Gallagher v. Yosemite Mining & Milling Co.

37 P. 264, 10 Utah 189, 1894 Utah LEXIS 28
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJune 19, 1894
DocketNo. 407
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 37 P. 264 (Gallagher v. Yosemite Mining & Milling Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gallagher v. Yosemite Mining & Milling Co., 37 P. 264, 10 Utah 189, 1894 Utah LEXIS 28 (Utah 1894).

Opinion

Smith, J.:

This is an action by plaintiffs to enforce a certain trust agreement made between plaintiffs and defendant. The agreement is as follows (Exhibit No. 1):

George M. Scott and William H. Remington, and each of them, agree with the Tosemite Mining and Milling Company, a corporation, as follows: They will procure the assignment and transfer to them of accounts and claims against said corporation as follows: George M. Scott & Co., $4,236.37; Remington, Johnson & Co.; $2,671; Bingham Mercantile Co., $395.52; Bingham Mercantile Co., $358.65; James Anderson, $3,640; Scott & Anderson,-$72.35; W. J. McIntyre, $300, — $11,673.89. ‘.That they will accept and receive said corporation’s note therefor, for $11,673.89, due October 1, 1888, with interest at 12 per cent, per annum, secured by deed of trust on its properties, the same being listed in the outstanding deed of trust to McCormick & Co. That they will bid in and purchase all of said properties at the sale under said McCormick deed of trust, in which one Josiah Barnett is trustee, for an amount not exceeding the sum of said incumbrances and claims, and hold same, first, to secure to them the repayment of the money required to cover the amount of said McCormick deed of trust and the claims and accounts hereinbefore mentioned, necessary and proper costs and expenses and interest, and afterwards in trust for the benefit of said corporation. That they will endeavor, by sale or otherwise, to realize the largest possible amount out of or on said properties, and pay the surplus received therefrom, after paying said incumbrances, costs, and interest, over to said corporation, its agent or successor. Witness the hands and seals of said parties, this 13th day of September, 1888, in the city of Salt Lake, Utah. [Signed] George M. Scott. [Seal.] [Signed] W. H. Remington. [Seal.] [Signed] [191]*191The Yosemite M. & M. Co. [Corporate Seal], by M. M. Xaighn, its President. Witness: C. 0. Whittemore.”

This action is to foreclose the equity of the defendant, and procure a sale of the property described in it. The ■complaint shows that in addition to the money to be paid to McCormick & Co., and the other claims described in the agreement, there.is due the plaintiffs, for moneys laid ■out and expended in caring for and working the trust property, a large sum of money. The aggregate claim of plaintiffs at the trial, after allowing all offsets, was about •$60,000. The answer denied that anything was due plaintiffs; set out at great length certain acts of mismanagement and waste on the part of plaintiffs while in possession as trustees, and that plaintiffs had sold large quantities of valuable ores from said mines, and had not accounted ■therefor. The answer prayed an accounting, and that plaintiffs be charged with the damage to the property resulting from mismanagement; and that plaintiffs take nothing, and defendant recover its property free of incum-brance, and the costs of the action. The cause was referred to a -referee, who tried the same and reported findings of fact in favor of plaintiffs and against defendant; that the amount due plaintiffs from defendant, after allowing all offsets, was $55,488.98. The court rendered judgment for this amount, and decreed a lien therefor on defendant’s mining property, and directed a sale of the same to pay the judgment and costs. A motion for a new trial was made and overruled, and defendant appeals from the judgment and order.

The appellant claims that certain credits were improperly allowed to plaintiffs, and certain others were disallowed to defendant, which, if corrected, would show that plaintiffs are in fact indebted to defendant. The items mentioned in the brief, and for which it is claimed plaintiffs should [192]*192not have credit, are: Legal expenses, $83; witness fees, $156.50; and refund from Varían & Barnett, $450. As to these three items, it is sufficient to say they appear by the record to have been disallowed by the referee and court below, and are not included in the judgment at all. The first credit which was allowed plaintiffs which is complained of is the sum of $11,673.89, mentioned In the trust agreement, above set out, with the interest on it. This debt, as will be seen by the trust agreement, supra, was evidenced by a note of October 1, 1888; and the consideration for this note was very largely debts due to George M. Scott & Co. and Remington, Johnson & Co. It was admitted on the argument that Scott and Remington, the trustees, were interested in these firms, and, further, it is not claimed that defendant has paid any of these debts. The plaintiffs are trustees holding property to secure their payment. If they have not paid them, we fail to see how the defendant can be harmed by a foreclosure and sale of the trust property, to procure funds for their payment. We think in the accounting, as against defendant and in favor of plaintiffs as trustees, this item was properly allowed.

Defendant claims the following credits, also allowed plaintiffs, are improper, and should have been disallowed, to-wit: Unnecessary expense of setting boiler, $76; repairs on burned-out boiler, $331.78; new pump, $398.90;. unnecessary expense in pumping, $3,600; unnecessary expense in sinking incline, $6,000; loss in hauling and concentrating ore, $8,554.52, — total, $18,961.10. We have carefully examined the testimony as to each of these items, and are fully convinced that, as to each of them, the findings of the referee in favor of plaintiffs are fully justified by the evidence. The plaintiffs began working the mine at the written request or demand of the defendant, through its president and manage!’. .The mine had been idle for a [193]*193considerable length of time before Scott and Remington took possession. The lower workings were filled with water, and the machinery of the concentrating mills does not appear to have been capable, for some reason, of doing efficient work in concentrating low-grade ores. Outside of the testimony of witnesses directly on the point, the previous conduct of the defendant in allowing several thousand tons of ore to lie on the dump without working, when it was so much in need of money, is well-nigh conclusive evidence .that there was some practical difficulty in handling the ore with, the machinery in the possession of defendant. The plaintiffs took this same ore from the dump, and, notwithstanding it is claimed they paid too much for hauling and concentrating it, they managed to get a very considerable profit out of it. If, as defendant now claims, it could have worked the ore for less expense by working it in its own mills, it is extremely difficult to conceive a reason why it did not do it. This discussion relates to the last of the above items, to-wit: “Loss in hauling and concentrating ores, $8,554.52.” As to the other items, they all appear to have been necessarily ■incurred, and are no greater expense than might ordinarily be expected to be encountered in pumping out and trying to work a mine partly filled with water, and which had long been disused. The plaintiffs had some misfortune in the breaking of machinery and otherwise, but no more than would ordinarily be expected, and no more, apparently, than the defendant had in the work it hád done on the mine. In other words, we fail to find in the evidence anything that would warrant us in the conclusion that plaintiffs, either wilfully or negligently, incurred expense in working the mine which they could reasonably have avoided.

The defendant claims that it should have been allowed [194]

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Bluebook (online)
37 P. 264, 10 Utah 189, 1894 Utah LEXIS 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gallagher-v-yosemite-mining-milling-co-utah-1894.