630, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beverly-farms-inc-v-olson-farms-inc-pactcomplbutler-1955.