Bradburn v. Wyoming Trust Co.

63 P.2d 792, 51 Wyo. 73, 1936 Wyo. LEXIS 37
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1936
Docket1969
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 63 P.2d 792 (Bradburn v. Wyoming Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradburn v. Wyoming Trust Co., 63 P.2d 792, 51 Wyo. 73, 1936 Wyo. LEXIS 37 (Wyo. 1936).

Opinion

*77 Riner, Justice.

The district court of Natrona County having rendered its judgment adverse to H. F. Bradburn in an action wherein he was plaintiff and The Wyoming Trust Company of Casper, a corporation, The Casper National Bank, a corporation, The First Trust & Savings Bank of Casper, a corporation, and Philip E. Winter were defendants, Bradburn as plaintiff in error has brought the record here for review by proceedings in error. Winter having died during the pendency of the litigation, Alta S. Winter as administratrix of his estate was substituted in his stead. Bradburn may conveniently be referred to hereinafter at times as the “plaintiff,” and for brevity in mentioning the corporate defendants, The Wyoming Trust Company of Casper will be designated as the “Trust Company”; The First Trust & Savings Bank of Casper as the “Savings Bank”; and The Casper National Bank as the “National Bank.” Briefs were filed and arguments had in this court on behalf of only Bradburn and the National Bank.

The facts involved are very little in dispute and are substantially these: On March 16, 1931, in renewal of an existing obligation, Philip E. Winter and Alta S. Winter, his wife, executed and delivered to the Savings Bank their joint and several promissory note, payable to its. order, in the sum of .$4,550.00, due six months after date, with interest at eight per centum per annum. To secure the payment of this obligation, the obligors delivered and pledged to said Savings Bank *78 four stock certificates of the Cities Service Company, representing 195 shares of stock therein, two stock certificates of Dallas Dome Wyoming Oil Fields Company, representing 1250 shares of stock in that corporation, and also executed and delivered to said payee a second mortgage upon Lot 7 in Block 72 in the City of Casper, Wyoming. On March 22, 1933, in renewal of the note aforesaid the same obligors executed and delivered to the order of the same payee their joint and several note operating as an extension of payment agreement for six months after date, in the amount of $3,750.00, then due, with the same interest rate.

August 28, 1931, Philip E. Winter procured a loan from the Trust Company in the sum of $1,800.00. Of this amount $1,650.00 was sent to H. F. Bradburn, his son-in-law, who lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and $150.00 was credited to Winter’s personal account. To obtain this loan the latter executed and delivered to said Trust Company his promissory note therefor, and deposited and pledged with it a certain certificate of shares of stock of the United States Gypsum Company, which had been theretofore issued in his name. The bank officer who made the loan testified that Winter, at that time, never intimated that any one but himself had an interest in this stock. This obligation was renewed from time to time, some payments in reduction thereof having been made, and on May 26, 1933, Winter again renewed the obligation by executing to the Trust Company his note in the sum of $1,532.90, due on demand, said note containing the following provisions :

“And there is hereby and herewith, by and for the undersigned, delivered, pledged and deposited as collateral security for the payment of this note and also of all other present and future demands of any and all kinds, and of every nature whatsoever, of the holder hereof, against the undersigned, now owing, or which may hereafter be owing, and whether now or hereafter *79 contracted, the following property, viz: Certificate No. C 253 for 100 shares U. S. Gypsum Co.”

June 10, 1933, the Savings Bank and also the Trust Company merged with the National Bank, and for full value sold to it without recourse both the joint and several note and the extension renewal thereof of Winter and wife, as above described, and also the individual note of Philip E. Winter aforesaid. All collateral stock certificates were delivered to and have since been held by the National Bank. The second mortgage securing the note of Winter and his wife was not formally assigned to the purchaser of the obligation, which together with the pledged shares of stock already mentioned it secured. The National Bank in purchasing all these obligations took into account the value of the United States Gypsum Company stock, and, as the president of the National Bank testified, regarded the security on the Savings Bank note aforesaid inadequate to secure that note, but considered that the security on all the notes taken together would be sufficient to protect them under the above quoted clause, which aside from the description of the securities appeared in both the Trust Company and the Savings Bank notes.

November 8, 1933, Bradburn, for the first time to the knowledge of the corporate defendants, asserting that he alone owned the stock, made a demand upon the National Bank for its surrender to him, at the same time tendering to it the amount due on the Trust Company note only. This demand was refused, the reason assigned being that the National Bank as holder of all the obligations aforesaid claimed the right to detain the demanded stock as security for the payment of the joint and several note of Philip E. Winter and wife as well.

On January 9, 1934, the plaintiff brought his action in the district court of Natrona County, wherein by *80 his petition, to summarize, he claimed to be the owner of the United States Gypsum Company shares of stock aforesaid, and alleged that Winter had pledged said stock as collateral security for the payment of the Trust Company note by and with his (Bradburn’s) consent; further that Bradburn had made a tender of the amount due on the Trust Company note to that company and also to the National Bank, which tender had been refused. Judgment for the recovery of said certificate of shares of stock was prayed upon payment of the amount due from Winter on the 8th day of November, 1933, under said Trust Company note; and that in the event delivery of said stock certificate could not be made by the defendants that plaintiff recover stated damages therefor.

March 14, 1934, Philip E. Winter filed an answer admitting the allegations of plaintiff’s petition and joined in the prayer for judgment contained therein.

Thereafter, and on July 12, 1934, the Trust Company answered plaintiff’s petition, stating in substance that it had transferred for value the note of Philip E. Winter dated May 26, 1933, and the certificate of shares of stock in the United States Gypsum Company to the National Bank. The execution of the said note, the delivery of the stock certificate as collateral therefor was admitted, and denial of the other allegations of plaintiff’s pleading made. The prayer of the answer was for judgment of dismissal of the action. By his reply plaintiff denied the new matter alleged in this answer.

The National Bank filed its amended answer September 13, 1934, wherein, to state the matter briefly, after sundry denials and admissions as a first defense, in its second defense, it set forth the sale of the notes to it as recited above, and also the delivery to it of the securities mentioned in said notes, and claimed the right to hold the United States Gypsum Company stock *81 for the payment of both the Trust Company note and the Savings Bank note, already mentioned.

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Bluebook (online)
63 P.2d 792, 51 Wyo. 73, 1936 Wyo. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradburn-v-wyoming-trust-co-wyo-1936.