Hudson Navigation Co. v. Union Trust Co.

99 Misc. 54
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1917
StatusPublished

This text of 99 Misc. 54 (Hudson Navigation Co. v. Union 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
Hudson Navigation Co. v. Union Trust Co., 99 Misc. 54 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1917).

Opinion

Rudd, J.

This action is brought for the purpose of obtaining a construction by the court of article VIII of a trust mortgage made by the Hudson Navigation Company to the Union Trust Company of Albany, N. Y., under date of February 1, 1908.

The Hudson Navigation Company was the mortgagor and a construction of article VIII will answer the question which is here presented as to whether the expenditures made by the mortgagor for the completion of the steamer Berkshire constitute a legal ground for the withdrawal by the plaintiff of bonds or moneys from the sinking and replacement fund created by article VHI of the trust mortgage.

The mortgage bears date February 1,1908, and was acknowledged February 21, 1908.

Some time prior to the last mentioned date the Hudson Navigation Company began the construction of two steamboats then known as the Princeton and the Trojan. The Princeton was afterward known as the Berkshire, and in the consideration of the question this steamer will hereafter in this memorandum be referred to as the Berkshire.

The real issue in this litigation seems to be quite simple. It is really confined to the determination as to whether or not the Berkshire was covered by the trust mortgage as a completed steamer.

When the mortgage was acknowledged, February 21, 1908, there had been then expended upon the steamer Berkshire $519,674.94. There has since that date been expended $619,525.20, making the aggregate cost of the steamer $1,139,200.14.

[56]*56The vessel was completed and delivered to the company on May 1, 1913.

Article VIH of the mortgage held by the Union Trust Company of Anbany, N. Y., as trustee, providing for a sinking fund, reads as follows: “Any or all of the bonds deposited with the Trustee under the provisions of this Article, and any and all interest moneys paid by the Navigation Company to the Trustee, may be used by the Navigation Company and redelivered or returned by the Trustee to the Navigation Company in whole or in part from time to time, upon the written request of the Navigation Company signed by its President and Treasurer and based upon resolutions of its Board of Directors duly adopted, and the bonds so redelivered and the proceeds thereof and such interest moneys shall be used solely to pay or provide for new or additional vessels, or real or personal property, or for extensions of or additions to or improvements of a permanent nature, to or upon the steamboats, barges and other vessels, real estate, wharves, docks, plants or other property of the Company, the actual cost of which new vessels, extensions, additions and improvements shall be at least twenty (2D) per cent, in excess of the face value of the bonds so to be redelivered or the interest money so to be returned by the Trustee, and all such new vessels, extensions, additions and improvements shall immediately become and remain subject to the lien of this mortgage as if specifically described herein, and the Navigation Company shall from time to time as may be proper or necessary, execute and deliver to the Trustee supplemental mortgages upon all vessels or other property which shall have been thus acquired, and such supplemental mortgages shall be treated as further and additional security for the payment of all [57]*57bonds issued by said Navigation Company under the provisions of this indenture and shall enure by way of accretion to the benefit and advantage of the said Trustee and its successors in this trust and to the said bondholders.”

The portion of article VIII above quoted provides for the redelivery by the trustee to the Hudson Navigation Company of bonds deposited with the trustee upon the written request of the navigation company; “ and the bonds so redelivered and the proceeds thereof and such interest moneys shall be used solely to pay or provide for new or additional vessels, or real or personal property, or for extensions of or additions to or improvements of a permanent nature, to or upon the steamboats, barges and other vessels, real estate, wharves, docks, plants or other property of the Company, the actual cost of which new vessels, extensions, additions and improvements shall be at least twenty (20) per cent, in excess of the face value of the bonds so to be redelivered ” etc.

Was the sum of $619,525.20 expended upon the steamship Berkshire after the 21st of February, 1908, expended for newly acquired property or for betterments or extensions, additions or improvements, as contemplated by article VIII of the mortgage, above cited?

The trust mortgage permitted the Hudson Navigation Company to borrow from the public to the extent of $4,000,000 upon certain securities offered, which would enable the Hudson Navigation Company to refinance the mortgage of the New Jersey Steamboat Company of $1,300,000, and for certain other specific purposes, the nature of which from the records of the Hudson Navigation Company clearly appears.

The company on or about the 1st of January, 1908, [58]*58decided to increase its capital from $4,000,000 to $8,000,000, and it provided for the issuance of twenty-year five per cent gold bonds, “ to be secured by a first mortgage on two additional steamships which are being acquired by the company. The two said steamships when completed will be worth approximately $1,500,000.”

These steamships included what is now known as the Berkshire.

This plan was changed. The company adopted a resolution providing for $4,000,000 worth of six per cent thirty-year bonds, and on the 28th of January, 1908, issued a notice to the security holders of the company. The notice read as follows:

“ Hudson Navigation Company,
“ Jersey City, N. J., January 25th, 1908.
To the Security Holders and Stockholders of Hudson Navigation Company:
“At a meeting of the Board of Directors of your Company, held on January 16, 1908, at which all the members of the board were present, it was unanimously voted that there should be a new issue of $4,000,000 6% 30-year mortgage bonds of the Company, with suitable sinking fund provisions, the new issue to fund or provide among other things, for all existing or authorized bonds; said new 6% bonds to be secured by a first mortgage on all the property of this Company, except such property as is now subject to a first mortgage given by the New Jersey Steamboat Company, upon the payment of which this proposed new mortgage will be a first mortgage upon all property now owned by the Company.
“ Said $4,000,000 of new 6% bonds is intended, among other objects, to fund or provide for the following issues and purposes:
[59]*59 “ New Bonds.
“ 1st. To care for an equal amount of outstanding first mortgage 5% New Jersey Steamboat Company bonds, at their maturity in 1921, or sooner if desired......... $1,393,000
‘1 2d. Exchange immediately new " 6% mortgage bonds for $970,000 face value of Hudson Navigation Company collateral trust 5% bonds' dated January 1st, 1903, due 1923.................. 970,000
“ 3d. Substitute new 6%

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99 Misc. 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-navigation-co-v-union-trust-co-nysupct-1917.