Equitable Trust Co. v. Schwebel

32 F. Supp. 241, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3337
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 11, 1940
DocketNo. 702
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 32 F. Supp. 241 (Equitable Trust Co. v. Schwebel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Equitable Trust Co. v. Schwebel, 32 F. Supp. 241, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3337 (E.D. Pa. 1940).

Opinion

BARD, District Judge.

Complaint and answer having been filed, plaintiff, a co-trustee, filed a motion (1) for judgment against defendant, the other co-trustee, on the pleadings; (2) to enter an order directing defendant to render a just, full, true and proper accounting in detail; (3) to order defendant thereafter to submit himself to such further orders as may be entered in the premises.

Both parties agree that this court ‘has jurisdiction founded on diversity of citizenship and the amount involved.

The undisputed facts ascertained from the pleadings are as follows: In settlement of a will contest in the estate of Frank Swoboda, who died on May 15, 1927, a resident of the State of New Jersey, an agreement of settlement was entered into January 12, 1928, between the beneficiaries of the decedent estate and the decedent’s widow, Marie Swoboda, then and now a resident of the State of New Jersey. Pursuant to its terms a trust fund of $40,000 was created. The money was invested in six per cent mortgage securities covering seven different parcels of real estate in the City of Philadelphia. It was agreed that the net income shall be paid to the widow Marie Swoboda for and during the term of her natural life. By an indenture dated February 20, 1928, the donors named the plaintiff and the defendant in this proceeding trustees of the fund. Plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New Jersey and has its principal office in Atlantic City in that State. Defendant is now a citizen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, domiciled in Philadelphia, and is a member of the bar of this court. The trustees entered upon their duties and the bonds and mortgages composing the corpus or principal of the trust estate were duly conveyed to them.

The complaint filed by the plaintiff alleges these additional facts: The defendant is an active practicing attorney at law in Philadelphia, the situs of all the properties which were subject to the liens of the mortgages securing the bonds which compose the corpus of the trust. By reason of this the defendant has collected all income from the trust property and in the past made certain expenditures incident to the management of the trust. Formerly it was [242]*242the custom of the defendant to remit to the •plaintiff certain sums of money. The plaintiff as co-trustee has no knowledge of the details of the receipts and expenditures, all of which are and have been exclusively in the sole possession of the defendant, the other co-trustee. The defendant has in his sole charge and possession all leases, vouchers, receipts and all other documents pertaining to the trust and has all the detailed data pertaining to receipts and expenditures. Marie Swoboda, the beneficiary of the trust, has demanded that an accounting of the trust be made and given, and that the full, true and correct details of all receipts and .expenditures be furnished. Plaintiff has no. knowledge of the details concerning the receipts and expenditures, and for many years past has had no details or data from the defendant, who has failed and refused to supply the information to the plaintiff, the co-trustee, or to the beneficiary and has failed and refused to permit the plaintiff or its attorneys or agents to examine any books, records, leases, receipts or documents in order that it may prepare a proper accounting of the trust estate. Since November 1, 1934, the defendant has remitted a total of $75, whereas in the years from 1928 to November 1, 1934, inclusive, he had remitted the total of $10,-801. The defendant has collected more than $3,000 income of the trust estate which he has not remitted either to the plaintiff or the beneficiary nor has he otherwise accounted for it, and the plaintiff is helpless and unable to perform its full duties as trustee cither in filing an account or in remitting to the beneficiary any income to which she is entitled. Likewise, the beneficiary is unable to obtain an accounting and receive any income. All of which the plaintiff alleges is due to the defendant’s total disregard to his obligations and duties as a co-trustee of the trust.

The defendant in the answer alleges these facts: The defendant foreclosed the mortgage on the premises 1221 N. 42nd Street, obtained a deed and the possession of the premises. The defendant obligated himself personally to the sheriff for the payment of delinquent and current taxes and the defendant, to this day has been unable to discharge fully his debt to the sheriff. The defendant advanced his own money, exceeding $700, and although the rental received from the premises has been between $70 and $75 per month, there is still due the defendant over $450 of the original outlay of $700. The defendant avers that because of money due him for his investment and because of unpaid taxes amounting to $1,800 he is withholding further remittances to the plaintiff and the beneficiary. The defendant avers that he furnished the plaintiff with a complete summary of the amounts received and expended in the operation of these particular premises. He avers that he had accounted for all the sums with sufficient detail to enable it to state an accounting to the beneficiary.

From the pleadings filed, I can not agree with the defendant that he has performed his full duties as a co-trustee. His answer states that he has furnished the plaintiff with a complete summary of the amounts received and expended, but at no place does he attach a copy of his figures as an exhibit to his answer. He makes the general statement that he advanced over $700 of his own money to make the premises habitable; that the premises produced between $70 and $75 per month rent; that there is still due him over $450; and that the taxes due are over $1,800. Such generalities are not proper accounting. He should give specific figures. While he avers that he has provided the plaintiff with sufficient data to enable it to set up an accounting to the beneficiary, a careful perusal of the pleadings and of the exhibits attached disclose no such information. None of the exhibits set forth a specific detailed account of income received and expenditures made. In the entire answer, mention is made of only three of the seven mortgages. There is no explanation of the remaining four mortgages. A full disclosure of all the facts and figures may reveal there is nothing due and owing from the defendant to the trust estate, but detailed, specific figures are nowhere given to enable this court to ascertain whether or not that is the fact.

In Wilson v. Board of City Trusts, 324 Pa. 545, 556, 188 A. 588, 594, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania said: “The law is clear that a trustee may compel his cotrustee to permit an examination, inspection, and audit of the records of the trust estate and all matters in connection therewith that he may perform the duties with which he is intrusted and for whose exercise he is responsible. See Adams’ Estate, 221 Pa. 77, 70 A. 436, 128 Am.St.Rep. 727, 15 Ann. Cas. 518; Somers v. Hanson, 5 Phila. 87; Syfert’s Estate, 9 Phila. 320; [4] Bogert, Trusts & Trustees, § 961; Sloo v. Law, 3 Blatchf. 459, Fed.Cas.No.12,957. In Bo[243]*243gert, op. cit. supra, it is stated: ‘If one trustee excludes the others from access to the books of the trust, they may obtain relief.’ ”

It is the duty of a trustee to give the beneficiary complete and accurate information of the trust and to permit him or a duly authorized person to examine the trust securities, accounts, vouchers and other documents if the beneficiary so requests, 1 Restatement, Trusts, § 173 and comment a. In the Wilson decision, supra, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 324 Pa. at page 556, 188 A.

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Related

Matter of Estate of Rosenblum
328 A.2d 158 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Payiasis v. Robillard
171 So. 2d 630 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)
Equitable Trust Co. v. Schwebel
40 F. Supp. 112 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1941)
Equitable Trust Co. v. Schwebel
117 F.2d 738 (Third Circuit, 1941)

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Bluebook (online)
32 F. Supp. 241, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/equitable-trust-co-v-schwebel-paed-1940.