Jankey v. Ellis Silk Hosiery Co.

16 F. Supp. 927, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1914
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 7, 1936
DocketNo. 9401
StatusPublished

This text of 16 F. Supp. 927 (Jankey v. Ellis Silk Hosiery Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jankey v. Ellis Silk Hosiery Co., 16 F. Supp. 927, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1914 (E.D. Pa. 1936).

Opinion

MARIS, District Judge.

This is a rule entered on the petition of the Mortgage Service Company of Philadelphia against Ellis Silk Hosiery Company, its receiver Sidney E. Smith, Esq., Mac Rothkopf, purchaser at receiver’s sale, Morris Ellis, owner of the mortgaged premises, and Associated Auctioneers, Inc., which conducted the receiver’s sale, to show cause why a mortgage held by the petitioner on premises southeast corner Emerald and Westmoreland streets, Philadelphia, should not be paid before certain machinery on the premises which was sold at receiver’s sale is removed. It appears that the Ellis Silk Hosiery Company had been engaged in the manufacture of ladies’ full fashioned hosiery at the southeast corner of Emerald and Westmoreland streets, having occupied a portion of the mill building located at that point as the tenant of Morris Ellis, from the year 1931 to the date of the appointment of the receiver on April 27, 1936. This court on May 29, 1936, gave the receiver leave to sell the assets of the Ellis Silk Hosiery Company at public sale and pursuant thereto on June 25, 1936, a receiver’s sale was held of the machinery, equipment, and merchandise located on the mortgaged premises.

No notice of the receiver’s sale was given to the Mortgage Service Company, as it was not a creditor of the Ellis Silk Hosiery Company, its mortgage having been given on February 25, 1928, by Morris Ellis, who was then the owner of the premises and still remains as such. The sale was duly confirmed and the proceeds thereof were received by the receiver and have been largely distributed by him pursuant to the order of this court entered July 29, 1936. Certain of the machinery and equipment purchased by Mac Rothkopf was permitted to remain on the mortgaged premises under an agreement with the owner thereof, Morris Ellis. The receiver has, however, surrendered the lease and so far as he is concerned all of the machinery has been delivered to the purchaser. It appears, however, that on September 16, [928]*9281936, the petitioner, as mortgagee, took possession of the real estate and with it the machinery which had been sold by the receiver to Rothkopf and which had been permitted by the latter to remain pursuant to his agreement with the owner of the real estate, Morris Ellis. The petition of the Mortgage Service Company of Philadelphia on which the present rule was granted sets forth that the machinery and equipment purchased by Rothkopf are indispensable to the operation of the factory on the mortgaged premises and that under the terms of the mortgage said machinery and equipment are subject to the lien thereof. Petitioner seeks an order requiring the payment of its mortgage before any of the machinery and equipment remaining on the mortgaged premises is removed.

At the outset, I may say that there seems to me to be serious question as to whether the petitioner has chosen its proper remedy. On the record as it stands, it would appear that the receiver has performed all his functions and no longer has possession either of the machinery and equipment Sold or of the proceeds of the sale. Associated Auctioneers, Inc., merely acted as auctioneer at the receiver’s sale and have completed their services. Some question was raised by the petitioner as to the good faith of the sale, but I am satisfied from the evidence that the sale was bona fide and that Mac Rothkopf purchased the machinery and equipment in question in good faith for his own account. Morris Ellis, the record owner of the mortgaged premises, has now lost possession to the petitioner of both the real estate and the machinery and equipment still remaining therein. Consequently the controversy narrows down to one between the Mortgage Service Company, having possession of the machinery and equipment as mortgagee, and Mac Rothkopf, the purchaser thereof at the receiver’s sale, who desires possession and who claims title thereto free of the lien of the mortgage. It would seem that an action of replevin by Rothkopf against the Mortgage Service Company would provide the proper remedy for this situation. However, in view of the fact that the receiver whose sale is in question has not been discharged and this court, therefore, retains jurisdiction, and since all parties have so requested, I will determine the question whether the lien of the mortgage covered the machinery and equipment sold at the receiver’s sale.

The question whether or not equipment installed in a manufacturing plant has been incorporated in the real estate so as to become subject to the lien of a mortgage thereon is under Pennsylvania law primarily a question of intention and where, as here, there is no, express provision in the mortgage on the subject, that intention is to be determined, not only from the mortgage,but from the surrounding circumstances as well. In re Highland Silk Co. (D.C.) 41 F.(2d) 404; Union Bldg. Co. of Pennsylvania v. Pennell (C.C.A.) 78 F.(2d) 959, 966; Ideal Building & Loan Ass’n v. Bateman (C.C.A.Third Circuit) 85 F.(2d) 961, decided September 22, 1936.

In the present case there was no evidence that the machinery had been so permanently affixed to or incorporated in the building as to make it necessarily part of the real estate, nor was there evidence that the mortgaged building was specially constructed to house the machinery; on the contrary, it appeared that the machinery was not installed until long after the building had been erected and the mortgage executed. It follows that the presumption of the mortgagor’s intention to subject the machinery to the lien of the mortgage which was described by Kirkpatrick, J. in Re Highland Silk Co., supra, as “practically irrebuttable” does not arise in this case. It is equally clear for the same reason that this machinery and equipment is not indispensable to the operation of the mortgaged premises. On the other, hand, it does appear that when the mortgage was executed the portion of the mortgaged premises here involved was occupied as tenant by the Unique Knitting Company, which was engaged in the business of manufacturing golf hose. That company vacated the premises on September 30, 1928, more than seven months after the mortgage was executed, and at that time removed all of its machinery and equipment from the building without any apparent objection by the mortgagee. The premises then remained vacant for a period, and afterwards the Ellis Silk Hosiery Company leased the basement, part of the first floor, and the second floor of the building which is described in the mortgage as “a four story factory or mill building,” and between the years 1931 and 1935 installed the machinery and equipment in question therein. The Ellis Silk Hosiery Company was owned by Morris Ellis, the owner of the real estate, and his brother A. M. Ellis, but while Morris Ellis was the manager of the business he did not control it, since his brother owned a majority of the shares. There [929]*929was, therefore, no identity of interest between lessor and lessee. The conditions of the tenancy, so far as concerns the period after January 1, 1936, are set forth in a lease dated December 27, 1935, which contains the usual clause that any improvements or alterations made by the lessee shall become the property of the lessor. There was, however, no evidence as to the conditions of the tenancy during the period prior to January 1, 1936, when the machinery and equipment was being installed.

Considering these circumstances and the other evidence, I find that it was not the intention of the parties to incorporate into the real estate and so subject to the lien of the mortgage the machinery installed in the building by the Ellis Silk Hosiery Company.

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Related

In re Highland Silk Co.
41 F.2d 404 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1929)
Union Bldg. Co. of Pennsylvania v. Pennell
78 F.2d 959 (Third Circuit, 1935)
Ideal Building & Loan Ass'n v. Bateman
85 F.2d 961 (Third Circuit, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 F. Supp. 927, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jankey-v-ellis-silk-hosiery-co-paed-1936.