Cowell v. McMillin

177 F. 25, 100 C.C.A. 443, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4331
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 28, 1910
DocketNo. 1,682
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 177 F. 25 (Cowell v. McMillin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cowell v. McMillin, 177 F. 25, 100 C.C.A. 443, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4331 (9th Cir. 1910).

Opinion

HUNT, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). Stuify of the pleadings already substantially stated, and of the testimony heard, discloses that the main point in this casé relates to the license to use the patent barrel machine with which the defendant corporation made the barrels it used for the shipment of its lime product from Roche Harbor. Addressing themselves to this matter, counsel for complainants earnestly contend that, when the facts are ascertained, it will appear that McMillin, a corporate officer, was guilty of fraud; that he violated his trust by leasing and purchasing the property of the corporation, and by malúng a contract with the corporation for his own personal benefit, and that, as a consequence, the law will'regard him as a constructive trustee liable to an accounting or such other obligations as equity may properly impose. It would extend this opinion to an unnecessary length were we to state and analyze the voluminous testimony in the record, so we will but briefly refer to such parts of the whole evidence as have impressed us as particularly h’elpful in arriving at a correct result.

Going back of the time of the barrel machine matter, we find these things of general interest: McMillin went to Tacoma, Wash., in 1884, and soon thereafter acquired a fourth interest in a lime plant at Roche Harbor, Wash. In addition to this one-fourth interest so purchased, he obtained an option upon the other three-fourths of the properties referred to, such option to expire July 18, 1886. The property consisted of 160 acres of land, containing lime ledges, together with lime kilns and some log buildings. In June, 1886, he went to California for the purpose ol trying to induce a firm, of which complainant’s father was a member, to buy an interest in the property at Roche Harbor. Mr. Cowell was very largely interested in lime manufacture, and had much to do with the control of prices of that product on the Pacific coast. But Mr. Cowell did not take any interest in the property, and McMillin thereafter enlisted several business men in Tacoma —Mr. Masterson,_ Mr. Manning, and Mr. Wallace — who were respectively the president, vice president, and cashier of the Pacific National Bank of Tacoma. Mr. Cowell, however, notwithstanding his refusal to join Mr. McMillin in 1886, acquired much knowledge of. McMillin’s interest in the properties at Roche Harbor, and without disclosure of his plans to McMillin, thereafter bought certain lime lands then under lease to McMillin at Roche Harbor, and soon began the manufacture of lime there under the name of the “San Juan Rime Company,” and in time became a powerful competitor of tire defendant company.

The defendant corporation was organized in 1886, and at once purchased the property rights of two other companies which had been owned or controlled by McMillin defendant and C. P. Masterson. McMillin and his associates owned 686 shares.in the new company, and two years thereafter the elder Cowell bought 309 shares. . Between 1886 and 1892, the new company, now defendant herein, increased its assets, enlarged its plant, and the value of its shares became much greater. It paid dividends amounting to $35,000, between 1888 and 1892, but has paid none since, although its assets have been added to in many ways and its trade has been extended.

[35]*35In 188!) McMilliu heard of a patent machine whereby a staveless barrel could be made. The. question of barrels was an all-important one to the lime company, inasmuch as it used quantities of them, and the cost of making them had been and was the principal incident of its lime business. So McMillin corresponded with the patentee, the letters of McMilliu indicating that his inquiries were as manager and in behalf of the defendant corporation of which he was not alone general manager, but executive head. About September, 1890, C. T. ¡-lowering, agent for the patentee, came to Roche Harbor, and discussed the matter of the patent machine with McMillin and a Mr. Cartwright, then one of the trustees of the lime company. Bowering showed them his letters patent, and had a set of staves for a keg which he said had been made by the machine. Bowering was in or about Tacoma two months and discussed the merits of the patent barrel machine in a general way with several, if not all, of the trustees of the defendant company, and showed them the claimed merits of his invention, hut lie says that the trustees, other than McMilliu, took very little interest in the patent. Bowering testified in effect that although lie knew he was dealing with McMillin individually, yet lie believed McMilliu was representing the defendant company when he made the contract with McMillin for the rights to the patent machine.

McMilliu himself says that he first saw ,tlie barrel machine operated at Detroit, in June, 1892; that Bowering claimed that the machine would he a great economy; that it would manufacture from 3,000 to 1,000 barrels per day, and that the package, when made up, would he practically air-tight, which would prevent air slacking. He says that the proposition to purchase the patent barrel right was discussed by Bowering and members of the board of directors from September, 1890, to March, 1891; that the discussions were informal, hut that the matter was before the hoard of directors several times, and that he frequently urged the hoard to take up the patent, calling their attention to the salient features of the machine, and reminding the directors that the barrels in which the lime was being shipped were costing more than the lime itself, and that the proposition ought not to he passed if there was a probability of the successful development of the machine. The practical utility of the machine was unknown, however; it was ati experiment in Washiugton. He says that he told the hoard that if the machine was not taken up by them, defendant’s competitor Cowell might get it. But the board declined to become interested because of the financial condition of the company, and of the country at large and because of doubts of the success of the patent. McMillin saves that Masterson, one of the directors, at a meeting when the patent question was under discussion, turned to liim and said, “Why, AIc-Millin, if you think it is such a good tiling, why don’t you take it up yourself ?” to which he replied:

“For simply one reason, Mr. Masterson, and one only, * * * simply because I am president of this company, and, if this should prove to be a good tiling, it ought 1o belong 1o the corporation; it ought not to belong to any individual member of it. It is an important feature of the company's business, and Hie institution itself ought to own or operate it. Whatever'is done, it ought to be done by the company, and not by an individual.”

[36]*36Masterson replied to the effect that the question was settled; that the company would not take it; that it had “had its day in court/’ and that McMillin was at perfect liberty to take it if he wanted to, and could experiment with it at the corporation’s plant. McMillin also says that it was then understood that if the machine should develop to be a thing of practical utility, the company should have the first opportunity to obtain its product. He testifies that thereafter he negotiated with Bowering on an individual basis, and that on March 16, 1891, he entered into an individual agreement with the barrel machine company (Exhibit 1, referred to in the statement), after telling Master-son, one of the directors, just what he was doing'. 'The contract between Bowering and McMillin was deposited in Mr. Masterson’s bank, and was read over by Masterson.

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Bluebook (online)
177 F. 25, 100 C.C.A. 443, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cowell-v-mcmillin-ca9-1910.