Cronkleton v. Jones

67 F.2d 21, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4355
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided August 21, 1933·No. No. 9697·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURGH, Circuit Judge.

This suit was brought to recover the double, or statutory, liability on one hundred shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Neb., bequeathed to his exeeutors and successors in trust for his daughter, Lida Clarke Seaton, by Alonzo L. Clarke of Hastings, Neb., in paragraph No. 24 of his will. It was consolidated for purposes of trial with causes numbered 9681 and 9694, both entitled Arthur H. Jones & Ford McWhorter, Trustees of the Estate of Alonzo L. Clarke, Deceased, Appellants, v. George G. Cronkleton, Receiver of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, Appellee, 67 F.(2d) 17, the decision of this court in which eases is handed down contemporaneously herewith; and reference is made to the opinion therein for facts stated and views expressed.

In the instant ease, the judgment of the court was, in effect, in favor of the defendants, appellees herein, from which judgment the receiver appeals.

The paragraph of the will by which the shares of bank stock here involved were devised is numbered 24, and reads as follows: i(I give and bequeath to my executors and their successors in trust one hundred (100) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, in trust, to collect and receive the dividends and income therefrom, and to pay the dividends and income therefrom annually, or at the time they shall be declared or received, to my daughter, Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton, of Upminster, England, during her natural life, and at the time of the death of said Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton I give and bequeath said one hundred (100) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, and the accrued accumulations therefrom, to the heirs at law of said Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton, deceased, and direct my said exeeutors op their successors in trust to convey, transfer, deliver and pay the same at said time to her heirs at law absolutely.”

It is the contention of appellant that there are other paragraphs of the will, to wit, Nos. 22 and 27, which also condition recovery in this action. Dependence upon other paragraphs of the will for the recovery asked appears to have been abandoned. Paragraph 22 reads thus: “I give and bequeath to my executors and their successors in trust fifty (50) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Holdrege, Nebraska, and fifty (50) shares of the preferred stock of the Beatrice Creamery Company, in trust, to collect and receive the dividends and income therefrom, and to pay the dividends and income therefrom annually, or at the time they shall be declared or received, to my son, William H. Clarke, during his natural life, and at the time of the death of said William H. Clarke I give and bequeath said fifty (50) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Holdrege, Nebraska, and said fifty (50) shares of the preferred stock of the Beatrice Creamery Company and the accrued accumulations therefrom, to the heirs at law of said William H. Clarke, deceased, and direct my said exeeutors or their successors in trust to convey, transfer, deliver and pay the same at said time to his heirs at law, absolutely.”

Paragraph 27 has been copied and discussed in the opinion in causes Nos. 9681 and 9694, and for brevity’s salce will not be fully reproduced here.

The will of Alonzo L. Clarke was executed in 1915. He died May 3, 1918, and his will was admitted to probate June 4, 1918. In 1922, Wesley A. Taylor and Charles B. Hutton, exeeutors, refused to act as trustees except under paragraph 24, the bequest in trust to Mrs. Seaton. Later Hutton declined to act further, and Taylor was appointed as sole trustee, and qualified as such. March 17, 1922, by order of the county court, assets bequeathed in trust under the provisions of the various paragraphs of the will were transferred to the trustees in the several trusts, [23] and, at all times after June 1,192-3, the management of these was conducted by the trustees, separately and distinctly from the administration of the estate, which was closed in 1928. January 7,1924, prior stock certificates were surrendered and new ones, under paragraph 24, were issued to Wesley A. Taylor, as trustee. September 23, 1925, Taylor resigned as trustee under paragraph 24, and the stock was transferred on the books of the bank to the Clarke-Buehanan Company as trustee. This company continued to hold the certificates and acted as trustee under this paragraph. The First National Bank of Hastings became insolvent October 5, 1931, and its receiver, appellant, was appointed. In November, 1931, the Clarke-Buehanan Company became insolvent, and Harry E. Bowman was appointed its receiver. Meantime Arthur H. Jones and Ford McWhorter, by appointment of court, had succeeded to the trusteeship under paragraphs 22 and 27 of the will, and other paragraphs not deemed material to this controversy. November 16, 1931, the Comptroller of the Currency issued an order assessing shareholders of the First National Bank of Hastings a sum equivalent to the par value of their stock, amounting to $10,000 upon the stock devised by paragraph 24 of the will.

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Cronkleton v. Jones, 67 F.2d 21, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4355 (8th Cir. 1933).

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