Holmes v. Seaman

117 A.D. 381, 102 N.Y.S. 616, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 263
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided February 8, 1907·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Ingraham, J.:

Upon the former appeal from a judgment for the plaintiff in this action the judgment was reversed and a new trial ordered (184 N. Y. 486). The decision of the Ootirt of Appeals determined the rights of the parties to this action under the first assignment made by thexplaintiff and her mother, dated April 13, 1891.. It was there held that the by-laws of the New- York Produce Exchange “ constitute a clear and unmistakable prohibition against the assignment or pledge by the beneficiaries of any interest in the gratuity fund of the New York Produce Exchange in payment or-to secure the payment of a debt having no relation to such a fund and in nowise incurred for the purpose of keeping alive the interest of the beneficiaries in such fund. So far, therefore, as the first assignment assumed or purported to charge the interest of the plaintiff in the gratuity fund with any liability on account of the debt to the Oriental Bank of $3,614.00 owing by Holmes to the Oriental Bank and paid by the defendant, together with the interest thereon, that assignment was ineffectual, and to that extent the referee was right in adjudging it to be void.” It was further held, however, that the transfer of the interest of those executing the assignment by which they agreed that the trustees of the gratuity fund of the New York Produce Exchange should pay over to the defendant such further sums of money as he, the said Egbert B. Seaman, shall or may pay to the said Produce Exchange or the trustees of the gratuity fund thereof, hereafter, for or on account of dues or assessments upon the said certificate, together with interest on each of such payments from the date thereof,” was sufficient to constitute a legal charge or lien upon the plaintiff’s interest in the gratuity fund to the extent of the sum paid out by the defendant to the Produce Exchange upon the faith of the instrument and for the purpose of keeping the plaintiff’s interest in that fund alive.” In speaking of the second assignment or transfer made on April 5,1901, the court said: “ As we regard this first instrument as amply sufficient of itself to charge the plaintiff’s interest in the gratuity fund with the sum thereafter paid out by the defendant to keep it alive, the circumstances under which the second assignment was obtained become wholly immaterial. Upon the evidence in the two cases the defendant was entitled to receive out of the plaintiff’s interest in the gratuity fund the aggregate of all the amounts [383] paid by him after the execution of the assignment on account of dues upon Holmes’ certificate of membership and the assessments against Holmes on account of the gratuity fund with interest upon such payments from the dates at which they were made. He was not entitled to receive anything on account of the debt of Holmes paid to the Oriental Bank or interest thereon. The whole of the amount payable out of the gratuity fund on account of Holmes’ membership was payable to the plaintiff less the sum heretofore mentioned as due to tlie defendant on account of the amounts paid by him to save the plaintiff’s interest.”

The effect of this decision is, that the sole interest of the defendant in the fund was the repayment to him of the amounts that he had paid subsequent to the execution, of the first assignment to preserve to the beneficiaries the amount of the fund payable by the Mew York Produce Exchange upon the death of Holmes, a member of the exchange. While.it may be conceded that after the death of her father the plaintiff, being entitled to the gratuity, would have the right to transfer that gratuity, as she would have the right to transfer any other chose in action, an instrument executed merely to carry out the former agreement, with no intention to make a new and independent assignment of the fund, and based upon a statement or representation by the person to whom the assignment was made that the assignment was to carry out the former instrument, conferred no new rights upon the assignee, and, without a new and independent consideration, would not affect the ownership of the fund. The situation as it existed when this second instrument was executed was that the defendant held an instrument executed by the plaintiff which assigned to him the plaintiff’s right to the fund when it became payable to secure the repayment of the amount that he had paid to protect the fund.

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Holmes v. Seaman, 117 A.D. 381, 102 N.Y.S. 616, 1907 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 263 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1907).

117 A.D. 381 (Holmes v. Seaman) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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