Hope & Co. v. Board of Liquidation

43 La. Ann. 738
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 15, 1891
DocketNo. 10,830
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 43 La. Ann. 738 (Hope & Co. v. Board of Liquidation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hope & Co. v. Board of Liquidation, 43 La. Ann. 738 (La. 1891).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Breaux, J.

Hope & Co., a commercial firm, doing business in the city of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, have brought suit to compel the funding, by the State Board of Liquidation, of nine thousand and forty-two bonds, each for the sum of four hundred'_and forty-four dollars and forty-four cents, dated the 1st day of February, 1836, and payable by series, respectively, on the 1st day of February, 1850, 1st [741]*741day of February, 1859, 1st day of February, 1868, 1st day of February, 1877, and the 1st day of February, 1886, which aggregate four million eighteen thousand six hundred andtwenty-six dollars and forty-eight cents; the payment of these bonds was extended, and by agreement the series mature respectively on the 1st day of February, 1901, the 1st day of February, 1902, the 1st day of February, 1909, and the 1st of February, 1911.

They pray to fund the coupons of the bonds remaining unpaid, also for an order to the Board to issue and deliver~to them in exchange consolidated bonds of the State of Louisiana, to the amount of two millions four hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and seventy-five dollars and eighty-eight cents, bearing date the 1st of January, 1874, with all coupons from 1874 annexed, except the coupon due the 1st day of January, 1880, and with the interest coupons on said bonds reduced to 2 per cent, for five years from January 1, 1880, and to 4 per cent, thereafter.

The Board of Liquidation deny that these bonds are fundable, and that they are included in the terms of the act of the Legislature, approved January 24, 1874, and they aver that they can not be funded.

They have offered evidence to prove that the amount in contemplation at the time, to be funded, exceeded the limitation imposed by that act without including plaintiffs’ claim. They aver that the bonds were issued in aid of the Citizens Bank for its accommodation, and that the State bound itself as security for their payment; that they were issued by the bank, and indorsed by it in such form as to make it the principal debtor.

They allege that plaintiffs, the bondholders, had knowledge of the acts of the Legislature authorizing the indorsement, as it was made. That they dealt and treated with the bank, as principal, for many years, and as such received from it large sums of money on account of the principal and interest due on said bonds.

They, in their answer, further plead, that, on the 8th day of October, 1880, without the knowledge or consent of the State of Louisiana, the plaintiffs entered into an agreement with, their debtor, the Citizens Bank, by which they discharged said bank for and in consideration of certain things to be done. That the bondholders reserved their rights only upon the mortgages granted by the shareholders to secure their stock and upon the property acquired in foreclosure proceedings.

[742]*742That by this discharge the State is released from all liability.

There was a judgment in favor of defendant, rejecting] plaintiffs’ demand.

The following are the agreed facts in the case:

The total amount of the bonds issued under Act of 1836 was $7,000,000. In October, 1880, the indebtedness on the bonds had been considerably reduced; at which time an agreement was entered into between the bondholders and the Citizens Bank. This agreement shows that on January 1, 1874, the following amount was outstanding, to-wit: $4,018,626.48, represented by bonds.

These bonds were issued by the State in aid of the bank.

They had coupons attached, of interest, signed by the bank, through its cashier.

On these coupons the bank defaulted.

Interest warrants for the amount of the past due coupons, including interest on the amount computed to the maturity of the warrants, were issued, signed by the Citizens Bank.

Subsequently, the bank again defaulted in the payment of interest; payment was again extended by agreement between it and Hope & Co. Interest warrants were again issued by the bank for past due coupons, with interest computed to the maturity of the warrants.

These warrants represent the sum of $921,129.26.

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With reference to these warrants, plaintiffs’ counsel, in one of their briefs, admit “that [plaintiffs’] coupons represented in such warrants were not fundable, is clear from the face of the [funding legislation, which nowhere provides for funding of coupons.”

We copy this admission for the reason that it accords with our view of the statute, from which we extract the following: Consols “ shall be exchanged for all valid outstanding bonds of the State, and all valid warrants drawn previous to the passage of the act by the Auditor on the Treasurer.”

These warrants are not drawn by the Auditor, and they are for past due coupons, for the funding of which Act 3 of 1874 does not provide.

There is due by the bank the sum of $133,333.33, which plaintiffs desire to have funded.

[743]*743There is in possession of plaintiffs, or of their debtor, the bank, who holds for them, a large amount of mortgage stock assets of the Citizens Bank, consisting of stock mortgages, given under the Act of 1836, on the property of the shareholders of the bank, to secure their stock subscription; property which the bank has been unable to sell, acquired under foreclosure of stock mortgages; mortgages not collected given for mortgage stock; property acquired by the bank under such foreclosure, and afterward sold by the bank, and amounts due by shareholders on their stock subscriptions; the value of these assets were fixed at about §800,000; by agreement between the parties to this suit, they are “ applicable to the payment of the bonds.” Vide compromise of 1880.

There is, besides, cash on hand, in the Citizens Bank, the sum of •§85,000 “to be remitted to the bondholders.”

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At different dates, from January 26, 1881, to December 24, 1890, there was remitted by the bank to plaintiffs §2,060,466.35. On October 8, 1880, the Citizens Bank owned assets to the amount of §1,500,000, representing the capital contributed by the cash stockholders under Act 246 of 1853, and §500,000 of mortgage stock assets of actual value not exceeding §300,000, set aside for the alleged advances of what is termed the banking department to the stock mortgage department.

The cash stockholders made another contribution’to the bank, in 1883, of §350,000. The assets and property of the bank representing the .capital furnished by those termed its cash stockholders, i. e., the assets of the banking department proper, amounted in value on the 1st of January, 1889, to the sum of §300,000.

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Having made a statement of these amounts, we will consider questions relative to the bonds held by plaintiffs.

They are not made in the ordinary form of a bond, to the order of the bank, and by the latter only indorsed.

On the face of the bond reference is made to the endorsement, and in the endorsement special promise to pay is made, more direct and binding than are conditions of endorsements on negotiable paper in ■the ordinary course of commerce.

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Related

Sumitomo Bank of Cal. v. Iwasaki
447 P.2d 956 (California Supreme Court, 1968)
Hope & Co. v. Board of Liquidation
108 La. 315 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1902)

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Bluebook (online)
43 La. Ann. 738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hope-co-v-board-of-liquidation-la-1891.