Fremont State Bank v. Vincent

192 P. 975, 112 Wash. 493, 1920 Wash. LEXIS 779
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 14, 1920
DocketNo. 15894
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 192 P. 975 (Fremont State Bank v. Vincent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fremont State Bank v. Vincent, 192 P. 975, 112 Wash. 493, 1920 Wash. LEXIS 779 (Wash. 1920).

Opinion

Parker, J.

The plaintiff, hank examiner, commenced this action in the superior court for King county, seeking recovery from the defendant, Vincent, upon his constitutional superadded liability as a stockholder of the plaintiff bank, for the benefit of its creditors. Trial upon the merits in the superior court, sitting without a jury, resulted -in findings and judgment in favor of the bank examiner, from which the defendant has appealed to this court.

The controlling facts, as we view them, are not in dispute, and may be summarized as follows: The plaintiff bank was at all times in question, up until going* into the hands of the state bank examiner for the purpose of liquidation because of its insolvency, a duly organized banking corporation under the laws of this state, carrying on its business in the city of Seattle. The capital stock of the bank has at all times consisted of 500 shares of the par value of $100 each. Appellant, Vincent, was one of the original subscribers for the shares of stock of the bank, thereby becoming the owner of sixty shares thereof. On January 31, 1917, the bank became insolvent and passed into the hands of the state bank examiner for the purpose of liquidation. The bank examiner determined that the liabilities of the bank exceeded its assets in an amount such as to call for the enforcement of the full constitutional superadded liability of its stockholders, notified and made demand accordingly upon the stockholders, and also upon appellant as one of the stockholders. Appellant declining to pay as demanded of him, upon the ground that he was not a Stockholder when the bank became insolvent, and therefore not liable as a stockholder for any of the bank’s obliga[495]*495tions, the examiner commenced this action, which resulted in a judgment against appellant for the sum of $6,000, and interest, being the full constitutional superadded liability upon the owner or owners of the sixty shares of stock here in question. On June 14, 1916, which, it will be noticed, was over seven months before the bank passed into the hands of the bank examiner, and, as-we think appears, at a time when the bank was a sound and going concern, appellant, in good faith, sold and transferred his sixty shares of stock to one McCutchin, which transfer was on that day duly evidenced upon the books of the bank by proper record thereof. The liabilities of the bank were found to be approximately $230,000, while its assets were approximately $130,000. There are of the liabilities $26,164.02 of savings accounts, and $645.55 of checking accounts, which were incurred by the bank before appellant disposed of his shares of stock. There were also of the liabilities $8,275 of certificates of deposit, which were renewals of certificates of deposit of an equal total amount which had been issued before appellant disposed of his shares of stock, which original certificates of deposit were surrendered and interest paid thereon and new certificates of deposit issued in an equal amount to the same depositors some time after appellant disposed of his shares of stock. In the liquidation of the bank’s affairs, the examiner has paid, as found by the trial court, to the “general creditors of the bank,” dividends aggregating forty-five per cent. The record, we think, shows, indeed counsel seems to concede, that the affairs of the bank are about wound up; that there is in the hands of the examiner a sum approximately sufficient to pay the expense of bringing the trust to a close, but not sufficient to pay any further dividends to creditors, and that there will [496]*496be no further dividends paid, except from such funds as may be ultimately recovered from appellant in this action.

It is first contended in appellant’s behalf that he is not liable in any amount upon his constitutional super-added liability with reference to the sixty shares of stock, because he had, in good faith, sold and transferred the shares of stock and caused such transfer to be duly made of record on the books of the bank long before it became insolvent. Counsel invoke the rule as announced by the Federal courts under the national banking law, in substance, that a sale and transfer of shares of stock, made in good faith and evidenced as the law requires, relieves the transferrer of his super-added liability, both as to existing and future obligations of the bank; and that such transfer not only gives to the transferee title to the stock, but also imposes upon him the superadded liability, both as to existing and future obligations of the bank, and thereby entirely relieves the transferrer from such liability. This view of the law is rested upon the language of § 5151, of the U. S. Rev. Stats., reading as follows:

“The shareholders of every national banking association shall be held individually responsible, equally and ratably, and not one for another, for all contracts, debts, and engagements of such association, to the extent of the amount of their stock therein, at the par value thereof, in addition to the amount invested in such shares. ’ ’

This is the view of the law adopted in many states where superadded liability is imposed upon bank stockholders by constitutional or statutory language of the same general import. The language of our constitution, however, imposing superadded liability upon bank stockholders is much farther reaching, and seems to leave no escape from the conclusion that stockholders [497]*497do not relieve themselves from snch liabilities as to existing obligations of the bank by sale and transfer of their shares of stock. In Const., art. XII, § 11, we read:

“. . . Each stockholder of any banking or insurance corporation or joint stock association shall be individually and personally liable equally and ratably, and not one for another, for all contracts, debts, and engagements of such corporation or association accruing while they remain such stockholders, to the extent of the amount of their stock therein at the par value thereof, in addition to the amount invested in such shares. ’ ’

We have italicized the words to be particularly noticed, and which are not found, either in form or substance, in the written law, either constitutional or statutory, of the National Government or the states with reference to which the rule invoked by counsel for appellant obtains. The decision of this court in Shuey v. Holmes, 21 Wash. 223, 57 Pac. 818, seems to be decisive against the contention here made upon this question in appellant’s behalf, wherein it was squarely held that a transferee of shares of stock in a state bank did not have imposed upon her the superadded liability mentioned in the constitution as to an obligation of the bank created and incurred before she became a stockholder by virtue of such transfer. Affirming the decision of the trial court so holding, Judge Gordon, speaking for the court, said:

“The judgment of the lower court was right, for the simple reason that it does not appear from the statement or from anything contained in the record, neither was it alleged in the complaint, that the whole or any part of the indebtedness of the bank was incurred or created at any time while the respondent was a stockholder of the bank. It is evident that the theory upon which the receiver proceeded was that all [498]*498stockholders of the bank at the date when its insolvency was adjudged and a receiver appointed, viz., January 7, 1897, were liable, without regard to whether they were such stockholders at the time when the indebtedness arose.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 P. 975, 112 Wash. 493, 1920 Wash. LEXIS 779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fremont-state-bank-v-vincent-wash-1920.