King v. Mellon National Bank

75 A. 832, 227 Pa. 22, 1910 Pa. LEXIS 595
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 4, 1909
DocketAppeal, No. 210
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 75 A. 832 (King v. Mellon National Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. Mellon National Bank, 75 A. 832, 227 Pa. 22, 1910 Pa. LEXIS 595 (Pa. 1909).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Brown,

January 3, 1910:

This bill was filed to compel the Mellon National Bank of Pittsburg to surrender to the complainant three certificates of the capital stock of the Pittsburg Trust Company and for an accounting of dividends received thereon. The complaint of the appellee is that the thirty-two shares of stock for which she held the three certificates were her property and were unlawfully pledged to the bank by Whitney & Stephenson, a firm of brokers, as collateral security for their indebtedness to it. There is no dispute about the facts upon which the decree in her favor was made. In 1903 she was the owner of the stock in controversy, and the same stood in her name on the books of the Pittsburg Trust Company. She delivered her certificates to Whitney & Stephenson that they might sell the stock when the market price reached $900 per share. In delivering the certificates to them she signed the blank transfer and power of attorney on the back of each. Whitney & Stephenson were a reputable firm of brokers' at the time they received the certificates, and continued to be of good repute until they were adjudged bankrupts in December, 1907. On June 30, 1906, they borrowed from the appellant $50,000 on their promissory note, [24]*24payable on demand, securing the same by the deposit of various collaterals. The collateral clause in the note provided that the collaterals deposited should be held by the bank as security hot only for the payment of the note of that date, but for all other indebtedness or liability of the makers, “ whether absolute or contingent as maker or endorser, drawer or acceptor,' now existing, or which may hereafter be contracted or incurred.” At that time the bank held two demand notes which they had procured from Whitney & Stephenson, the one dated April 13, 1903, for $48,000, upon which they were makers, the other dated May 7, 1906, for $50,000, upon which they were indorsers. Each of these notes was secured by the deposit of various collaterals, the collateral clause in each being similar to that in the note of June 30, 1906. On March 23, 1907, Whitney & Stephenson procured from the bank the return to them of 200 shares of Pittsburg Plate Glass Company stock and 100 shares of Penn Iron & Coal Company stock, which had been deposited by them on June 30, 1906, as collateral security under the collateral clause in their note of that date. This stock was their absolute property. In lieu of it they delivered to the bank the thirty-two shares of Pitts-burg Trust Company stock which had been left with them by the appellee, sixty-seven shares of Central District & Printing Telegraph Company stock and $2,500 in cash. The value of the securities returned by the bank to Whitney & Stephenson was about equal to what was substituted for them. The bank subsequently — in October and November, 1907 — became the holder of four notes aggregating $11,500, upon which Whitney '& Stephenson were liable as makers or indorsers. Two of these notes, for $5,000 each, dated October 3, 1907, upon which they were makers, were secured by collaterals. The other two, upon which they were indorsers, were not so secured. Whitney & Stephenson were adjudged bankrupts in December; 1907, and by authority of the United States district court the bank was authorized to expose to sale the col-laterals pledged with the five notes, with the exception of the ' stock claimed by the' áppellée. The amount realized from the sale of these collaterals on July 2, 1908, was $120,469.85. [25]*25The amount due the bank by Whitney & Stephenson at that time was $140,123.90, leaving a balance unpaid of $19,654.05, with interest from June 22, 1907. Subsequently, under the authority contained in the collateral note of June 30, 1906, and with the approval of the United States district court, the bank sold at public auction the thirty-two shares of stock claimed by plaintiff for $12,640, her attorney becoming the purchaser of it. The amount realized from the collateral deposited with the note of June 30, 1906, exclusive of the plaintiff’s stock, exceeded the amount due on that note. The amount realized from the sale of the collaterals pledged for the notes of April 13, 1903, and May 7, 1906, fell short by about $19,000 of the balance due on them, which was reduced by the price received for plaintiff’s stock to about $7,000. If the decree directing the appellant to pay to the appellee the amount realized from the sale of her stock stands, the appellant will be short about $19,000, with interest, and, with the decree reversed, allowing it to retain the proceeds of the sale of the stock, there will still be due it about $7,000.

The first legal conclusion of the court below was that, if complainant’s stock was needed to pay the note of June 30, 1906, she must bear the loss, and that, under the terms and conditions of the collateral clause in that note, loss must fall upon her if her stock, or any portion of it, was needed to pay the indebtedness of Whitney & Stephenson to the bank incurred subsequently to June 30, 1906. The authorities relied upon to sustain this correct conclusion are: Shattuck v. American Cement Company, 205 Pa. 197; Ryman v. Gerlach, 153 Pa. 197; Pennsylvania Railroad Company’s Appeal, 86 Pa. 80. When the complainant left her stock with Whitney & Stephenson, with her signature attached to each blank transfer and power of attorney, for the purpose of enabling them to sell it, she clothed them with all the indicia of ownership, and against anyone who might have taken or purchased the stock from them for value she could set up no right or equity which she might have against them. Anyone to-whom they might have delivered the stock for value, in the ordinary course of business, would have an absolute title to it, but, conceding [26]*26this to be so, the contention of the appellee, sustained by the court below in its second conclusion, is that her stock was not made liable on March 23, 1907, for the indebtedness of Whitney & Stephenson on the notes of April 13, 1903, and May 7, 1906. The reason given by the learned judge for this conclusion is: “But, Linnard’s Appeal, 2 Sadler, 195; Ashton’s Appeal, 73 Pa. 153, and the cases there cited; and Callendar v. Kelly, 190 Pa. 455, have established the well-settled rule in this state that a creditor who takes chattels, notes, or other choses in action as security for a pre-existing debt, is not a purchaser for value, as against the real owners. The value parted with by the bank on June 30 was $50,000 in consideration of the collateral that day received; the value it parted with on the two antecedent debts, namely, April 13, 1903, and May 7, 1906, was not directly or indirectly in consideration of the collateral pledged either on June 30, 1906, or March 23, 1907; as against the plaintiff the rightful owner of the stock, the pledgee’s right for payment of the antecedent debt must fall; the equities existing between both, equally innocent, estop the pledgee from benefit when the antecedent debts were not based upon any value subsequently given, at the time the security was pledged. This is not only the doctrine of this state, but prevails in other jurisdictions, inter alia, in Cleveland v. Bank, 16 Ohio, 236; Weaver v. Barden, 49 N. Y. 286; National Trust Company v. Gray, 12 Court of Appeals, D. of C. 276; People’s Savings Bank v. Bates, 120 U. S. 566.”

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Bluebook (online)
75 A. 832, 227 Pa. 22, 1910 Pa. LEXIS 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-mellon-national-bank-pa-1909.