Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic Trust Co.

23 N.Y.S. 496, 69 Hun 264, 76 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 264, 53 N.Y. St. Rep. 374
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 23 N.Y.S. 496 (Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic Trust Co., 23 N.Y.S. 496, 69 Hun 264, 76 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 264, 53 N.Y. St. Rep. 374 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1893).

Opinion

VA¡N BRUNT, P. J.

Both parties in their pleadings have resorted to the pernicious practice which has been so often condemned by the courts of referring to allegations in pleadings as being embraced between certain folios, which style of allegation necessarily produces the greatest confusion and uncertainty, as the folios in a printed record are entirely different from those which appear in the original pleadings. Upon an examination of the pleadings presented upon this appeal it appears that that portion of the answer which is demurred to, and which is pleaded as a further and separate defense, contains no denials, and therefore the defense is to be treated as an avoidance simply of the cause of action alleged in the complaint. Briefly stated, such cause of action is to the effect that on or about the 29th of April, 1890, the defendant the United Electric Traction Company duly made and delivered to the plaintiff its certain guaranty in the words and figures following:

“For value received, the United Electric Traction Company, a corporation created and organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey, does hereby, for itself, its successors, and assigns, guaranty to. the Mercantile Trust Company, as trustee, the payment of principal and interest, at maturity, of one hundred and two (102) bonds of the Julien Electric Traction Company, of $1,000 each, being numbers 1 to 30, 57 to 64, 67 to 70, 76 to 105, 110, 118, 123 to 150; and the United Electric Traction Company, aforesaid, does hereby, for itself, its successors and assigns, covenant and agree to comply with all the conditions, stipulations, and agreements contained in the mortgage or deed of trust executed by the Julien Electric Traction Company to the Mercantile Trust Company, trustee, bearing date June 26, 1889, and a supplemental mortgage confirming the same, bearing date October 18, 1890. to secure said bonds, more especially the requirements of said mortgage as to renewing, replacing, and keeping in good condition all the property covered by said mortgage and said supplemental mortgage. And the United Electric Traction Company, aforesaid, does hereby, for itself, its successors and assigns, covenant, stipulate, and agree that the United Electric Traction Company, aforesaid, will not make, nor allow to be made or issued, any mortgage, mortgage bonds, debentures, or any preference securities other than the $2,000,000 in preferred stock provided for in the said the United Electric Traction Company’s articles of incorporation, until all of the said 102 bonds above referred to, both principal and interest, shall have been paid or redeemed pursuant to the terms of said bonds.”

And that at or about the same time there was deposited with the defendant the Atlantic Trust Company 30,000 shares of the capital stock of the Consolidated Electric Storage Company as security for the performance of said guaranty, which said stock the said defendant the Atlantic (Trust Company received for such purpose, and indorsed upon said guaranty its certificate as follows:

“There has been deposited with the Atlantic Trust Co. 30,000 shares of the Consolidated Electric Storage Company’s stock, séeurity for the performance of above guaranty.”

That since July, 1891, default having been made in the payment of the interest due upon the bonds mentioned in the guaranty, and said bonds having become due and payable, payment thereof [498]*498has been duly demanded of the United Electric Traction Company and its receiver, which payment has been refused; and that after such refusal the plaintiff - duly demanded of the defendant the Atlantic Trust Company that it deliver to the plaintiff said 30,000 shares of capital stock, or that it sell the same, or cause the same to be sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment of thé principal and interest remaining unpaid upon said bonds mentioned in the guaranty; but said defendant the Atlantic Trust Company has refused to comply with either of said demands. After an allegation as to the amount of the debt, judgment is demanded that the Atlantic Trust Company be decreed to deliver said 30,000 shares of stock to the plaintiff, or that said stock be sold under the direction of the court, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the principal and interest remaining unpaid of the bonds mentioned in said guaranty.

To this complaint the defendant the Atlantic Trust Company alleged by way of defense that prior to the execution of the guaranty of the United Electric Traction Company hereinbefore mentioned, and prior to the making of the indorsement thereon that said Atlantic Trust Company had received as security for the performance of said guaranty 30,000 shares of the Consolidated Electric Storage Company’s stock, said Electric Traction Company had hypothecated to the Atlantic Trust Company, as security for advances thereafter to be made to it by the Atlantic Trust Company, its interest in 60,000 shares of the capital stock of the Consolidated Electric Storage Company theretofore issued and delivered to and then standing in the name of the Atlantic Trust Company, as trustee, 30,000 shares thereof, being the shares which the said Atlantic Trust Company acknowledged to have received as security for the performance of said guaranty; and that the said Atlantic Trust Company signed said acknowledgment relying upon and upon the faith of the agreement of the defendant the United Electric Traction Company, contained in the guaranty, that said United Electric Traction Company would not make, nor allow to be made or issued, any mortgage, mortgage bonds, debentures, or any preferred securities, other than the $2,000,000 in preferred stock provided for in said United Electric Traction Company’s articles of incorporation, until all the bonds referred to in the guaranty, both principal and interest, should have been paid and redeemed; and that thereafter, and prior to the 8th December, 1890, relying upon and upon the faith of said agreement, the Atlantic Trust Company advanced and loaned to said United Electric Traction Company divers sums of money amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $190,000 or thereabouts, upon the hypothecation to it as security for the payment therefor of the interest of said defendant the United Electric Traction Company in the 60,000 shares of the Consolidated Electric Storage Company’s stock as above set forth. The defendant then alleged that on or about the 8th December, 1890, the said United Electric Traction Company, without its consent, executed to the plaintiff, as trustee, its certain mortgage or deed of trust, whereby it conveyed to the said plaintiff certain specified real and personal [499]*499property therein set forth to secure its bonds to the amount in the aggregate of $700,000, which said trust was accepted by the plaintiff, who thereafter certified said bonds, which were thereafter issued, and are still outstanding and unpaid. To this defense the plaintiff interposed a demurrer, upon the ground that it was insufficient in law upon the face thereof. The ground upon which the defendant claims to uphold the defense demurred to is that the 30,000 shares of stock deposited as collateral are to be deemed a surety, and that the permitting by the plaintiff of the violation of the restrictions contained in the guaranty upon which this 30,000 shares of stock was a surety changed the position of the surety, and discharged the stock from its obligation. It seems to us that this position, which it is necessary to maintain, is giving a personality to a thing, and a power of contract to an article of personal property, which has never yet been recognized in the law.

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Related

Mercantile Trust Co. v. Atlantic Trust Co.
33 N.Y.S. 252 (New York Supreme Court, 1895)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 N.Y.S. 496, 69 Hun 264, 76 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 264, 53 N.Y. St. Rep. 374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mercantile-trust-co-v-atlantic-trust-co-nysupct-1893.