Jacob v. Hibernia Bank

186 Cal. App. 2d 756, 9 Cal. Rptr. 901, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1690
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 28, 1960
DocketCiv. No. 18695; Civ. No. 18777; Civ. No. 18778; Civ. No. 18779
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 186 Cal. App. 2d 756 (Jacob v. Hibernia Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jacob v. Hibernia Bank, 186 Cal. App. 2d 756, 9 Cal. Rptr. 901, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1690 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

TOBRINER, J.

In our opinion in Spencer v. Hibernia Bank (1960), ante, p. 702 [9 Cal.Rptr. 867] filed this day we have discussed the determinative considerations which resolve these cases. We describe here the various factual differences and procedural postures of the instant eases, but these do not affect the result.

This opinion encompasses the appeals in four cases, Jacob v. Hibernia Bank, Little Sisters v. Hibernia Bank, Lyle v. Hibernia Bank, and Wood v. Hibernia Bank. These cases are companions to the Burke and Theobald cases which we have likewise decided this day. (Burke v. Hibernia Bank (1960), ante, p. 739 [9 Cal.Rptr. 890].) We have followed appellants’ briefing of the first four cases in one group although respondents have consolidated all six cases in one brief.

These four declaratory relief actions arise from the same general background as the Burke and Theobald cases, and like those actions, seek to establish claims to ownership in The Hibernia Bank based primarily on alleged membership derived from ancestors who were assertedly members. Respondents are the same parties in all six cases; appellants vary from ease to case.

We have set forth the basic history of Hibernia in Spencer; we shall present here the nature of the proceedings and the judgments in the four instant cases and, thereafter, the addi[758]*758tional facts in each case to determine their impact, if any, upon the result.

The unverified complaints in each of these four cases set forth four counts. Counts one and three rest upon the same basic predicates. Count one of each complaint alleges that pursuant to section 29a of the Bank Act, Hibernia, on October 11, 1945, filed in the Superior Court, in and for the City and County of San Francisco, a ‘1 Complaint to Determine the Persons Who Are Entitled to Membership in Plaintiff Corporation, or Who Have Any Right or Interest in the Property or Assets Thereof,” and in 1946 obtained a judgment declaring that specified parties were so entitled but not including among them appellants or their ancestors. The complaints allege that appellants are members of Hibernia on the basis of descent or inheritance and seek to set aside the above-mentioned judgments upon the ground that they were procured by fraud. Subsidiary allegations in count one relate to an asserted unconstitutionality of section 29a of the Bank Act under both the federal and California Constitutions and the invalidity as a matter of law of the by-laws under which appellants have been deemed to have no interest in Hibernia. Appellants also challenge the validity of the 1947 reconversion of Hibernia into a stock corporation. Appellants conclude this cause with allegations that the claims of appellants and respondents conflict and that “it is necessary and proper that . . . [certain] written instruments, contracts and judgment be construed and that a declaration of the rights and duties of the respective parties be made.” The gravamen of count three lies in an alleged conspiracy to defraud appellants as charged in count one.

Counts two and four rest on the same hypothesis. Count two of each complaint alleges that the ancestor was a depositor in Hibernia and that, as such, possessed the same rights in the assets as a member. These counts do not allege that the ancestor was such a member. Count four, like count three, rests upon allegations of a conspiracy to deprive appellants, as successors of such depositors, of their rights as such.

Respondents filed motions for summary judgments, supported by an affidavit of Cyril R. Tobin in all of the cases except the Jacob case in which Richard Raoul-Duval, another officer and director of Hibernia, executed the affidavit. Appellants filed affidavits of Werner J. Ebstein and William Lyle, which we discuss infra. Respondents filed an objection [759]*759to the Lyle affidavit and a “Supplemental Affidavit of Cyril R. Tobin.” In each of the eases the court granted respondents a summary judgment upon the ground that no triable issue of fact arose and that respondents were entitled to a judgment in each ease as a matter of law on the pleadings and the undisputed facts.

We dispose preliminarily of certain problems common to all of the eases. We have noted that the second and fourth counts of the complaints rest upon the exclusive fact of depositorship of each appellant’s ancestor. The summary judgments hold that “no depositor of defendant bank ever, by virtue of being a depositor, had any rights similar to rights of membership or any right or interest in defendant’s bank property . . . other than that of a creditor to the payment of the credit balance in his or her deposit account. . . .” We have pointed out in Carew (Carew v. Hibernia Bank (1960), post, p. 764 [9 Cal.Rptr. 905]), that mere depositor-ship would not suffice as a basis for the claim in Carew but in any event here we find no serious contention proffered in appellants’ briefs on this score.

We have noted, too, the allegations as to conspiracy in appellants’ complaints. We do not believe that these allegations inure to the advantage of appellants in the absence of a showing of a cause of action which would arise without the conspiracy. The eases have long held that “a conspiracy, in and of itself, however atrocious, does not give rise to a cause of action unless a civil wrong has been committed resulting in damage. ...” The facts must be such that ‘ something was done which, without the conspiracy, would give rise to a right of action. ...” (Agnew v. Parks (1959), 172 Cal.App.2d 756, 762 [343 P.2d 118]. To the same effect see Herron v. Hughes (1864), 25 Cal. 555; Dowdell v. Carpy (1900), 129 Cal. 168, 171 [61 P. 948] ; Moropoulos v. C. H. & O. B. Fuller Co. (1921), 186 Cal. 679, 683 [200 P. 601].)

We have noted, finally, the allegations in the complaint as to section 29a of the Bank Act and the prior proceeding of “The Hibernia Savings and Loan Society vs. Richard M. Tobin, et al.,” (San Francisco Superior Court No. 345334). We point out here, as we did in Spencer, that we find it unnecessary to discuss this issue because it arises only if appellants could present a meritorious case as to membership. (Bennett v. Hibernia Bank (1956), 47 Cal.2d 540 [305 P.2d 20].) Since appellants fail in that basic presentation the [760]*760issue of fraud in this respect does not arise. For the same reason we find no need to consider the allegations as to the unconstitutionality of section 29a of the Bank Act.

We proceed to discuss seriatim the particular eases in their legal setting.

The Jacob Claim

Jacob’s ancestor, John McHugh, opened an account with Hibernia Savings and Loan Society in 1859 by the deposit of $5.00 and closed his account on December 28, 1866, by withdrawing his entire credit balance. The certificate of incorporation of Hibernia of 1859 includes his signature as one of the original incorporators and trustees of that corporation. As a trustee he seconded the resolution of Gustave Touchard that Hibernia of 1859 “avail itself of the provisions ’ ’ of the Acts of 1862 and 1864 to incorporate as a membership organization.

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Related

Stevens v. Torregano
192 Cal. App. 2d 105 (California Court of Appeal, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
186 Cal. App. 2d 756, 9 Cal. Rptr. 901, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacob-v-hibernia-bank-calctapp-1960.