Meyer v. Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway Co.

3 Utah 280
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1883
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Utah 280 (Meyer v. Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyer v. Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway Co., 3 Utah 280 (Utah 1883).

Opinion

Twxss, J.:

This suit is brought in the first district court by Louis H. Meyer and George A. Lowe, trustees, to foreclose a mortgage or trust deed given by the defendant upon its railroad and other property to secure the payment of a series of nine hundred bonds of one thousand dollars each, issued and negotiated by the defendant; and on the 21st day of February, 1882, judgment and decree was rendered, foreclosing the •mortgage upon the corporate franchises of the defendant, upon its railroad running from Provo City to the coal-fields in Pleasant valley in this territory, upon all of its rolling stock and equipments, and upon all its lands, hereditaments, [286]*286and appurtenances, including the interest o£ defendant in all coal-lands and coal-veins, and all buildings, offices, tracks, and fixtures of every nature, and used in connection witb said coal mines owned by or in trust for tbe defendant, in townships 12 and 13 south, of range 7 east, in said territory of Utah, and formerly in San Pete, but now in Emery county. The plaintiffs, Meyer and Lowe, were by the said decree declared to be the lawfully constituted trustees of said deed of trust, and as such, and upon the trusts therein mentioned, vested with the title to the properties, rights, and franchises described in said deed of trust, and were authorized to sell the same. It also appears by the record that in an action then pending in said court, wherein William M. Spackman was plaintiff, and the Utah and Pleasant Yalley Railway Company and Thomas 0. Platt were defendants, a judgment was rendered by the court on the twenty-fourth day of April, 1882, decreeing that the east half of the south-east quarter of section 8, and the west half of the north-west quarter of section 33, and the west half of the south-west quarter of section 28, and the south-east quarter of the north-west quarter, and lot No. 5, and the south half of the north-east quarter of section 6, all in township 13 south, of range 7 east, of Salt Lake meridian, containing four hundred and sixty-six and forty-eight hundredths acres, more or less, be sold by a receiver, and that the plaintiff Lowe was appointed such receiver for that purpose; that the avails of such sale be applied in payment of such judgment; and further adjudging that the sale so made shall transfer and be a bar upon the defendant, the Utah and Pleasant Yalley Railway Company, as to all right, title, interest, use, beneficial interest, and right of possession of said company in and to the premises so sold; and also transfer and be a bar upon the defendant Thomas C. Platt, as to all the right, title, and interest acquired by him, or which he has or holds in trust or otherwise, by or under the deeds to him from Goss and Cochrane.

It also further appears by the record that the sale so decreed was made by the said receiver on the eleventh day of July, 1882, for the sum of forty thousand dollars, to William M. Spackman, he being the highest bidder, and that being the highest sum that was bid' for the same; that he made pay[287]*287ment for tbe same by paying cash to the amount of one hundred and thirty-five dollars and twenty-five cents; that the balance thereof, thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and sixty-four dollars and seventy-five cents, was credited on a judgment in favor of said Spackman against said railway company, pursuant to the directions of said decree. The record further shows that the mortgage or deed of trust, to foreclose which this suit is brought, provides “ that the said trustees, or cither of them, may be removed by instrument of writing, under the hands and seals of a majority in interest of the outstanding bonds secured hereby. * * * That in case at any time hereafter either of the said trustees, or any future trustee hereafter appointed, shall die or resign, or be removed as herein provided, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, or become mentally incapacitated to execute the trust, a majority in amount of the holders of the then outstanding bonds issued hereunder shall have the right and power by instrument in writing, under their hands and seals, to appoint a new trustee to fill such vacancy.” That on the thirty-first day of August, 1881, William Spackman was the owner and holder of four hundred and eighty-two bonds, amounting in the aggregate to four hundred and eighty-two thousand dollars, exclusive of interest, and constituting a majority in number and interestof all the bonds secured by the mortgage or deed of trust, removed the said De'Graaf and Wilkins from the office and position of trustees under said mortgage and deed of trust, and constituted and appointed the plaintiffs, Louis H. Meyer and George A. Lowe, to be and act as trustees under the said mortgage or deed of trust, in the place and stead of De Graaf and Wilkins, removed as aforesaid, to take and hold the estate and trusts thereby created, declared, or conferred, upon like terms and conditions, and subject to the same right's and powers, duties and obligations, as by said deed of trust or mortgage conferred upon the persons named as trustees, and in all things to fully execute the trusts.

It also appears by the record, that, pursuant to the judgment in this case, the plaintiffs Meyer and Lowe, trustees, on the twelfth day of June, 1882, sold all the property in this cause decreed to be sold, for the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was paid partly in cash and the re[288]*288mainder in bonds and coupons, pursuant to tbe decree o£ said court.

On tbe eighteenth day of September, 1882, Linus M. Price comes into court, by bis attorneys, and files a paper, duly verified, which in the record is called a petition, although it contains no prayer for relief, or for any order or degree or judgment of the ■ court, in which he states that he is the duly appointed and acting receiver of the Pacific National Bank of Boston, and that as such receiver he is the legal custodian and possessor of the property of said bank. That among the assets of said bank are ninety-nine first-mortgage bonds of the Utah and Pleasant Yalley Railway Company, of the denomination of one thousand dollars each, dated September 14, 1878, a part of the series of bonds described in and secured by the deed of trust or mortgage for the foreclosure of which this suit is brought.

That De Graaf and Wilkins, the original trustees named in the mortgage or deed of trust, were on the thirty-first day of August, 1881, without notice and without cause, removed from said trust by Spackman, who at the time claimed to be the owner and holder of a majority of the bonds, and on the same day he appointed and constituted the plaintiffs Meyer and Lowe to thereafter be and act as trustees under said mortgage or deed of trust, in the place and stead of De Graaf and Wilkins theretofore removed.

He further alleges that Spackman, in June and August, 1881, recovered judgment against the Utah and Pleasant Yal-ley Railway Company in two suits, particularly described, for the aggregate sum of one hundred and fifty-three thousand and thirty-seven dollars and forty cents; that in November, 1881, Spackman brought suit against the defendant Utah and Pleasant Yalley Railway Company upon these judgments, and against Thomas C.

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Bullard v. Green
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Bluebook (online)
3 Utah 280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyer-v-utah-pleasant-valley-railway-co-utah-1883.