In re the New York Title & Mortgage Co.

168 Misc. 89, 5 N.Y.S.2d 459, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1709
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 27, 1938
StatusPublished

This text of 168 Misc. 89 (In re the New York Title & Mortgage 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
In re the New York Title & Mortgage Co., 168 Misc. 89, 5 N.Y.S.2d 459, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1709 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

Frankenthaler, J.

This is an application to compel the Brooklyn Trust Company, as trustee for Series N-75 of the New York Title and Mortgage Company, to account for an item of $34,000, which had been turned over to the trustee by the Mortgage Commission of the State of New York on May 29, 1936.

The $34,000 was turned over by the Brooklyn Trust Company to the owner of the mortgaged premises on June 3, 1936, less than a week after its receipt. At that time the owner’s arrears of taxes and interest totaled $177,388.28. The trustee seeks to justify its conduct in handing over the $34,000 to the owner of the property, despite these tremendous arrears, on tne theory that the money belonged to the owner and did not constitute part of the trust estate. The trustee further contends that even if the $34,000 did in fact belong to the certificate holders, as part of the trust estate, and was erroneously paid over by it to the owner of the mortgaged premises, the trustee is nevertheless exonerated from liability under the provision of the declaration of trust that the trustee shall not be liable for any error of judgment or for any loss arising out of any act or omission in the execution of this trust so long as he acts in good faith and without negligence.” (Declaration of Trust, art. XIII, subd. d.)

[91]*91The Brooklyn Trust Company was chosen as trustee by vote of the certificate holders themselves and was thereupon appointed trustee in accordance with the provisions of the plan of reorganization. It executed the declaration of trust on February 13, 1936, and has been serving as trustee since that time.

The receipt of the $34,000 by the trustee and the handing over of that sum to the owner of the property has only recently come to light. Neither the inventory nor the account filed by the trustee for the period commencing February 13, 1936, the date it executed the declaration of trust, and ending December 31, 1936, contained any mention whatsoever of the receipt or disbursement of the $34,000. It was not until October 27, 1937, that the receipt and disbursement of the $34,000 was called to the attention of the certificate holders and of the court. This occurred at the commencement of a hearing on an application by the trustee for judicial approval of an extension and modification of the mortgage held by the trustee. Counsel for the Mortgage Commission stated at said hearing that an assignment of rents had existed in connection with the property which had been canceled in January, 1935, at which time the owner had made a payment in consideration of the cancellation, and that the owner had operated the property for some time thereafter, collecting all the rents for itself without paying interest or taxes. Further inquiry revealed that the trustee had received $34,000 from the Mortgage Commission and had handed it over to the owner of the property. The present motion was then made to compel the trustee to account for the $34,000. The affidavit submitted by the trustee, in answer to the moving affidavit herein, attempts to excuse the failure to list the $34,000 in its inventory or account in the following language: “ Brooklyn Trust Company as Trustee at the time of the preparation and filing of its inventory and account from February 13th to Decembei 31st, 1936, was led to believe and still believes that the item of $34,000 did not constitute any part of the trust estate and for that reason the item was not included in the inventory and account.” Regardless of whether this excuse is valid from a technical legal standpoint, good practice and a proper regard for the interests of the certificate holders, the beneficiaries of the trust, would seem to have required a frank and open disclosure by the trustee in its inventory and in its account of all the moneys received and disbursed by it. In the absence of such a disclosure, it is obvious that neither the certificate holders nor the court are properly apprised of the trustee’s transactions and dealings, with the result that objections which might otherwise be filed to the trustee’s account are overlooked through ignorance of the facts. The [92]*92trustee thus becomes the sole judge of its own conduct, escaping criticism and objections by the simple device of not including some of its dealings in its inventory or account.

No technical questions of procedure are involved here, for it was agreed that these proceedings were to be regarded as though the item had been included in the account, “ objections have been filed, and the hearing is held here thereon.”

The first question to be considered is whether the $34,000 belonged to the certificate holders as part of the trust estate or to the owner of the mortgaged property. In the court’s opinion, the $34,000 was unconditionally paid over to the Superintendent of Insurance, as rehabilitator of the title company, on January 4, 1935, to be applied to the payment of arrears of interest and taxes, and the owner of the mortgaged premises retained no rights whatsoever in or to the $34,000 after said payment. In view of the voluminous nature of the testimony (about 800 pages) and the numerous exhibits, it would be impracticable and serve no useful purpose to discuss the evidence in detail. The court will accordingly content itself with a brief reference to the main reasons for its conclusion .that the owner parted with all right, title and interest in the $34,000 on January 4,1935.

The agreement dated January 4, 1935, between the Superintendent of Insurance and the owner of the mortgaged premises, provided that the- latter “ will pay forthwith on the basis herein set forth, all arrears of taxes, water rates and assessments, penalties accrued thereon, interest at the rate herein provided, accrued to the next previous interest due date.” The promise to pay forthwith * * * arrears of ” taxes, water rates, assessments, penalties and interest is clearly unconditional. If the parties had intended that the $34,000 was to constitute a deposit, returnable to the owner in the event that the plan of reorganization was not promulgated or was not approved, it is reasonable to assume that the word “ deposit ” or a synonymous word would have been employed instead of the word pay,” or at least that the agreement would have contained a provision to the effect that the money was to be returned to the owner in certain contingencies. The absence of such a provision is significant. The receipt for the $34,000 acknowledged the * * * payment of arrears of taxes and interest to December 31st, 1934,” not the deposit of $34,000 to be applied to taxes and interest only in the event that a plan was promulgated and approved. That the, $34,000 was not required to be held by the Superintendent of1 Insurance pending promulgation of the plan or the approval thereof is confirmed by the provision of the guarantors’ letter of January [93]*934, 1935, expressly authorizing the application of that portion of the $34,000 which exceeded the arrears of taxes and interest to December 31, 1934 (computed on the basis of the proposed plan), toward the payment of the first half of 1935 taxes, without any condition that the money could not be so used until the plan had been promulgated or approved. In fact the letter states that the taxes are to be paid in no event later than April 30, 1935.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
168 Misc. 89, 5 N.Y.S.2d 459, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-new-york-title-mortgage-co-nysupct-1938.