Dorsey v. Reconstruction Finance Corp.

96 F. Supp. 31, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2394
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 8, 1951
DocketNo. 49 C 1515
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 96 F. Supp. 31 (Dorsey v. Reconstruction Finance Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dorsey v. Reconstruction Finance Corp., 96 F. Supp. 31, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2394 (N.D. Ill. 1951).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, District Judge.

Plaintiff brings this action, seeking damages in the amount of $125,000 occasioned by the alleged wrongful mishandling by defendant of collateral pledged by plaintiff to the National Bank of the Republic of Chicago to secure certain notes executed by plaintiff, which notes and collateral were assigned to defendant 'by the Bank. Defendant denies liability and counterclaims, alleging that plaintiff still has not paid two judgments entered against him in favor of defendant in this court in 1937.

It appears from the pleadings that, on March 26, 1931, plaintiff executed three 30-day notes to the Bank in the principal amounts of $85,694.45, $5,689.71, and $1,329.69. The first two notes were executed by plaintiff personally, and the third was executed by Victor A. Dorsey & Co., but personally guaranteed by plaintiff. The third note has been fully paid. In his answer to the counterclaim, plaintiff asserts that any action on the second note is barred by the Statute of Limitations.

Stated briefly, plaintiff makes the following assertions: (1) That $11,000 of the indebtedness to the Bank represents the purchase price of 60 shares of the Bank’s own stock, sold to him in October, 1930. He claims that the price was originally evidenced by his note for $11,000 which was later renewed and consolidated with other notes in the $85,694.45 note. He alleges that the sale of the Bank stock was void under the provisions of 12 U.S.C.A. § 83, and that the note should be reduced by that amount; (2) That the liquidation of his collateral brought sums sufficient to pay his obligations as early as June 21, 1944, and that, since that time, he has made repeated requests for a refund of alleged overpayments, as well as for the return of the remaining collateral; (3) That subsequent to June 21, 1944, defendant arbitrarily- sold additional collateral held as security for his debts; (4) That subsequent to the maturity of his debts, he requested defendant from time to time to sell his collateral when the market was high, but defendant did not comply with his requests; (5) That he did not receive credit for the proceeds of the sale of a group of bonds of the Empire State Oil Co. held by defendant as collateral.

On the other hand, defendant contends that the notes have not been fully paid for the following reason: In 1931 the Bank credited plaintiff in the amount of $30,000, which sum was received by plaintiff from the Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation in ■settlement of a claim against it by the Victor A. Dorsey & Co. This money was paid over to the Bank in .payment of plaintiff’s personal obligation. Subsequently, creditors of Victor A. Dorsey & ■Co. brought garnishment proceedings against the Bank to recover a portion of the amount.so paid. They obtained judgments in the amount of $9,084.69, which judgments were affirmed upon appeal. See Dorsey & Co. v. Central Republic Trust Co., 277 Ill.App. 126. The Bank paid the judgments, and plaintiff’s account was debited in the amount of the judgments plus interest.

In the course of these proceedings, defendant served plaintiff with three sets of Requests for Admissions — 50 paragraphs in all. Plaintiff answered some of them and objected to others. Defendant opposes the objections, and moves to strike plaintiff’s answer to the First Request.

Plaintiff now moves for partial summary judgment. Defendant moves for ■summary judgment on the following grounds: (1) 12 U.S.C.A. § 83 does not deny the validity of a note given to a bank in payment for shares of its own capital stock; (2) A pledgee is not obligated to sell the pledged collateral at a specified time even upon request of the pledgor; (3) Even assuming that the $5,000 note is barred (which defendant denies), a creditor may hold and realize on collateral pledged to secure a debt, although action on the debt is barred by the Statute of Limitations; (4) Where an account is rendered by one party to another and is [33]*33retained by the latter beyond a reasonable time without objection, this constitutes a recognition by the latter of the correctness of the account and establishes an account stated. (Defendant asserts that, at plaintiff’s request, it sent a statement of account to plaintiff on November 7, 1944 showing a large balance still due, which statement has never been objected to by plaintiff until this suit.)

The pleadings of the parties have developed into such a muddle, it is necessary that the Court separate them in the following manner:

A. As to defendant’s First Request for Admissions (Paragraphs 1 to 30)-

Defendant requests that plaintiff admit the truth of the thirty statements, nearly all of which have to do with exhibits attached to the Request. For the most part, plaintiff’s Answer to the Request is unresponsive and, to make matters worse, is directed to the exhibit numbers rather than the paragraph numbers. Reduced to its simplest terms, plaintiff’s Answer amounts to this:

He admits — Request Paragraphs 20, 21 and 27.
He does not answer — Paragraph 28. He admits the genuineness of the documents referred to in — Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 5, 16, 17, 18, and 19.
He does not admit — Paragraphs 29 and 30.
He has insufficient knowledge to admit or deny the exhibits referred to in — Paragraphs 6 to 14, and 23 to 26.
He objects to — The exhibits referred to in Paragraphs 4 and 22 on the ground that they are irrelevant.

Defendant moves to strike plaintiff’s entire Answer to the First Request for Admissions, which motion is hereby granted and the same is accordingly stricken, except as to the portions of the Answer directed to Request Paragraphs 20, 21, 27 and 28. Plaintiff’s objections to Paragraphs 4 and 22 of defendant’s First Request for Admissions are overruled. Plaintiff is further directed to answer said Request within 20 days hereof on the basis of the truth of the statements contained therein, and not as to the genuineness of the documents to which the Request has reference.

B. As to defendant’s Second Request for Admissions (Paragraphs 31 to 35)— Plaintiff failed to file an Answer to said Request, and the paragraphs are, therefore, taken as admitted.

C. As to defendant’s Third Request for Admissions (Paragraphs 36 to 50) — Plaintiff’s objections to Paragraphs 42 to 50, both inclusive, of defendant’s Third Request for Admissions are hereby overruled, and plaintiff is directed to answer same within 20 days hereof.

Proceeding to the disposition of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, it appears clear that it must be denied, since genuine issues of fact remain to be determined. In the first place, under the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., it is not contemplated that summary judgment should be granted for partial relief. Furthermore, in his affidavit submitted in support of said motion, plaintiff merely lists the various collections made by defendant upon the collateral pledged to it, and assumes that they have been sufficient to discharge the debt owed. However, he fails to account adequately for interest charges and the $9,000 “charge-back” resulting from the aforementioned garnishment judgments.

As a matter of law, plaintiff is in error as to his assertion that $11,000 of the debt is void under 12 U.S.C.A. § 83. That section provides: “ § 83. Loans on or purchase by hank of own stock.

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Related

Cadle Co. v. Johnson
714 So. 2d 183 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1998)
Dorsey v. Reconstruction Finance Corp.
101 F. Supp. 197 (N.D. Illinois, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
96 F. Supp. 31, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-reconstruction-finance-corp-ilnd-1951.