Lime City Building, Loan & Savings Ass'n v. Black

35 N.E. 829, 136 Ind. 544, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 77
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1893
DocketNo. 17,109
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 35 N.E. 829 (Lime City Building, Loan & Savings Ass'n v. Black) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lime City Building, Loan & Savings Ass'n v. Black, 35 N.E. 829, 136 Ind. 544, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 77 (Ind. 1893).

Opinion

McCabe, J.

This was a suit brought by the appellee against the appellant to recover the value of six shares of the stock in said association, alleged to belong to appellee, and have a receiver appointed for said association, to wind up its affairs.

The complaint was in two paragraphs, the second being filed some time after the commencement of the suit, in which new parties defendant are made.

[546]*546There was a demurrer to each paragraph of the complaint overruled; answer in six paragraphs, the first of which is a general denial.

A demurrer to each of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs of answer was overruled as to the second, and sustained as to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth paragraphs.

Reply in three paragraphs, the first of which is a general denial.

A demurrer to the first and second paragraphs of the reply was overruled.

Trial by the court; finding for appellee as against the appellant, upon which appellee had judgment over a motion for a new trial, and a receiver was appointed for appellant, and the cause, as to the new parties, brought in by the second paragraph of the complaint, was dismissed by appellee.

The errors assigned call in question the action of the trial court in overruling a demurrer to the complaint; in sustaining the demurrer to the third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs of the answer; in overruling the demurrer to the second and third paragraphs of the reply; in overruling the motion for a new trial, and questioning the sufficiency of the complaint, and the propriety of appointing a receiver.

The substance of the first paragraph of the complaint is that appellant was organized on the 5th day of May, 1879, as a corporation, under the laws of the State of Indiana, with articles of association and by-laws and rules of business, all of which are set out in the body of the complaint.

The fourth article provided that “This association shall continue in operation eight years, unless the funds of the association shall be sufficient to pay all debts and to redeem all stock in a shorter time.”

[547]*547It is provided, that the capital stock of the association shall be five hundred shares of one hundred and fifty dollars each, and that dues are to be paid by each shareholder or member, of twenty-five cents per share, each week until the value of each share should be one hundred and fifty dollars, and that on the said 5th day of May, 1879, appellee purchased and became the owner of six shares of the capital stock of said association; that he paid his weekly dues of twenty-five cents on each share from the date of purchase until the-day of--, 1889, and all fines and assessments made against him as such stockholder; that he paid into said association, as dues and interest, the sum of $628.50, and that at said date to which dues were paid, said shares were of the face value of, viz., $150 per share, or a total value of $900, and is of the value of $900; that he has received no interest or dividends on said shares of stock, but he says that said association, by its board of directors, who have the management and control of the affairs of said association, have fraudulently and illegally paid out to a majority of the stockholders of said association the sum of $155 per share of stock, and have paid out to other stockholders the sum of $135 per share of said stock, the exact number who have received these sums plaintiff can not give, for the reasons that the books and papers of said association are in the hands of the secretary thereof, who refuses to allow this plaintiff to examine them.

And plaintiff further avers that said association had paid all the stockholders from $135 to $150 per share, except plaintiff; that he has demanded payment for his shares of stock, as other stockholders were paid, but defendant refused, and still refuses, to pay this plaintiff more than $135 on one of his shares, and absolutely refuses to pay him anything whatever on his five remain[548]*548ing shares of stock; that there is now due and unpaid from said corporation to this plaintiff, on account of said shares owned by him, the sum of $1,000; that there is now due said corporation, from the stockholders, a large amount in dues, which said association refuses to collect, the exact amount of which this plaintiff is unable to give for the reason that said association, and the secretary thereof, fraudulently conceal the books of said association.

And the plaintiff now asks the court to compel the defendant to recover back from the stockholders of said association, the sums illegally and 'fraudulently paid them, and that the defendant be required to give a complete and full statement of all stock issued, the amount of dues collected on each share; in short, to make a true and complete accounting of all receipts and disbursements of said association from its organization until the present time, and that the defendant be ordered to pay plaintiff, on account of said shares, etc.

And plaintiff avers that said corporation was organized on May 5, 1879, and limited to eight years from said date, and that the three years given by statute within which to close up the affairs of the said corporation may expire before said collections can be fully made and settlement had of the affairs of said association, and plaintiff now asks the court to appoint a receiver to collect all sums due said corporation and recover back all said sums wrongfully paid out by said corporation or the officers thereof, and for all other and further relief.

The second paragraph is substantially the same as the first, except that it makes the officers of the corporation parties defendant, and does not ask the appointment of a receiver. •

As already observed, there having been no finding either for or against such officers, the'cause was dismissed [549]*549as to them, and even prior to that time the subsequent pleadings treated the second paragraph of the complaint as abandoned, and in as much as the finding and judgment seem to he based on the first paragraph, the ruling was harmless, even if erroneous, in overruling the demurrer to the second paragraph of the complaint.

If a judgment is based wholly on a paragraph of complaint that is good, errors in overruling a demurrer-to other paragraphs that are bad will' not be considered. Bloomfield R. R. Co.v. Van Slike, 107 Ind. 480; Tracewell, Admr., v. Farnsley, 104 Ind. 497; Cincinnati, etc., R. W. Co. v. Gaines, 104 Ind. 526; Martin v. Cauble, 72 Ind. 67; Blasingame v. Blasingame, 24 Ind. 86.

The complaint was filed and the suit begun on the 12th day of April, 1890. The receiver was appointed on the 15th day of June, 1892. The appellant was organized as a corporation under the laws of the State of Indiana, on the 5th day of May, 1879, and its corporate existence was limited by its articles of association to eight years after that time. The judgment was rendered on the 22d day of February, 1893, more than the eight years limited for the corporate life of appellant since its incorporation, and more than three years allowed by statute for closing up the affairs of the corporation after the expiration of appellant’s charter.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Fuquay v. State
583 N.E.2d 154 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)
Lommason v. the Washington Trust Co.
53 A.2d 175 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1947)
Luckett v. Hammond
124 N.E. 675 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1919)
Laramore v. Blumenthal
108 N.E. 602 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1915)
Woodring v. McCaslin
104 N.E. 759 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1914)
Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Voliva
101 N.E. 338 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1913)
Curless v. Watson
100 N.E. 576 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1913)
Lambert v. Bd. Trustees Public Library
152 S.W. 802 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1913)
Model Automobile Co. v. Sterling
99 N.E. 51 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1912)
Workingmen's Mutual Protective Ass'n v. Leverton
98 N.E. 871 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1912)
Smith v. Andrew
98 N.E. 734 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1912)
Princeton Coal Mining Co. v. Lawrence
95 N.E. 423 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1911)
Thorn v. Silver
89 N.E. 943 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1909)
Jackson v. Hocke
84 N.E. 830 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1908)
Hanrahan v. Knickerbocker
72 N.E. 1137 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1905)
Abbott v. Inman
72 N.E. 284 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1904)
State ex rel. Dreibelbiss v. Berghoff
63 N.E. 717 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1902)
Gunder v. Tibbits
55 N.E. 762 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1899)
State v. Friedley
51 N.E. 473 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1898)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
35 N.E. 829, 136 Ind. 544, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lime-city-building-loan-savings-assn-v-black-ind-1893.