Gibson v. American Loan & Trust Co.

12 N.Y.S. 444, 65 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 443, 35 N.Y. St. Rep. 192, 58 Hun 443, 1890 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3321
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 29, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 12 N.Y.S. 444 (Gibson v. American Loan & Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gibson v. American Loan & Trust Co., 12 N.Y.S. 444, 65 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 443, 35 N.Y. St. Rep. 192, 58 Hun 443, 1890 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3321 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1890).

Opinion

Daniels, J.

The action has been brought in favor of the holders of bonds issued by the City Water Company of Nebraska City, in the state of Nebraska. The total issue of the bonds amounted to the sum of $150,000. Bach bond was for the sum of $1,000, and secured by a mortgage upon the property of the water company. This mortgage was executed and delivered to the American Loan & Trust Company of the city of New York in trust for the security and benéfit of the holders of the bonds. The water company made default in the payment of interest upon the bonds, and at the request of the holders of 61 of the bonds the trust company commenced an action in the district court of Otoe county, Neb., to foreclose the mortgage and sell the mortgaged property. Before this action, was commenced, and after the execution and delivery of the mortgage, another corporation was organized in the city of Nebraska, called the “Nebraska City Water & Light Company,” and after the organization of that company the city water company, the mortgagor, transferred its property covered by the mortgage to a person who conveyed it to the Nebraska City Water & Light Company, which then, incumbered it by a mortgage for $250,000. After this transfer and conveyance the grantee made additions to and improvements upon the property, and these facts were alleged in the petition for the commencement of the action for the foreclosure of the mortgage. That company answered the petition, alleging that it had purchased real property and built water-basins, and provided apparatus for the use of the company, and had obtained the performance of architects and engineering services, and that the amount expended therefor was .necessary to keep the plant in running order, and retain the customers of the City Water Company, and that it amounted to the sum of $25,000, for which a priority was claimed in the action over the mortgage to the trust company. Other answers were served ■in the action, but containing no allegations affecting this part of the action. And after the issues had been framed the cause appears to have been brought on for a hearing by consent of the parties, and a decree was entered in conformity to the prayer of the petition, and also finding due to the Nebraska City Water & Light Company, as a first lien upon the property, this sum of $25,000. No contest appears from the docket entry in the action to have taken place concerning the allowance of this sum of money, nor any adjudication by the court determining it to be a prior incumbrance upon the property to the mortgage previously given .by the City Water Company. But what took place [446]*446at the trial appears from the docket entry to have been the result of consent on the part of the attorneys and counsel representing the two water companies and the trustee to which the mortgage had been given. It further appeared that one of the attorneys who had been employed to and did represent the trust company in the commencement and prosecution of the foreclosure action was one of the incorporators of the Nebraska City Water & Light Company. The attorney who represented the mortgagor in the mortgage was also an incorporator in that company; and so was the attorney who represented and appeared for the Nebraska City Water & Light Company; and it was accordingly their interest to promote and maintain all such advantages as might be secured for the Nebraska City Water & Light Company in preference to those of the trust company under the mortgage, the plaintiff in the foreclosure action. There was reason for believing, in the disposition which was made of the foreclosure action by the judgment or decree agreed to be entered, that the rights and interests of the holders of the bonds secured by the mortgage had been so far disregarded and sacrificed, and that this had been done under the authority and'with the connivance of the trust company itself. When these facts came to the knowledge of the' plaintiffs measures were taken by way of correspondence to induce the trust company to permit the plaintiffs to be represented in the foreclosure action to secure a proper observance and vindication of their own rights under the mortgage. But this was declined on .the part of the trust company, which refused to authorize or consent to such interference; and this refusal tended to confirm the belief that the trust company was not in good faith prosecuting the foreclosure suit for the promotion ■of the interests and the protection of the rights of the holders of the bonds, and this action was thereupon commenced to obtain a judgment for the removal of the trust company as trustee under this mortgage, and for the appointment ■of another trustee to maintain and enforce the trusts created by its provisions. The complaint in the action prayed for the issuing of an injunction in the mean time restraining the trust company, its officers, agents, attorneys, and servants from proceeding in any way in the foreclosure action, and from executing the judgment or decree which had been entered, or taking any other steps or proceedings as trustee under the trust-deed; and the court, considering these facts to have been established by the proofs produced in the case, ■continued the injunction which had previously been issued having this effect, but leaving the trust company at liberty to take such defensive measures, or .receive such sums of money, as should be necessary for the protection of the rights of the holders of the bonds.

In support of the appeal which has been taken from this order the objection has been urged that the court is without jurisdiction to restrain the trustee from carrying on or consummating these proceedings in the district court of Otoe county, in the state of Nebraska. And the ease of Cole v. Cunningham, 133 U. S. 107, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 269, and those cited in the course of the opinion, have been relied upon chiefly as authorities maintaining this objection. But neither that case, nor anything which was decided in Phelps v. McDonald, 99 U. S. 298, has any tendency to sustain this objection. On the contrary, it is conceded, as it has frequently been held, where a necessity for the injunction appears to exist, that the courts of one state may enjoin the party within its jurisdiction from proceeding in an action pending in another state; and so it has been held, not only in this state, but in others, as the authorities collated and discussed in Cole v. Cunningham clearly prove and establish. So far as objection has bebn taken to the jurisdiction of this court over this action it is plainly without support. Neither can the action be defeated for the reason that all the owners of bonds secured by the mortgage are not made parties to it; for it has been brought by the plaintiffs, as the owners of 85 of the bonds, forming more than a majority of those secured by the mortgage; and they are prosecuting it under the authority of section 448 [447]*447of the Code of Civil Procedure, not only for the benefit of themselves, but of the other bondholders who may elect to make themselves parties to the litigation. This section has provided, where the question is one of common or general interest of many persons, or where the persons who might be made parties are very numerous, and it may be impracticable to bring them all before the court, that one or more may sue or defend for the benefit of all; and as the holders of these bonds are numerous that is a sufficient authority f.or the support of the action by these plaintiffs for their own benefit, as well as that of the holders of the other bonds.

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Bluebook (online)
12 N.Y.S. 444, 65 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 443, 35 N.Y. St. Rep. 192, 58 Hun 443, 1890 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gibson-v-american-loan-trust-co-nysupct-1890.