Northrop v. Mercantile Trust & Deposit Co.

119 F. 969, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5441
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of South Carolina
DecidedJanuary 20, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 119 F. 969 (Northrop v. Mercantile Trust & Deposit Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northrop v. Mercantile Trust & Deposit Co., 119 F. 969, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5441 (circtdsc 1903).

Opinion

SIMONTON, Circuit Judge.

This case comes up on a motion to amend the complaint, answer having been filed and served. The original complaint, after setting out the jurisdictional fact, proceeds as follows:

That on the 26th day of September, 1901, the above-named, defendant made and entered into a contract with plaintiffs, a copy of which is hereto attached and made a part of this complaint, whereby defendant above named promised and agreed, in the event of the purchase or reorganization by defendant of the Charleston Waterworks, a corporation created by and existing under the laws of the state of South Carolina (referred to in contract attached as Charleston Waterworks Company), as a result of recent and pending investigations by defendant and of certain negotiations, to pay to plaintiffs the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000)' in cash, and to deliter to them' fifty-five thousand dollars ($55,000), par value, of stock in a proposed new company, or in the Charleston Waterworks reorganized, and promised and agreed to pay over the said $10,000 in cash to plaintiffs at the time defendant should pay for the securities or property of the Charleston Waterworks, and to deliver to plaintiff said $55,000 of stock of the new or reorganized company as soon as the same was issued, said sum of money and said amount of stock to be full compensation to plaintiffs for services heretofore rendered and to be rendered by them. That as a result of said investigations and negotiations the defendant above named has purchased Charleston Waterworks, and paid for the securities and property of same. That plaintiffs have in all respects and at all times performed all services they were called upon to render by said defendant, and have completely executed the contract on their part. That plaintiffs have demanded payment from defendant of the sum of $10,009, but same has been refused.

The prayer for judgment is for $io,ooo, with interest from day of June, 1902, the date on which defendant paid for the securities of said Charleston Waterworks, and the costs of the action.

The proposed amendment follows the original complaint in totidem verbis, and proposes to add the following:

“That plaintiffs have demanded from defendant the delivery of fifty-five-thousand ($55,000) dollars of stock of the Charleston Light & Water Company, the new company, which was acquired and its capitalization reorganized for the purpose of taking over the Charleston Waterworks, and the delivery of said fifty-five thousand ($55,000) dollars of stock in the Charleston Light & Water Company has been refused by defendant. That the value of the said fifty-five thousand ($55,000) dollars par of said stock of the Charleston Light & Water Company is fifty-five thousand ($55,000) dollars. And said-defendant has furthermore informed these plaintiffs that it repudiated any obligation to these plaintiffs, and announces its intention not to recognize in. any way any liability under said contract.”

The prayer for judgment is $65,000, with interest from the-day of June, 1902, the date on which defendant paid for the securities of the said Charleston Waterworks.

It was stated at the bar, and the fact seems admitted, that at the time of the service of the original summons and complaint the stock provided for in the contract, made part of the complaint, had not been issued, nor had the corporation then been created.

If, then, we treat the original complaint as an action for a breach-of the contract in not paying the $10,000, the amended complaint [971]*971sets up another breach of the contract, in not furnishing the $55,000 of stock, a breach occurring after action brought. There is no question that, both under the statutes of the United States and under the practice in South Carolina, there exists the right of liberal amendment. But “amendments to a pleading can only state facts in existence at the time when the original pleading was made. A plaintiff cannot, therefore, introduce by an amendment to his complaint facts occurring subsequent to the commencement of the action.” 2 Wait, Prac. 504, cited and approved in McCaslan v. Latimer, 17 S. C. 128. And the conclusion is sustained by the provisions of the Code of Procedure of South Carolina. Sections 190-197, inclusive, provide for amendments of pleadings in the most liberal way. Then comes section 198, as follows:

“The plaintiff and defendant respectively, may be allowed on motion to make a supplemental complaint, answer or reply, alleging facts material to the case occurring after the former complaint, answer or reply, or of which the party was ignorant when his former pleading was made.”

If, therefore, we treat this amendment simply as introducing another breach of the contract, and seeking relief also for that, it could not be permitted, as this fact occurred after suit brought. But it is contended that the tenth paragraph of the proposed amendment gives an entirely different aspect to the amendment. It alleges that the defendant has repudiated any obligation to the plaintiffs, and has announced its intention not to recognize in any way any liability under said contract and has so informed plaintiffs. For the purposes of this motion, the allegations of the proposed amendment alone are examined, not as if they were true, but as if, supposing them capable of proof, they would sustain an action.

The contract which has given rise to this suit is an executory contract. It provides for the payment in cash of $10,000, and for the delivery at some time in the future of certain shares of stock in a corporation, not yet formed. The learned counsel for the plaintiffs insists that this case comes within the law with regard to executory contracts, the performance of which is to be at separate times, in the nature of installments. That is to say, when one party renounces it without cause before the time of performing it has elapsed he authorizes the other party to treat it as terminated, without prejudice to his action for damages,—and, if the latter elects to treat the contract as terminated, his right of action accrues at once. Marks v. Van Ecghen (2d Circuit) 30 C. C. A. 208, 85 Fed. 853. The rule thus laid down in this case was subsequently established by the supreme court in Roehm v. Horst, 178 U. S. 1, 20 Sup. Ct. 780, 44 L. Ed. 953. There the matter is- elaborately discussed, and all the cases in England and in this country are quoted and reviewed. The leading case is Hochster v. De La Tour, 2 El. & Bl. 678. All the cases, however, in which this doctrine is followed or approved, are cases of interdependent obligations. One party agrees that he will render some work or labor in the leading case, serve as courier on certain terms for three months, or agrees to marry at a certain time (Frost v. Knight, L. R. 7 Exch. 111), or to receive certain goods on his ship (Harbour Co. v. Xenos, 11 C. B. [N. S.] 152), and the other [972]*972party thereupon agrees to do something. In other words, these are mutual obligations. This idea is further expressed in Roehm v. Horst, supra, replying to the idea that if this rule were adopted it would apply to cases of commercial paper, the chief justice says;

“But we are unable to assent to that view. In the case of an ordinary money contract, such as a promissory note or a bond, the consideration has passed. There are no mutual obligations. Cases of this sort do not fall within the reason of the rule.”

In the same case, an opinion of Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
119 F. 969, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 5441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northrop-v-mercantile-trust-deposit-co-circtdsc-1903.