Drug, Inc. v. Hunt

168 A. 87, 35 Del. 339, 5 W.W. Harr. 339, 1933 Del. LEXIS 9
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedMarch 2, 1933
DocketNo. 4
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 168 A. 87 (Drug, Inc. v. Hunt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drug, Inc. v. Hunt, 168 A. 87, 35 Del. 339, 5 W.W. Harr. 339, 1933 Del. LEXIS 9 (Del. 1933).

Opinion

Harrington, J.,

delivering the opinion of the Court:

[351]*351The questions raised by the assignments of error and arguments of counsel are:

1. Did Hunt, the plaintiff below, acting as Receiver for Roberts & Hall, have the right to bring this suit, or were his rights as Receiver confined to the territorial limits of the State of Ohio?

2. Was Household Products, Inc., guilty of conversion when it issued the new certificates to Rosenbaum Grain Corporation for the stock originally issued to Dean, Onativia & Company? It then had no notice of the rights of Roberts & Hall but it did not require the production of the' old certificates for cancellation; and, as a matter of fact, such stock had previously been sold by the original holders to Roberts & Hall and the certificates therefor duly endorsed, in blank, for transfer, had been delivered to that company.

3. Did the transaction between Household Products, Inc., and Drug, Incorporated, constitute a sale, or in legal effect, a de facto merger or combination, of some character, between the two corporations, as the result of which the latter corporation was liable in an action of trover for a prior unlawful conversion committed by the former, or transferring corporation ?

1. In connection with the consideration of the first question and in addition to the facts just stated, perhaps we should also state that from their verdict the jury necessarily found that after the transfer and delivery of the stock certificates in question to Roberts & Hall, Hunt, the plaintiff below, was appointed Receiver for that firm in the State of Ohio; and that he was expressly authorized to bring this suit by the Court by which he was appointed. Aside from any question of comity, whether he had the right, as Receiver, to bring a suit in any State, other than where he was appointed, depends upon whether under the laws of that State he was a mere equity receiver, or agent of the court appointing him, and without any property [352]*352rights or title whatever in the assets of the insolvent firm (Hale v. Allinson, 188 U. S. 56, 23 S. Ct. 244, 47 L. Ed. 380; Converse, Rec., v. Hamilton, 224 U. S. 243, 32 S. Ct. 415, 56 L. Ed. 749, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 1292; Sterrett, Rec., v. Second National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio, 248 U. S. 73, 39 S. Ct. 27, 63 L. Ed. 135; Bernheimer v. Converse, Rec., 206 U. S. 516, 27 S. Ct. 755, 51 L. Ed. 1163; Booth v. Clark, 17 How. 322, 15 L. Ed. 164; Amy v. Manning, 149 Mass. 487, 21 N. E. 943; Murtey v. Allen, 71 Vt. 377, 45 A. 752, 76 Am. St. Rep. 779; Day v. Postal Telegraph Co., 66 Md. 354, 7 A. 608; High on Rec. [4th Ed.] 271) ; or whether, under the Ohio statute, he was an assignee or quasi assignee of a special property right in such assets. If he was a quasi assignee of a special property right in the assets of the bankrupt firm his position was somewhat like a trustee with title and he, therefore, had the absolute right to bring this suit and to ask this court to determine whether such rights had been invaded. 1 Clark on Rec., § F, p. 811; 1 Tardy’s Smith on Rec. (2d Ed.), § 371; High on Rec. (4th Ed.), §§ 241, a and 317, c; Irvine v. Elliott (D. C.), 203 F. 82, 103; Converse, Rec., v. Hamilton, 224 U. S. 243, 32 S. Ct. 415, 56 L. Ed. 749, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 1292; Bernheimer v. Converse, Rec., 206 U. S. 516, 27 S. Ct. 755, 51 L. Ed. 1163; Cooney Co. v. Arlington Hotel Co., 11 Del. Ch. 286, 301,101 A. 879. This is conceded by the defendant below.

The Ohio statute in question (Section 5590, Rev. Statutes of Ohio, now Section 11897 of the Gen. Code of Ohio) provides: “Powers of receiver. — Under the control of the court, the receiver may bring and defend actions in his own name, as receiver, take and keep possession of the property, receive rents, collect, compound for, and compromise demands, make transfers, and generally do such acts respecting the property as the court authorizes.”

To make a receiver a quasi assignee it is not necessary for the statute to specifically vest title in him. In fact, [353]*353it has been said that it is sufficient to make him a quasi assignee, by implication, if it gives him the right to sue. Irvine v. Baker (D. C.), 225 F. 834, 837. We need not, however, determine that question as the Ohio statute contains broader provisions than that and in construing it the Supreme Court of that State has expressly held that a receiver appointed in Ohio was “given power, under the control of the court, to take and keep possession of the property, and generally to do such acts respecting the property as the court may authorize”; and, therefore, for all practical purposes, his relation to the property of the corporation for which he was appointed was the same as that which “an assignee would have had.” The court also ádded that on principle as well as authority, “the right of the receiver to the property *• * * was a legal right to its possession.” Cheney v. Maumee Cycle Co., 64 Ohio St. 205, 60 N. E. 207, 209, 210.

The Ohio statute having been so construed in that State, it is apparent that Hunt, as Receiver, had the legal right as a quasi assignee to bring this suit and it is, therefore, unnecessary for us to consider his rights, from the standpoint of State comity.

2. The old stock certificates in Household Products, Inc., though duly endorsed for transfer and delivered by Dean, Onativia & Company to Roberts & Hall had not been transferred to that firm on the books of the corporation; but that was not necessary to make them the legal owners of such stock. In re Lord & Polk Chemical Co., 7 Del. Ch. 248, 44 A. 775; Lippman v. Kehoe Sten. Co., 11 Del. Ch. 190, 98 A. 943; Id., 11 Del. Ch. 412, 102 A. 988; Bankers’ Mortgage Co. v. Sohland, 3 W. W. Harr. (33 Del.) 331, 138 A. 361.

By the issuance of the replacement certificates to Rosenbaum Grain Corporation, Household Products, Inc., nevertheless, recognized that corporation as the legal-owners of such stock and clothed it with all the indicia of [354]*354ownership. By this act it, also, necessarily denied and repudiated the rights of Roberts & Hall, as the purchasers and real legal owners of it, and must have cancelled the record of the original issue to Dean, Onativia & Company, as a corporate liability.

Generally speaking, any distinct act of dominion wrongfully exerted over the property of another, in denial of his right, or inconsistent with it, is a conversion (Cooley on Torts, 859; Hollins v. Fowler, [1874] L. R., 7 Eng. & Irish App. 757) ; and this is true, though the property alleged to have been converted was not applied to the use of the defendant. Cooley on Torts, 859; Hollins v. Fowler, [1871] L. R., & Q. B. 616, Id., on Appeal, [1871] L. R., 7 Eng. & Irish App. 757; McPheters v. Page, 83 Me. 234, 22 A. 101, 23 Am. St. Rep. 772.

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Bluebook (online)
168 A. 87, 35 Del. 339, 5 W.W. Harr. 339, 1933 Del. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drug-inc-v-hunt-del-1933.