Ketcham v. Ketcham

94 A. 813, 84 N.J. Eq. 577, 14 Buchanan 577, 1915 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 62
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedJune 17, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 A. 813 (Ketcham v. Ketcham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ketcham v. Ketcham, 94 A. 813, 84 N.J. Eq. 577, 14 Buchanan 577, 1915 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 62 (N.J. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinion

Emery, V. C.

Complainant, William S. Ketcham, Jr., on December 28th, 1908, brought suit against George W. Ketcham as administrator of the estate of their father, William S. Ketcham, Sr., upon a note given by the intestate to complainant for $6,666.64, dated August 6th, 1895, payable to the order of complainant with interest on demand. William S. Ketcham, Sr., died September 25th, 1896, and on October 20th, 1896, the administrator took out the usual rule to limit creditors, upon which an order barring creditors was entered July 21st, 1897. Complainant presented to the administrator a claim upon this note, dated and sworn to on July 20th, 1897, and claiming the entire amount, with interest, as due to him from his father’s estate. One plea in the suit at law was that the claim was not presented within the time limited and was therefore barred. Another plea was that of the statute of limitations, and that the causes of action did not accrue within six years before the commencement of the suit (December 20th, 1908). To this plea the complainant as plaintiff replied:

First, that the cause of action did accrue within the six years, and second, that the defendant, on July 20th, 1897, being indebted to complainant on this note, by memorandum, in writing, then signed, promised to pay the moneys due on it

“when plaintiff should be compelled to pay any sum of money by reason of a certain subscription to the capital stock of the Clinton Hill Lumber and Manufacturing Company, which plaintiff had entered into at the request of the intestate, as his agent,”

and that within six years before the suit he had been compelled to pay “a large sum of money,” and therefore plaintiff claimed judgment. The judgment claimed was apparently for the whole amount of the note, and not merely to the extent of the amount plaintiff was compelled to pay, the claim being, apparently, that, on the contingency of the payment named, whenever it might [579]*579be, the administrator’s promise was to be treated as a promise to pay the entire amount, of the note. The administrator denied the subsequent promise. , On the trial, the plaintiff, as proof of the subsequent promise in writing by the administrator, produced a letter signed by the administrator, dated July 21st, 1897, relating to the claim, as presented under oath, objecting that this amount was not truly owing. This letter is set out in full in the bill, and states substantially that plaintiff’s claim should be stated differently, and as being a claim only in case plaintiff was obliged to pay any demand that might be made against him personally by creditors of one Holloway, and also suggesting a form of claim to be put in. On the trial at law the circuit court judge left to the jury the construction of this document and the determination of the question whether it amounted to a new promise by the administrator. Under these instructions, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff on this issue of subsequent 'promise, and upon the other issues joined, and for the whole amount of the note, with interest, being then $12,510.33. The amount paid by plaintiff on account of his liability on the claims of the Holloway creditors was, however, only $3,658.99, paid in or about July, 1906. This was proved in the suit at law.. On application for new trial before another circuit judge, this verdict was set aside upon the ground that the construction of the letter or memorandum as being a subsequent promise of the administrator, in writing, was for the court, not the jury, and that error was committed in leaving this question of construction of the instrument to the jury, Circuit Judge Adams saying, that the defendant was, as his substantial right, entitled to the decision by the court, and of this construction as a legal question, and was therefore-entitled to a new trial, even though the jury might have, in his opinion (as lie expressed it to be), properly construed the instrument. Upon the new trial being directed, the plaintiff filed this bill to enjoin the defendant from setting up the statute of limitations, -and other matters and dealings between the complainant and the defendant as administrator relating to the claim which had been put in and his claim for indemnification against liability as subscriber or stockholder of the Clinton Hill Lumber and Manu[580]*580factoring Company, have been set up and proved at length. At the hearing, and on the proofs complainant claims to 'be entitled to further prosecute the suit at law, asking aid from this court only to enjoin the defence of the statute of limitations, and that this equitable relief should be granted, leaving the plaintiff then in position to prosecute at law the claim against his father’s estate upon the note and as for the entire amount. This was the claim and its extent as prosecuted by complainant for his own benefit on the trial, and for this he obtained a verdict on a claim as legally entirely due to him and payable from the estate.

On the hearing of this cause the evidence took a very wide range, embracing the series of litigations referred to in the bill, extending from 1893 to 1908, together with the records in these suits and proceedings.

The facts, so far as they bear upon the question as to complainant’s right to the special equitable relief, which he prays, or to his status for any equitable relief of any kind upon his claim, are substantially as follows:

A company, called the Clinton Hill Lumber and Manufacturing Company, was organized in January, 1893, for the purpose (among other things) of taking over the stock of lumber of one Holloway and carrying on the lumber business. All or most of the capital for the business of Holloway had been furnished by or on the credit of William S. Ketcham, Sr., and one object which the Ketchams and Holloway had in view in the organization of the company to take over .the business, was to pay or secure this indebtedness of Holloway to William S. Ketcham, Sr. By bill of sale dated January 23d, 1893, Holloway transferred this lumber and other property to the company, the lumber in the transfer being valued at least $8,200, and full-paid shares for that amount were issued to the three Ketchams, decedent and complainant each receiving forty shares and George W. Ketcham two shares. They had subscribed, respectively, for one hundred shares, one hundred shares and five shares, but no further shares than the eighty-two shares were issued to any persons, nor was any further money paid in. The lumber, after this transfer to the company, was in the actual custody of complainant, who was one of its directors and officers.

[581]*581Subsequently, all of the Ketchams claimed that the incorporation had not been completed according to law, and, under a resolution of directors of the company on February 6th, 1893, complainant was appointed, with one Camfield, custodian of the property. Camfield did not act. The company not going on with its business, later on Holloway himself claimed the property; decedent also claimed an interest in it, under claims against Holloway, and Holloway’s creditors claimed it from the Clinton Hill company by the suit above referred to, which was commenced on March 16th, 1893. Complainant now says he thought it well to sell the lumber and saw no harm in loaning the ¡proceeds of sale to his father and taking his note. By arrangement between the three Ketchams, the property was to be sold and disposed of by complainant for the benefit of decedent, and this was actually done shortly after. The complainant sold the lumber and applied the proceeds, $6,666.84, to the use of the decedent, except about $250.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 A. 813, 84 N.J. Eq. 577, 14 Buchanan 577, 1915 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 62, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ketcham-v-ketcham-njch-1915.