In re Philadelphia Co. for Guaranteeing Mortgages

37 Pa. D. & C. 47, 1939 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedJune 26, 1939
Docketno. 6438
StatusPublished

This text of 37 Pa. D. & C. 47 (In re Philadelphia Co. for Guaranteeing Mortgages) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Philadelphia Co. for Guaranteeing Mortgages, 37 Pa. D. & C. 47, 1939 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1939).

Opinion

Heiligman, J.,

This case is before us on petition of Integrity Trust Company, successor trustee [48]*48to the Philadelphia Company under a mortgage executed by C. Vernon Turner, for an order directing the Philadelphia Company to turn over to plaintiff a bill of sale of furniture in the Hotel Sylvania, Philadelphia. . . .

The position of the Philadelphia Company, before its removal as trustee, may be summarized as follows: (1) Trustee for the bondholders under the first mortgage of April 1,1922 (hereafter referred to as the Turner mortgage) ; (2) guarantor of the issue of $1,500,000 of bonds secured by the Turner mortgage; and (3) guarantor of $150,000 out of $1,650,000 class “A” bonds secured by the first mortgage of March 1, 1927 (hereafter referred to as the Pennington mortgage).

The bill of sale in question was, it is conceded, intended to be taken by the Philadelphia Company not as trustee under the Turner mortgage, but in its individual corporate capacity, as collateral security against possible liability under its guaranty policies in connection with the Turner and Pennington mortgages. The only question, therefore, is whether, as a matter of law, such intention could be effectuated.

Plaintiff first contends that the bill of sale is of no effect since the hotel furniture intended to be conveyed thereby was included within the provisions of the Turner mortgage. This mortgage covered “all machinery, including engines, boilers, dynamos, elevators, steam and electric fixtures and appliances and all fixtures and other personal property generally or which may hereafter be placed in or about the said premises and appurtenant thereto”. Clearly the hotel furniture can be included, if at all, only in the phrase “other personal property”. It is well recognized that, under the doctrine of ejusdem generis, such general words must be confined to articles of the same type as those specifically mentioned. Under this rule, a similar descriptive clause in a mortgage has been held not to include furniture: The Real Estate-Land Title & Trust Co. v. Bankers Trust Co. of Phila., 104 Pa. Superior Ct. 493.

[49]*49Plaintiff maintains that later cases have extended the definition of “fixtures” so as to bring hotel furniture within this term of the mortgage. The rule referred to, however, applies only to machinery and appliances necesnary to the functioning of a complete manufacturing establishment. See Pennsylvania Chocolate Co., for use, v. Hershey Brothers (No. 1), 316 Pa. 292, 299. In Central Lithograph Co. v. Eatmor Chocolate Co. (No. 1), 316 Pa. 300, at page 307, it was said: “If a party makes a chattel a permanent part of a manufacturing plant, such chattel by force of laio becomes a part of the real estate and of the freehold.” See also Commonwealth Trust Co., etc., v. Harkins et al., 312 Pa. 402, 406-407. A hotel can hardly be called a “manufactory”, “plant”, or even “industrial establishment”, as those words are generally understood. In the present state of the law, therefore, we should not be justified in extending this doctrine to include furniture in a hotel.

It is argued by counsel for the committee for the protection of holders of bonds guaranteed by the Philadelphia Company that, even if the Philadelphia Company received the bill of sale as security for its undertaking as guarantor, the principal creditors (the bondholders) have a right to be subrogated thereto, and the company must apply the security for their benefit. That this is the general rule is undenied, but defendant maintains that it applies only to security received from the debtor, not “to securities given to the surety by a third person or stranger to the contract”: 25 R. C. L. p. 1334; see also 50 C. J. p. 228, and Hampton, Admr., et al. v. Phipps, 108 U. S. 260, 264, 266; and in the present case the Philadelphia Company received the bill of sale from the hotel company and not from either of the mortgagors, Turner or Pennington.

There is no doubt that, superficially, this is a correct description of the situation. However, “in a court of equity . . . substance is never sacrificed to form”: McKeown’s Estate, 263 Pa. 78, 84. It is obvious that, in [50]*50reality, the hotel company was the “principal debtor” and C. Vernon Turner was merely a straw man. The property was conveyed to Turner solely for the purpose of permitting him to execute the mortgage, and was immediately reconveyed, subject to the mortgage, to Samuel R. Blockson, who executed his own penal bond as collateral security for the bonds issued in connection with the Turner mortgage. Then Blockson conveyed the property to the hotel company, which, according to the agreement, and the minutes of the meeting of the board of directors of the hotel company . . . transferred all the authorized capital stock, 3,000 shares of common stock without par value, and 4,000 shares of preferred stock of $100 par value, full-paid to Blockson. In effect, therefore, Blockson owned the hotel company. Furthermore it is apparent that the Philadelphia Company looked to the hotel company or to Blockson, and not to Turner, for payments into the sinking fund under the Turner mortgage. The fourth stipulated fact refers to advancements by the Philadelphia Company to the bondholders of “certain interest payments which the Hotel Sylvania Company failed to make”. The seventh fact states that “$46,967.29 had been paid by the owner of the Sylvania Hotel to the Philadelphia Company on account of the sum of $200,000 payable under the terms of the sinking fund provision”. The eighth fact states that “the Hotel Sylvania Company . . . was unable to meet its sinking fund payments”, and the tenth fact states that “the Philadelphia Company . . . refunded to the Hotel Sylvania Company the sum of $46,967.29 plus accumulated interest, which sum had theretofore been paid on account of the sinking fund”. (Italics supplied.) At least as to sinking fund payments, therefore, the hotel company was undoubtedly the principal debtor. Consequently, although the Philadelphia Company received the bill of sale of furniture from the hotel company to indemnify it against possible liability on its guaranty policies, the principal creditors, i. e., the bondholders, have a right to be subrogated to this secu[51]*51rity. That right may now be enforced by requiring the bill of sale to be turned over to plaintiff as successor trustee for bondholders under the Turner mortgage.

It is immaterial that the bondholders did not rely on the security of the furniture when purchasing the bonds, for, in applying the principle of subrogation stated above, “it makes no difference, that such principal creditor did not act upon the credit of such security in the first instance, or even know of its existence”: Kramer & Rahm’s Appeal, 37 Pa. 71, 76. See also Rice’s Appeal, 79 Pa. 168, 206, and Williamson’s Appeal, 94 Pa. 231, 237.

What has been stated above constitutes sufficient grounds for granting plaintiff’s prayer. That our conclusion is inevitable is indicated by further reasons based on the position of the Philadelphia Company, not as guarantor of the bonds secured by the Turner mortgage, but as trustee for the bondholders under such mortgage.

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Related

Hampton v. Phipps
108 U.S. 260 (Supreme Court, 1883)
Meinhard v. Salmon
164 N.E. 545 (New York Court of Appeals, 1928)
Commonwealth Tr. Co. of Pbg. v. Harkins
167 A. 278 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1933)
Pennsylvania Chocolate Co. v. Hershey Bros.
175 A. 694 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)
Central Lithograph Co. v. Eatmor Chocolate Co.
175 A. 697 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)
Real Estate-Land Title & Trust Co. v. Bankers Trust Co.
158 A. 634 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1931)
Raybold v. Raybold
20 Pa. 308 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1853)
Kramer & Rahm's Appeal
37 Pa. 71 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1860)
Rice's Appeal
79 Pa. 168 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1874)
Williamson's Appeal
94 Pa. 231 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1880)
McKeown's Estate
106 A. 189 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1919)
Estate of Evans
1 Pa. Super. 37 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1895)
In re White
13 Pa. Super. 201 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1900)

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Bluebook (online)
37 Pa. D. & C. 47, 1939 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-philadelphia-co-for-guaranteeing-mortgages-pactcomplphilad-1939.