In Re Dissolution of St. Johns Building & Loan Ass'n

33 N.W.2d 129, 321 Mich. 715, 1948 Mich. LEXIS 534
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 29, 1948
DocketDocket No. 62, Calendar No. 43,967.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 33 N.W.2d 129 (In Re Dissolution of St. Johns Building & Loan Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Dissolution of St. Johns Building & Loan Ass'n, 33 N.W.2d 129, 321 Mich. 715, 1948 Mich. LEXIS 534 (Mich. 1948).

Opinion

Dethmers, J.

Intervenors appeal from an order denying their motion to dismiss, contending that the dissolution of building and loan associations is permissible only in the manner provided in section 26 of the building and loan association act (Act No. 50, *717 § 26, Pub. Acts 1887, as added by Act No. 17, Pub. Acts 1901 [3 Comp. Laws 1929, § 12159], and amended by Act No. 334, Pub. Acts 1937 [Comp. Laws Supp. 1940, § 12159, Stat. Ann. 1943 Rev. § 23.568]), to the exclusion of proceedings brought, as here, under the provisions of chapter 40, § 1, of the judicature act of 1915 (3 Comp. Laws 1929, § 15310 [Stat. Ann. § 27.2354]), governing the dissolution of corporations generally, which reads as follows:

“Whenever the directors, trustees or other officers having the management of the concerns of any corporation, or the majority of them, shall discover that the stock, property and effects of such corporation have been so far reduced by losses or otherwise, that it will not be able to pay all just demands to which it may be liable, or to afford a reasonable security to those who may deal with such corporation, or whenever such directors, trustees or officers, or a majority of them, shall, for any reason, deem it beneficial to the stockholders that such corporation should be dissolved, they may apply by petition to the court of chancery for the county wherein said corporation is located for a decree dissolving such corporation, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter: Provided, That the provisions of this chapter shall not extend to any incorporated library or lyceum society; to any religious corporation; to any incorporated academy or select school not organized for pecuniary profit; nor to the proprietors of any burying ground incorporated under the laws of this State.”

Section 65 of the general corporation act (Act No. 327, Pub. Acts 1931 [Comp. Laws Supp. 1940, § 10135-65, Stat. Ann. § 21.65]) reads as follows:

“A corporation may be wound up or dissolved either voluntarily or involuntarily. If the proceedings are voluntary they may be conducted either out of court or subject to the supervision of the court. *718 If the proceedings are involuntary they must be subject to the supervision of the court. If the corporation shall be wound up or dissolved subject to the supervision of the court the proceedings shall be under the judicature act of nineteen hundred fifteen; except that any corporation, whose assets had been wholly disposed of under court order in receivership or bankruptcy proceedings may be summarily dissolved by order of the court having jurisdiction of such proceedings: a copy of such order shall be filed by the clerk of such court with the secretary of State.”

Section 3 of the same act, as amended by Act No. 51, Pub. Acts 1937 (Comp. Laws Supp. 1940, § 10135-3, Stat. Ann. 1947 Cum. Supp. § 21.3), reads as follows:

“One or more persons, natural or corporate, may incorporate under this act for the purpose of carrying on any lawful business except those desiring to incorporate the following:

“Banking corporations, industrial banks, insurance corporations, fraternal benefit societies, trust, deposit and security companies, building and loan associations, summer resort associations, railroad, bridge and tunnel companies, union depot companies, train railway companies, street railway companies, brine pipe line companies, telegraph companies, telephone companies, safety and collateral deposit companies, canal, river and harbor improvement companies, cemetery, burial and cremation associations, agricultural and horticultural fair societies and water power and water supplying companies; the provisions of this act shall be applicable to such corporations, except insurance, railroad, bridge, tunnel companies and union depot companies, unless otherwise provided in, or inconsistent with, the act under which a particular corporation is or shall have been formed

*719 Section 26 of the building and loan association act reads as follows:

“At the annual meeting, or at any meeting called for that purpose, any building and loan association of this State may, by the votes of shareholders owning two-thirds of the shares in force, resolve to liquidate and dissolve the corporation. In order to facilitate such dissolution, the board of directors may, if they deem it advisable, sell and transfer the mortgage securities and other property of such association to another corporation, person or persons, subject, however, to the vested and accrued rights of the mortgagors: Provided, That before said resolution shall have effect, a copy thereof, certified by the president and secretary of such association, together with an itemized statement of its assets and liabilities, sworn to by a majority of the board of directors, shall be filed with the secretary of State. After filing a copy of the resolution as aforesaid, it shall be unlawful for such association to issue stock or make any loans, but all of its income and receipts, in excess of the actual expenses of management, shall be applied to the discharge of its liabilities: Provided further, That any building and loan association operating under this section shall be subject to the same examinations, and shall be required to make the same reports to the secretary of State as is herein provided for solvent and going building and loan associations. The secretary of State may take possession of the business and property of any building and loan association which is in voluntary liquidation and proceed to liquidate its affairs as provided in this act, if, at any time, it shall appear to the secretary of State that the affairs of such building and loan association are not being administered or liquidated to the best interest of the creditors and shareholders.”

In contending for the exclusiveness of the dissolution procedure provided in the building and loan association act, intervenors rely on Paine v. Sauls *720 bury, 200 Mich. 58; Stewart v. Algonac Savings Bank, 263 Mich. 272; Russell v. Peoples Wayne County Bank of Dearborn, 275 Mich. 415, and State, ex rel. Attorney General, v. Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, 124 Ohio St. 269 (178 N. E. 258, 78 A. L. R. 1079).

The Paine Case did not involve a building and loan association. We there held that a petition for the dissolution of a corporation under the judicature act was not a good-faith application and ought to be denied when the facts disclosed not only that the corporation was solvent, but that the proceedings were brought solely to enable a majority of the stockholders to acquire the interests not otherwise available to them of the minority stockholders. The case does not support intervenors’ theory that the voluntary dissolution of a solvent corporation may be had only under section 67 of the general corporation act and not, as provided in section 65 of that act, under chapter 40, § 1, of the judicature act.

The Stewart Case involved a bank receivership.

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Bluebook (online)
33 N.W.2d 129, 321 Mich. 715, 1948 Mich. LEXIS 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dissolution-of-st-johns-building-loan-assn-mich-1948.