McIlwaine v. Ellington

111 F. 578, 55 L.R.A. 933, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4405
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedNovember 5, 1901
DocketNo. 351
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 111 F. 578 (McIlwaine v. Ellington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McIlwaine v. Ellington, 111 F. 578, 55 L.R.A. 933, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4405 (4th Cir. 1901).

Opinion

MORRIS, District Judge

(after stating the facts). The learned circuit judge had questions identical with those in this case before him in the case of Mcllwaine v. Iseley, and, having very carefully considered them, he announced his conclusions in an opinion which is reported in 96 Fed. 62, and in the supplemental opinion in the same volume at page 775. Having considered all the facts of Iseley’s Case, which in essentials did not differ from the present case, he found that by express terms, and by the explicit understanding and intention of the parties as expressed in the note, the subscription to stock and the loan were Tennessee contracts; that they were consummated at Knoxville, in that state, and all dues and payments were required to be paid there; and that it was not so made a Tennessee contract to evade the usury laws of North Carolina, but for the reason that, the association having borrowing and nonborrowing shareholders in many other states, it was necessary [582]*582that it should have one uniform rule of construction of its contract, in order to insure equality, uniformity, and mutuality among all its members. We fully agree with the learned circuit judge that the contract in this case'was a Tennessee contract. The circuit judge further found that under the rule of law of Tennessee the contract in this case was legal and valid, and free from the imputation of usury. Had the association still been a solvent and going concern, the mortgagors would have been required to settle with it according to the terms of their contract. The Tennessee law was proved in the case by the testimony of Tennessee lawyers familiar with the rulings of the courts of that state, and the circuit judge also referred to the decisions of the following Tennessee cases, which fully establish these rules: McCauley v. Association, 97 Tenn. 421, 37 S. W. 212, 35 L. R. A. 244, 56 Am. St. Rep. 813; Post v. Association, 97 Tenn. 408, 37 S. W. 216, 34 L. R. A. 201; Rogers v. Hargo, 92 Tenn. 35, 20 S. W. 430; Hughes v. Association (Tenn. Ch. App.) 46 S. W. 362.

The circuit judge further found that by the laws of North Carolina —the state in which the mortgaged land was situated, and in which this proceeding to foreclosure was prosecuted—the rule was different, and that by the decisions of the supreme court of North Carolina such a contract would be held unconscionable and usurious, and not to be enforced, and, if the association were solvent, the rule of settlement under the North Carolina decisions would be to charge the borrower with the sum loaned and interest from the date of the loan, and to credit him with all sums paid as interest, premium, and stock dues as partial payments. Meroney v. Association, 116 N. C. 882, 21 S. E. 924, 47 Am. St. Rep. 841; Rowland v. Association, 116 N. C. 878, 22 S. E. 8. The rule of settlement between the association and its borrowing members would be very different under the North Carolina law from that which would be the rule if the Tennessee law governed. While this association, if solvent, would have been entitled to have collected a considerable sum from the defendants had the account between them been stated in accordance with the Tennessee law, the defendants would have overpaid b)f $9.42 the amount which the association could have claimed from them if the relations between them were governed by the North Carolina laws. This association is, however, not solvent, but is insolvent! The rule of settlement between the borrowing members and the association is in'both Tennessee and North Carolina different, when, the association has become insolvent, from that which prevails in each state when it is solvent. In Tennessee, when the association has become insolvent, its receivers are by the law of Tennessee, in settling with the borrowing members, permitted to charge them with the amount loaned and interest thereon at 6 per cent., and to give them credit for all payments of interest and premium as partial payments, but not to credit them with the monthly payments for stock dues or membership fees, as to which they are treated as other stockholders, and are entitled to only their pro rata share in the distribution of the corporate assets. See Tennessee cases heretofore cited. In North Carolina, as the circuit judge has held, borrowing stockholders of an insolvent [583]*583association, in addition to the amount which they' would owe the association were it solvent, are liable to contribute their proper proportion of the losses chargeable to their share of advanced stock for the benefit of the other members of the association. Meares v. Davis, 121 N. C. 126, 28 S. E. 188; Thompson v. Association, 120 N. C. 420, 27 S. E. 118; Williams v. Maxwell, 123 N. C. 586, 31 S. E. 821. It thus appears that, while the rule of settlement between an insolvent association and its borrowing shareholders is stated in different language by the courts of Tennessee from that which is used by the courts of North Carolina, yet, those rules are in their practical results hardly distinguishable. The question as to which rule should govern, however, was strenuously contested before the circuit judge, and subsequently on appeal before this court. The circuit judge, having found the stock subscription and loan to be a Tennessee contract, then considered the question whether, as the performance of the contract was secured by a mortgage of land in North Carolina, and the object of this suit was a foreclosure and sale of the land because of default, the circuit court was controlled by the North Carolina decisions for the purpose of such a proceeding in North Carolina, and was bound to treat the contract as a North Carolina court would treat it. As to this question the circuit judge held that the gist of the action was the mortgage of land in North Carolina, and as the North Carolina courts had decided that such a mortgage to secure a loan of money under such a contract, when the money was to be used in North Carolina on the mortgaged land, could not be enforced except to the extent of requiring the repayment of the principal and simple interest at 6 per cent., crediting all payments as partial payments on the loan, the circuit court of the United States sitting in that state was controlled by those decisions as in the nature of a rule of property. The circuit judge accordingly held that the North Carolina rule of settlement should be applied, and so decreed. The appellants assigned this as error.

In accordance with an accounting under the North Carolina rule, the circuit judge decreed that the defendants were found to have overpaid the amount with wdiich they were chargeable by the sum of $9.42, but that they were still liable for their proper proportion of the losses chargeable to the shares of advanced stock for the benefit of the other members of the association, and that the defendants were not entitled to have the mortgage released, but that it should stand as security for the ultimate payment by the defendants of their pro rata contribution to such losses and deficiencies. We do not agree with the learned circuit judge in his conclusion that, because this was a suit to foreclose a mortgage of land in North Carolina, given to secure the performance of the Tennessee contract, the North Carolina rule for the construction of the contract must prevail. When, by the rule applicable to the construction of the contract, the amount due thereunder is ascertained, then the mortgage stands as security for the payment of that amount. As to the proceedings to foreclose the mortgage and the manner and terms of sale, the terms of redemption of the land from the sale, and similar matters, the laws of the state where the land lies do control. Brine [584]*584v.

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

Related

Equilease Corp. v. Belk Hotel Corp.
256 S.E.2d 836 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 1979)
Patterson v. Wyman
170 N.W. 928 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1919)
Casner v. Hoskins
128 P. 841 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1912)
Washington National Building & Loan Ass'n v. Pifer
31 App. D.C. 434 (D.C. Circuit, 1908)
Columbian B. & L. Ass'n v. Rice
47 S.E. 63 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1904)
Alexander v. Southern Home Building & Loan Ass'n
120 F. 963 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of South Carolina, 1903)
Interstate Building & Loan Ass'n v. Edgefield Hotel Co.
120 F. 422 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of South Carolina, 1903)
United States Savings & Loan Co. v. Harris
113 F. 27 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky, 1902)
Kinney v. Columbia Savings & Loan Ass'n
113 F. 359 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Utah, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
111 F. 578, 55 L.R.A. 933, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcilwaine-v-ellington-ca4-1901.