Dunham v. Omaha & C. B. St. Ry. Co.

25 F. Supp. 287, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1610
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 10, 1938
StatusPublished

This text of 25 F. Supp. 287 (Dunham v. Omaha & C. B. St. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunham v. Omaha & C. B. St. Ry. Co., 25 F. Supp. 287, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1610 (S.D.N.Y. 1938).

Opinion

GALSTON, District Judge.

On December 1, 1902, the defendant railway company authorized the issue of certain negotiable coupon bonds, payable to bearer, known as its First Consolidated Mortgage Gold Bonds, for an aggregate principal sum not to exceed $10,000,000. [288]*288The plaintiff became the owner of twenty of such bonds. These bonds were to be paid at maturity at the office of the agent of the defendant in the City of New York on January 1, 1928; but at various times subsequent to January 1, 1928, the date of payment of the bonds was extended by agreements with the bondholders to the first day of January, 1937. To all such agreements of extension the plaintiff or her. assignors, as the owners of her bonds, duly assented. When the indebtedness became payable by the defendant on January 1, 1937, the defendant failed to provide for the payment of the bonds.

As security for payment of the bonds the defendant had executed a first consolidated mortgage. It is the position of the defendant that by explicit reference in the recitals of the bonds, the terms and conditions of the mortgage were incorporated and made part of the bonds.

An extension agreement entered into as of October 1, 1936, between the defendant and the Guarantee Trust Company of New York, the trustee of defendant’s mortgage, and bondholders acting through a committee, purported to waive all defaults of defendant under the bonds and the indenture securing the same, and to extend the maturity date of the bonds to January 1, 1947. Holders of more than 92% of the defendant’s bonds became parties to and accepted the extension and modification of the third supplemental indenture by presenting and having a legend affixed to their respective bonds reciting their acceptance of the terms and provisions of the aforesaid extension and modification agreement, dated as of October 1, 1936. The plaintiff did not assent to this agreement, nor did she deposit her bonds pursuant to the terms of the agreement.

The plaintiff’s position is that no reference in the bonds to the mortgage subjects them to any provisions in the mortgage and accordingly brings this action on her bonds without recourse to the security of the mortgage.

The bond is not in an unusual form. In brief it recites that for value received the defendant promises to pay the principal on January 1, 1928, and interest at the rate of five per cent, per annum, semi-annually, on the 1st day of January and July of each year. Standing alone that, of course, would constitute an absolute unconditional obligation; and a default on the part of the defendant would enable the holder of the bond to sue on the bond without regard to the mortgage. However, there are two references in the bond to that instrument The passages are:

“In case of default in the payment of this bond, or of the interest accruing thereon, or otherwise, such consequences shall ensue as are provided in-the mortgage securing the payment of the same hereinafter mentioned. * * *
“The payment of each and all of said bonds, with interest coupons attached thereto, according to their tenor and effect, is equally secured without preference, priority or distinction by a mortgage bearing even date herewith * * * to which mortgage reference is made for a description of the properties mortgaged and pledged and the nature and extent of the security and the rights of the holders of said bonds and coupons under the same, and the terms and conditions upon which such bonds are issued and secured.”

The latter quoted passage presents no difficulty, for similar provisions on the face of a bond have not infrequently been judicially interpreted. The leading case in New York is Enoch v. Brandon, 249 N.Y. 263, 164 N.E. 45. In that case there had been an issue of bonds “all equally secured by and entitled to the benefits and subject to the provisions” of the trust mortgage, “to which reference is hereby made for a description of the property mortgaged and pledged, the nature and extent of the security, the rights of the holders of the bonds with respect thereto, the manner in which notice may be given to such holders, and the terms and conditions upon which said bonds are issued and secured.” [Page 46.]

That language is in all respects similar in meaning to the second clause quoted above. After distinguishing McClelland v. Norfolk Southern R. Co., 110 N.Y. 469, 18 N.E. 237, 1 L.R.A. 299, 6 Am.St.Rep. 397, in which it was held that the bond itself showed that the promise to pay was conditional on the terms mentioned in the trust mortgage, it was stated: “We hold that here there is no modification of the promise to pay, made in explicit terms. The provisions all have to do with the trust mortgage. They refer to the rights conferred by it upon the bondholders and limit and explain those rights. They are so linked together as to indicate that the obligor was speaking solely of the security. A purchaser, scanning the bonds, would [289]*289have the same thought. It would never occur to him that when November 1, 1941, arrived, because of something contained in the mortgage he might be unable to collect the amount due him. He would interpret the statement that the bonds were secured by, and entitled to the benefits and subject to the provisions of, the mortgage, as meaning that a foreclosure or other relief might be had thereunder only subject to its provisions. * * * Again, it would mean to him, as it means to us, that only by turning to the mortgage might he discover the precise nature of the lien he is to obtain.”

Lidgerwood v. Hale & Kilburn Corporation, D.C., 47 F.2d 318, cited by the defendant, in which the provisions of the trust agreement were held incorporated by reference into the corporation’s notes, did nevertheless recognize the distinction between a mere promissory note unsecured and a bond secured by a mortgage, for referring to Enoch v. Brandon, supra, Judge Patterson wrote [page 320] : “This is not a case where the reference to an indenture was such as to lead the holder to believe that the indenture simply added more rights to what he had on the face of the note, without in any way hinting that there might be something in the indenture to his detriment, as in Enoch v. Brandon, 249 N.Y. 263, 164 N.E. 45. There the bond referred to the indenture merely for matters relating to the security.”

In Cunningham v. Pressed Steel Car Co., 238 App.Div. 624, 265 N.Y.S. 256, the following provision appeared in the bond [page 258]: “This bond is one of an issue of bonds aggregating Six Million- ($6,000,-000.00) Dollars * * * to which Indenture reference is hereby made for a statement of the rights of the holders of said bonds.”

It was there contended by the defendant, as is contended here, that the provisions in the trust indenture were incorporated into the contract and that accordingly no holder of any bond had the right to institute suit for the enforcement of any of its terms without first complying with the provisions of the mortgage in respect to notice to the trustee and failure to show the requisite number of bondholders collectively requesting the trustee to act. It was said: “If there was to be a restriction upon defendant’s obligation to pay at maturity, then the bondholder was entitled to receive notice thereof in reasonably clear language expressed on the face of the bond.

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Related

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance v. McCue
223 U.S. 234 (Supreme Court, 1912)
Erie Railroad v. Tompkins
304 U.S. 64 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Lidgerwood v. Hale & Kilburn Corporation
47 F.2d 318 (S.D. New York, 1930)
McClelland v. . Norfolk Southern R.R. Co.
18 N.E. 237 (New York Court of Appeals, 1888)
Batchelder v. Council Grove Water Co.
29 N.E. 801 (New York Court of Appeals, 1892)
Enoch v. Brandon
164 N.E. 45 (New York Court of Appeals, 1928)
Cunningham v. Pressed Steel Car Co.
238 A.D. 624 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1933)
Mitchell v. Madison Avenue Offices, Inc.
147 Misc. 149 (City of New York Municipal Court, 1933)
Metropolitan Life Ins. v. Cohen
96 F.2d 66 (Second Circuit, 1938)
Manning v. Norfolk Southern R. Co.
29 F. 838 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Virginia, 1887)

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Bluebook (online)
25 F. Supp. 287, 1938 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunham-v-omaha-c-b-st-ry-co-nysd-1938.