O'Neil v. Wolcott Mining Co.

174 F. 527, 27 L.R.A.N.S. 200, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5215
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedNovember 15, 1909
DocketNo. 3,057
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 174 F. 527 (O'Neil v. Wolcott Mining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neil v. Wolcott Mining Co., 174 F. 527, 27 L.R.A.N.S. 200, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5215 (8th Cir. 1909).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

The salient feature of this case is that the corporation which received from the mutual agent of the vendor and purchaser the certificate of the stock here in question properly indorsed for transfer and a regular request from the registered stockholder, Wolcott, arid from the intermediate vendor, Delamater, and the purchaser, Mrs. Carleton, to transfer it to her; refused to make the transfer ánd' delivered the certificate and the assignment to the agent of A. Wolcott without the knowledge or consent of Mrs. Carleton, the purchaser, who had paid $2,000 for it, or of the mutual agent of the vendor and purchaser from whom the corporation received, it.

Why wás it not the duty of the company to transfer the stock to Mrs.. Carleton upon the joint request of the original stockholder, the vendor, and the purchaser, and upon the presentation of the certificate properly indorsed for transfer? Counsel answer because the sale was not complete, bid was conditional on the transfer of'the stock, and because the records of the corporation disclose the facts that the stock had been issued to A. Wolcott about 1890, that the dividends had been paid to him, and that, 13 years before, he had notified it that he had lost some of his stock and had requested that none of the stock standing in his name should be transferred without consulting him and obtaining his approval. But a completed sale was not' indispensable to Mrs. Carletoids right to a transfer of the stock. There was a valid contract of sale between her and Delamater and a legal request for the transfer by the original stockholder .and by both the vendor and the purchaser, and such a request as effectually, imposes the duty upon the corporation to make the transfer as a request from the purchaser after a perfected sale. A request by the vendor and purchaser of stock for its transfer upon the books of the corporation as effectually imposes the duty upon the corporation to transfer it when it is made in performance of a contract of sale whose completion is conditioned by the transfer as when it is the result of a completed sale. State ex rel. Townsend v. McIver, 2 S. C. 25, 45, 46; Cook on Corporations, §§ 384, 386; Webster v. Upton, 91 U. S. 65, 71, 23 L. Ed. 384; Johnston v. Laflin, 103 U. S. 800, 804, 26 L. Ed. 532; Paine v. Hutchinson, 3 L. R. Ch. App. 388.

Again, the stock was actually sold to Carleton for his wife, and she actually paid the purchase price to Ford for Delamater. It is true that the vendor and purchaser agreed that their agent, Ford,. should procure its transfer upon the books of the corporation, and that he should hold the purchase monoy until the stock was transferred and [531]*531the certificates were returned, should then deliver the latter to Mrs. Carletou and pay the money to Delamater, and that “in case stock is not transferred the above contract is canceled and stock to he returned to Mr. Delamater.5’ But the true meaning of the clause in quotations was not that the agreement should he annulled if the transfer was prevented by the illegal acts or omissions of Delamater, or of the corporation, but that it should be canceled only in case the vendor and the purchaser were not legally entitled to the traus fer of the stock upon the presentation to the corporation of their joint request together with the certificate and the assignment and power of attorney of the original stockholder, A. Wolcott, indorsed thereon. As this right to the transfer existed, and as the purchaser has never surrendered it, the contingency on which the contract of sale might have become void has never arisen, and the agreement and the sale remained in force.

Did the facts that 13 years before the demand of the transfer was made A. Wolcott had given notice that he had lost some of his stock and had requested the corporation not to transfer any that stood in his name without notice to him and his approval relieve the corporation of its duty to make this transfer? A blank assignment and power of attorney to transfer stock indorsed upon the certificate thereof estop the transferror from claiming any further title to or interest in the stock as against subsequent bona fide transferees thereof-, although the. transfer is not recorded in the books of the corporation. Cook, in his work on Corporations, says that there is no case which denies this principle of law. 2 Cook on Corporations, § 378; Masury v. Arkansas National Bank, 35 C. C. A. 476, 478, 93 Fed. 603, 605; Moore v. Metropolitan Bank, 55 N. Y. 46, 17, 14 Am. Rep. 173; McNeil v. Tenth National Bank, 46 N. Y. 329, 7 Am. Rep. 341 ; Zulick v. Markham, 6 Daly (N. Y.) 129, 133; Supply Ditch Company v. Elliott, 10 Colo. 327, 333, 15 Pac. 691, 3 Am. St. Rep. 586. The reason for this rule is that it would be contrary to justice and good conscience to permit the original owner to assert title against an innocent purchaser from one clothed by the original owner with all the indicia of ownership and power of disposition.

There is a section of the statutes of Colorado which relates to the records that corporations of that state are required to keep of their capital stock and of its transfer which contains this clause:

"Aiul no transfer of stock shall bo valid for any purpose whatever except lo render the person to whom it shall be transferred liable for the debts of (he company according to the provisions of this act, unless it shall have been ehieml therein, as required by this section, within sixty days from the date of such transfer.” Mills’ Ann. St. Rev. Supp. § 508.

But the effect of this provision and the intent of the Legislature, in enacting it were not to prescribe an exclusive method whereby a stockholder might divest himself of his title, or might assign it to a third party, but to provide a means of transfer and a record thereof which should be effectual and controlling between the corporation and its stockholders in matters relating to the internal management of the corporation and which would protect transferees against creditors of transferrors and other third parties claiming title. The rule is toe [532]*532firmly established and is supported by too great a weight of authority to be avoided by anything less than an express legislative repeal ■ that notwithstanding provisions of this nature in general statutes, in charters, and in by-laws of corporations, stockholders may estop themselves conclusively from claiming any interest in or lien upon their stock as against subsequent bona fide purchasers and may divest themselves of all title to it by unregistered assignments thereof. Masury v. Arkansas National Bank, 35 C. C. A. 476, 478, 93 Fed. 603, 605; Johnston v. Laflin, 103 U. S. 800, 804, 26 L. Ed. 532; Cook on Corporations, § 378, and cases there cited; Bank of Commerce v. Bank of Newport, 63 Fed. 898, 900, 11 C. C. A. 484, 486; Horton v. Mercer, 71 Fed. 153, 155, 18 C. C. A. 18; 1 Morawetz on Private Corporations, § 197. Moreover, this rule of law is not only reasonable but almost necessary to the facile transaction of commercial business in this country. While certificates of stock are not negotiable in the strict sense of the law merchant, they are negotiable in fact. Thousands of them are bought and sold throughout the entire nation daily upon blank assignments and powers of attorney without registration of the transfers in reliance upon the rule of law which has been stated.

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

Related

Transcontinental Oil Corp. v. Trenton Products Co.
560 F.2d 94 (Second Circuit, 1977)
Dean Witter & Co., Inc. v. Educational Computer Corp.(Pa.)
369 F. Supp. 757 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1974)
Kanton v. United States Plastics, Inc.
248 F. Supp. 353 (D. New Jersey, 1965)
Corabi v. Auto Racing, Inc.
264 F.2d 784 (Third Circuit, 1959)
Zimmerman v. Mathews Trucking Corp.
205 F.2d 837 (Eighth Circuit, 1953)
Snyder v. Eagle Fruit Co.
75 F.2d 739 (Eighth Circuit, 1935)
Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. v. Adams County
72 F.2d 816 (Ninth Circuit, 1934)
Blackhurst v. Johnson
72 F.2d 644 (Eighth Circuit, 1934)
Bowden v. Commissioner
26 B.T.A. 1410 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1932)
Bankers Trust Co. v. Rood
233 N.W. 473 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1930)
Benedict v. Seiberling
17 F.2d 841 (N.D. Ohio, 1927)
Mitchell v. Newton County Bank
282 S.W. 729 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1926)
Hickey v. Johnson
9 F.2d 498 (Eighth Circuit, 1925)
Meier v. Continental National Bank
143 N.E. 377 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1924)
United States v. Pennsylvania R.
283 F. 937 (Fourth Circuit, 1922)
Crumbley v. Crumbley
186 P. 423 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1920)
Santa Marina Co. v. Canadian Bank of Commerce
254 F. 391 (Ninth Circuit, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 F. 527, 27 L.R.A.N.S. 200, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 5215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneil-v-wolcott-mining-co-ca8-1909.