Campau v. Detroit Driving Club

98 N.W. 267, 135 Mich. 575, 1904 Mich. LEXIS 971
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 1904
DocketDocket Nos. 38, 39, 40
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 98 N.W. 267 (Campau v. Detroit Driving Club) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campau v. Detroit Driving Club, 98 N.W. 267, 135 Mich. 575, 1904 Mich. LEXIS 971 (Mich. 1904).

Opinion

Moore, C. J.

The three cases relate to the same litiga[578]*578tion, and were heard as one case, though a question is raised, which will be referred to later, whether the last-named case is properly here.

Some phases of this litigation have been before this court before in People’s Savings Bank v. Campau, 124 Mich. 106 (82 N. W. 803), Moran v. Wayne Circuit Judge, 125 Mich. 6 (83 N. W. 1004), and Campau v. Detroit Driving Club, 130 Mich. 417 (90 N. W. 49). A reference to the opinions filed therein will aid in understanding the issues before us, and will make it unnecessary to make so full a statement of facts as would otherwise be required.

The bond referred to in People’s Savings Bank v. Campau, supra, was signed by Messrs. Campau, Palms, Vail, Moran, and Churchill as sureties. The $18,366 judgment mentioned in Campau v. Detroit Driving Club, supra, represents the proportion of said bond paid by the first three of the above-named sureties, for which a demand note was given to them by the driving club, which note was sued upon and put into judgment. The $14,170 judgment obtained by the bank was for the balance of the debt to secure the payment of which said bond was given, and was assigned by the bank to the other two sureties.

In January, 1901, Messrs. Moran and Churchill filed a bill in chancery against Messrs. Campau, Palms, and Vail and the driving club, in which was recited a history of the transaction from the point of view of the complainants, and charging Mr. Campau, both before and after his appointment as receiver, with mismanagement, and with a purpose to obtain an unjust advantage over the complainants, and praying that the judgment in favor of Campau, Palms, and Vail, and the execution, levy, and sale thereunder, might be set aside, and that the judgment creditors’ proceeding be held void, and the appointment of Campau as receiver be set aside, and also praying for other relief. The case was put at issue, and a hearing had before Judge Carpenter, who dismissed the bill of [579]*579•complaint, “but without prejudice to the rights of the complainants in the original bill to file a new bill of complaint, if they shall be so advised, asking for their pro rata share of the purchase price of the property sold under the execution, or, if the sale is set aside, to the pro rata share of the rights acquired by the execution levy, as mentioned and referred to in the bill of complaint filed herein.” From that decree an appeal is taken.

In the case of Campau v. Detroit Driving Club, 130 Mich. 417 (90 N. W. 49), Justice Long, speaking for the court, wrote, among other things, as follows:

“The only object of this petition is to obtain a decree ■declaring the execution sales illegal and void because they were made when the property was in the hands of the court by its receiver. Incidental to this relief, the petition prays that direction may be given to the receiver to sell the real and personal property of the corporation free and clear of all liens and incumbrances, and distribution made of the proceeds among the secured and unsecured creditors. This second intervening petition is based upon a fact which occurred after the first petition was filed, viz., the execution sales of March 29 and April 3, 1900. ' Thus it appears that the only object of the second intervening petition is to obtain a decree declaring the sales void. The denial of the first petition is no bar to the filing of the second intervening petition.
“It appears from the record that the execution levy held by the petitioners under the assignment from the People’s Savings Bank was subsequent to the one held by the complainants, and it was prior to the appointment of the receiver on the judgment creditors’ bill. Under our statutes relative to execution sales, the petitioners had a right to redeem from the prior sale at any time within 15 months from the day the sale was made. Section 9185, 3 Comp. Laws. If the prior sale was illegal and void, the petitioners could not safely redeem from it. The complain.ants would get their money, — some $19,000, — but the petitioners would not get title to the property; so that it is apparent that the second intervening petitioners are pursuing the only safe course open to them to preserve their rights.”

An order reading in part as follows was entered in the ■case:

[580]*580“That the execution sales made on the 29th day of March, 1900, and the 3d day of April, 1900, of the personal property and real estate of the Detroit Driving Club, by the sheriff of the county of Wayne, under and by virtue of an execution issued by the circuit court for the county of Wayne on a judgment rendered on the 30th day of March, 1899, in favor of Daniel J. Campau, Francis F. Palms, and George M. Vail, and against the Detroit Driving Club, for $18,366 damages and costs, be, and the same are hereby, set aside, and the said sales are hereby declared and decreed to be illegal and void.
“ And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that Daniel J. Campau, as the receiver in this cause, be, and he is hereby, ordered to resume possession of said real and personal property, and to continue in possession thereof until the further order of the circuit court for the county of Wayne.
“And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that this cause be, and the same is hereby, remanded to the circuit court for the county of Wayne, with directions to cause said real estate to be sold by a circuit court commissioner for the county of Wayne, subject to the first mortgage thereon, to the highest bidder for cash; * * * and that the said personal property be sold as a unit to the highest bidder for cash; that, out of the proceeds of such sales, the commissioner shall first pay the costs and expenses of the sale, including his commissions, and the balance of said proceeds to be paid into the circuit court for the county of Wayne, in chancery. * * *
“It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the said real and personal property be sold free and clear of all liens and incumbrances whatever, except the first mortgage on said real estate, and that the proceeds of such sale, when paid into court, shall be distributed, subject to the expenses of the receivership, among the secured and unsecured creditors of the Detroit Driving Club, according to their respective rights and priorities.
“It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the necessary proceedings be taken in the circuit court for the . county of Wayne to ascertain and determine the liens and incumbrances of every name and nature upon said real and personal property other than the first mortgage on said real estate, and that the rights and priorities of the several claimants be ascertained and determined according to the rules and practice of the court, and that the court [581]*581shall defer a sale of said real and personal property until the rights and priorities of the several claimants have been ■established and determined by the court.”

After the case was remanded, it was referred to a circuit court commissioner, who made the following findings :

“1.

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Related

Gillen v. Wakefield State Bank
224 N.W. 761 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1929)
Shaw v. Hehl
155 N.W. 419 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1915)
Campau v. Detroit Driving Club
107 N.W. 1063 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1906)

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Bluebook (online)
98 N.W. 267, 135 Mich. 575, 1904 Mich. LEXIS 971, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campau-v-detroit-driving-club-mich-1904.