Coler v. Allen

114 F. 609, 52 C.C.A. 389, 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4119
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided April 7, 1902·No. No. 713·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

A motion is made to dismiss the appeal, on the ground that neither the corporation which executed the mortgage, nor its predecessor in interest, nor Austin Claiborne, W. M. Williams, or W. A. Keene, who were parties to the foreclosure suit by reason of having been made trustees of certain of the mortgaged property, were served with the citation'on the appeal. In the suit of foreclosure the appellant was permitted by the court to intervene. To his bill of intervention but one of the parties to the suit appeared. Allen, the complainant in the suit, filed a demurrer. The order which was appealed from was that the complaint in intervention be dismissed, and “that the complainant be not required to further answer the said complaint.” This order affected none of the parties to the suit except Allen, and afforded none of them the right to appeal or to be heard in the appellate court. The appellees rely upon the case of Davis v. Trust Co., 152 U. S. 590, 14 Sup. Ct. 693, 38 L. Ed. 563, in which it was said “that all the parties to the record who appear to have an interest in the order or ruling challenged must be given an opportunity to be heard.” But in what way are any of the other parties to the record interested in the order which is appealed frorn? The insolvent mortgagor can have no interest in the determination of the legal question which is presented upon this appeal, and certainly none of the other parties to the suit are in any way affected thereby. It is sufficient if the case is so presented on the appeal “that the appellate tribunal shall not be required to decide a second or third time the same question on' the same record.” Masterson v. Herndon, 10 Wall. 416, 19 L. Ed. 953.

Does the bill of intervention present a state of facts such as to entitle the intervener to equitable relief? The courts of the United States in dealing with the question of the right of an insolvent corporation to prefer a creditor have in all cases, except where the matter is the subject of statutory regulation, held that the corporation had the same right and authority to make such preference that an individual would have. In Fogg v. Blair, 133 U. S. 534, 10 Sup. Ct. 338, 33 L. Ed. 721, referring to the doctrine that the assets of an insolvent corporation are a trust fund for its creditors, Mr. Justice Field said:

[611] “That doctrine only means that the property must first be appropriated to the payment of the debts of the company before any portion of it can be distributed to the stockholders. It does not mean that the property is so affected by the indebtedness of the company that it cannot be sold, transferred, or mortgaged to bona fide purchasers for a valuable consideration, except subject to the liability of being appropriated to pay that indebtedness. Such a doctrine has no existence.”

In Hollins v. Iron Co., 150 U. S. 371, 14 Sup. Ct. 127, 37 L. Ed. 1113, the court said:

“A party may deal with a corporation in respect to its property in the same manner as with an individual owner, and with no greater danger of being held to have received into his possession property burdened with a trust or lien.”

See, also, Sanford Fork & Tool Co. v. Howe, Brown & Co., 157 U. S. 312, 15 Sup. Ct. 621, 39 L. Ed. 713.

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Coler v. Allen, 114 F. 609, 52 C.C.A. 389, 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4119 (9th Cir. 1902).

114 F. 609 (Coler v. Allen) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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