Grenada Bank v. Glass

116 So. 740, 150 Miss. 164, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 142
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 9, 1928
DocketNo. 26761.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 116 So. 740 (Grenada Bank v. Glass) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grenada Bank v. Glass, 116 So. 740, 150 Miss. 164, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 142 (Mich. 1928).

Opinion

*172 Cook, J.

By an attachment in chancery, the Grenada bank instituted this suit against Lee E. Glass, a nonresident of this state, and the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company, a domestic corporation, and from a decree dismissing the bill of complaint in so far as it sought to hold the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company liable to 'complainant, a direct appeal was prosecuted, while the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company prosecuted a cross-appeal from so much of the decree as subjected the stock of Lee E. Glass in said company to the payment of his personal liability to the complainant.

The bill of complaint alleged that Lee E. Glass was indebted to the complainant in the sum of fifteen thousand two hundred sixty-seven dollars and thirty-three cents, together with interest and attorney’s fees, evidenced by two notes, one for five thousand one hundred *173 thirty-four dollars, and the other for ten thousand one hundred thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, which were past due and unpaid; that Lee E. Glass is a nonresident who owns a large amount of property located in the state of Mississippi, consisting of stock in the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company; that being a nonresident of and absent from this state, the complainant is entitled to have an attachment issued against said shares of stock so belonging, to the said Lee E. Glass, and to have the same impounded and subjected to its demands; that the said Lee E. Glass Lumber Company is but a corporation in name, in that the said Lee E. Glass is in equity1 and good conscience the sole and only owner of said corporation, and of its assets, and thereunder and thereby, being thus a one-man corporation, the assets of the said corporation have become, and are liable for the debts of the said Lee E. Glass, and especially the debts sued on; that the money' borrowed from the complainant, evidenced by the notes sued on, was used and employed in purchasing certain particularly described property now owned by said corporation; that the money of the complainant so thus borrowed went directly into this land, with the improvements thereon, and can be so traced, and being so traceable, the complainant thereby acquired a first and paramount lien for purchase money against said property, and is entitled to assert and enforce the same; that the said money so thus traceable, and to be traced into said property, was borrowed from the complainant by the said Lee E. Glass for the specific purpose of acquiring said property for and on behalf of the said Lee E. Glass Lumber Company; and that said money was obtained by representations that the said Lee E. Glass was amply solvent and thoroughly capable of paying the said money when and as due.

It was further averred, upon information and belief, that the said statements so rendered to complainant -were untrue; that the said Lee E. Glass was not solvent and *174 able to pay the amount so thus borrowed; that the statements upon which complainant relied in that regard were false and untrue; and that by reason thereof, the complainant was entitled to trace the said money so thus received for the purchase of said property, and to subject the property so acquired to the payment of the money borrowed from complainant to purchase the same.

The bill prayed that an attachment be issued against all of the property of the defendant, Lee E. Glass, in the state of Mississippi, including the said shares in the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company; that a decree be rendered against the said Lee E. Glass for the amount of money so obtained from complainant; and that the property therewith purchased and acquired be charged with a lien for the satisfaction and payment of said decree.

Upon this bill of complaint, publication was made for the nonresident defendant, Lee E. Glass, and upon his failure to answer the bill or otherwise enter his appearance thereto, a decree pro confes so and a final decree were entered against him adjudging that he was personally liable to the complainant for twenty-three thousand eight hundred twenty dollars and ninety cents, and' condemning for sale the shares of stock owned by him in the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company for the purpose of satisfying the decree against him.

The Lee E. Glass Lumber Company answered the bill and denied that Lee E. Glass was the sole owner of the corporation and its assets, or that the assets of said corporation were liable in any respect for the debts of the said Lee E. Glass; and averred that said corporation was legally organized under the laws of this state, and that the defendant, Lee E. Glass, owned only seventy-five shares out of the total of two hundred fifty shares of the capital stock of said corporation. It denied that the money evidenced by the notes sued on was used and employed in acquiring any part of the property described in the bill of complaint, or that the money thus *175 loaned to the said Lee E. Glass went directly into said property or any part of same, or that the complainant had a first and paramount lien, or any other kind of lien, on such property which it was entitled to assert or enforce.

As to the misrepresentations alleged to have been made to complainant by Lee E. Glass, the answer averred that if such misrepresentations were made, they were not authorized by the defendant corporation, and were not within the scope of any authority that the said Lee E. Glass possessed from said corporation; that the said Lee E. Glass had no title, interest, or equity in the property owned and held by it, other than as a shareholder; and that the defendant, the Lee E. Glass Lumber Company. was not in any manner or form indebted to the complainant.

Conceding for the purpose of. this decision only, the •correctness of the appellant’s position that one who accepts the fruits of fraud is liable therefor, not only when he knew of and consented to the fraud at the time it was perpetrated, but also when he was personally innocent, and had neither authorized nor known of the fraud at the time of its commission, still we are of the opinion that, on the direct appeal, the decree of the court below must be affirmed. There was proof offered in an attempt to trace the original ten thousand dollars, loaned to Lee E. Glass, and with which certain property now owned by the corporation was acquired, into the note for ten thousand one hundred thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents, sued upon; but upon this point the testimony was in conflict, and we áre unable to say that the holding: of the court below that the proof failed to establish the allegations of the bill of complaint upon this point is manifestly wrong. There is some contention on the part of counsel for the appellant that the record of this cause contains an agreement of counsel that this original ten thousand dollar loan had been traced *176 into the notes sued on, hut in this we think counsel are in error. The record referred to in this agreement is manifestly the cash hook of the appellant, and not the record of this cause as made in the court below.

O'n the cross-appeal, the contention of the cross:appellant is that, by this attachment proceeding, the court below did not acquire jurisdiction to render a decree against the nonresident, Lee E.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
116 So. 740, 150 Miss. 164, 1928 Miss. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grenada-bank-v-glass-miss-1928.