Caston v. Stafford

92 Mo. App. 182, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 458
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 10, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 92 Mo. App. 182 (Caston v. Stafford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caston v. Stafford, 92 Mo. App. 182, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 458 (Mo. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinion

SMITH, P. J.

The petition alleged: (1) That the Sedalia Building & Loan Association was organized under the statutes of this State, and that the defendant, Stafford, had been duly appointed its receiver. (2) That Max Caston and William Frankner were the owners of certain real property in this State, describing it. (3) That the said Caston and Frankner applied to said association for a loan of $1,700 which was granted to them, and on April 18, 1891, they, with Herman Caston and Lulu Caston, executed and delivered to said association a deed of trust conveying to one Taylor as trustee the said real property, and also assigning seventeen shares of stock in said association to secure a note executed by said Lulu Caston to said association, whereby, for value received, she promised to pay said association $13.60 (the same being monthly dues on said shares of stock), and $10.20 interest due monthly upon the said sum so borrowed, and the sum of $6.80, being the premium due monthly on said sum borrowed, on the [186]*186twentieth day of each and every mo-ntb for eighty-four months, from the date of the certificates of said shares of stock. And it was agreed in said note that in case of default in the payment of said monthly dues, to pay all fines and penalties assessed on account thereof; and in case of default, the said stock and the security given to secure said monthly dues, should, upon a sale thereof, be insufficient to repay said association, any balance due on said loan, that she, the said Lulu Caston, would pay the same. (4) And further, that the payment of said monthly dues for a period of eighty-four months, and of all fines and penalties, should entitle said shares of stock to redemption at the par value of $100 each, and that the said shares at the end of eighty-four months should be taken and cancelled by said association in full satisfaction of said note- and deed of trust; and that in consideration thereof the said' Lulu Caston waived and released all further right, interest and benefit in or to the profits and earnings of said association,, etc. (5) That the deed of trust contained the usual recitals to the effect if the said Lulu Caston paid the several sums mentioned in said note and complied with the terms and conditions-thereof that the said deed of trust should be void and the property thereby conveyed should be released, etc. (6) That in-1896 the said Caston and Erankner, the owners of the said real property, conveyed the same by warranty deeds to the plaintiff, subject to said deed of trust, and that up to that date each and all of said monthly dues on said stock had been paid, and that under the terms of said warranty deeds the plaintiff assumed and covenanted to pay the balance which might be due or owing under and in accordance with the terms of said deed' of trust, and that plaintiff, from said date until the month of January, 1898, paid all of said monthly dues required by the terms of said deed of trust, and that on January 5, 1898, there remained three monthly dues of $30.60 each, amounting to $91.80, which amount plaintiff tendered said defendant, in full satisfaction and discharge of said unpaid dues, which was re[187]*187fused. (7) That plaintiff have an accounting with defendant for tbe amount due under tbe deed of trust and be permitted to pay said sum of $91.80 into court, and for judgment satisfying of record said deed of trust, etc.

To wbicb petition tbe defendant demurred on tbe ground that it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, wbicb was by the court sustained and judgment given accordingly, and tbe plaintiff appealed.

It is thus seen from tbe allegations of said petition that it is claimed by him that if bis grantor bad, in accordance with the terms and conditions of her said note and deed of trust, paid on tbe twentieth day of each month, for a period of eighty-four months from tbe date of tbe certificate of said shares of stock, tbe dues on said shares, the interest and premium on said loan amounting in tbe aggregate to $30.60, with all fines and penalties, her stock was entitled to redemption and tbe deed of trust to satisfaction. As tbe plaintiff himself has tendered the three last payments of- said monthly dues wbicb were required to complete tbe eighty-four months period, we may consider, for tbe purpose of determining tbe qiiestion raised by tbe demurrer, that all of said monthly dues, fines and penalties were paid for tbe said eighty-four months period.' Tbe case then is that tbe plaintiff acquired tbe title to said property subject to a deed of trust given tbéreon to secure tbe payment of certain monthly dues for a specified period wbicb have all been paid, and tbe question now is whether or not be is by reason thereof entitled to a decree ordering tbe satisfaction of said deed of trust to be entered of record.

In Bertche v. Loan Ins. Ass’n, 147 Mo. 343, tbe note incorporated in each of the deeds of trust, given to secure tbe advancement, was quite similar to that pleaded in this case, and tbe court there held that tbe notes and deeds of trust were “in contravention of the chartered powers and by-laws of tbe association and subversive of both tbe lettei and spirit of tbe legislative scheme governing building and loan associations in this [188]*188State, and beyond the powers of tbe board of directors.” It was further said arguendo in the same case that a building and loan association, organized and based on the mutual plan, requiring subscription to its capital stock to be made in periodical payments, which should continue until the payments together with the earnings of the association should be equal to the full face value of the shares, has no authority to issue a certificate of stock wherever it agrees to pay the stockholder the full face value of each share at the end of six years on payment of seventy-five per cent per month on each share during said period, and that such an association is bound to treat its members equally, and any eontiact made by such association in contravention of such -mutuality is ultra vires and void. To the same effect is Fisher v. Patton, 134 Mo. 32.

Building and loan associations are mere creatures of the statute and are wholly without power to arbitrarily fix any period or time within which the shares of its members shall reach maturity. The statute (article 2,.chapter 42, Revised Statutes 1889), has provided a scheme for paying the capital stock in installments so long as such periodical payments, taken in connection with the other income of the association arising from fines, dues, interest and profits, are necessary in order to bring the stock to par. This value represents the amount which the shares are expected to be worth when it has accumulated the amount contemplated at the outset. The association may be said to have accomplished the purpose of its organization when by the periodical payments made by its members and the gains therefrom, each member has paid up to the amount fixed by the statute. And so the statute provides that when all the shares of any series shall have been redeemed, or whenever the funds shall be sufficient to pay the debts of the association and upon the unredeemed shares of such series, the value thereof as fixed by the by-laws, then the debts of the association shall first be paid and the deeds of trust of borrowers released and the free shares paid off. Sec. 2811.

[189]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Home Bldg. & Loan Ass'n v. Wills
1939 OK 22 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1939)
Hough v. Maupin
84 S.W. 717 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1905)
Gary v. Verity
74 S.W. 161 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1903)
Williams v. Verity
73 S.W. 732 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1903)
State ex rel. Hobart v. Smith
73 S.W. 211 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 Mo. App. 182, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caston-v-stafford-moctapp-1902.