Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit & Insurance v. Philadelphia & Erie Railroad

35 A. 688, 177 Pa. 38, 1896 Pa. LEXIS 949
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 6, 1896
DocketAppeal, No. 437
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 35 A. 688 (Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit & Insurance v. Philadelphia & Erie Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit & Insurance v. Philadelphia & Erie Railroad, 35 A. 688, 177 Pa. 38, 1896 Pa. LEXIS 949 (Pa. 1896).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Dean,

This case was here before, and is fully reported in 160 Pa. 590. In the first trial, the court below peremptorily directed a verdict for plaintiff, on the ground there was no evidence to rebut the presumption of ownership of the bonds sued on, raised by the fact of possession. We thought differently, and sent the case back that the evidence might be submitted to the jury. On retrial, the jury has found for plaintiff, and we have this appeal. In reviewing this case, what we said when it was here before as to the significance of the evidence, should, without repetition, be kept in mind. In that case, we attempted to show there was ample evidence to overcome the presumption of ownership raised by the single fact of possession. No fact testified to in the case was the subject of dispute; what inference the un[47]*47disputed facts warranted was alone disputed. Although the learned judge of the court below formally, carried out the direction to submit the evidence to the jury on a retrial he, manifestly,, did so with great reluctance. While his right to adhere to Ms-individual opinion is not doubted, his duty to officially carry out the instructions of this court, by not alone a submission,, but by a fair and impartial submission of the evidence, is undoubted. He is not responsible for our errors, however plain-they may appear to him ; we are for his, when they appear to-be so to us. We are led to these remarks because we think any unprejudiced mind, on a comparison of this charge with the evidence, must conclude it is not such a charge as the importance-of the cause and the evidence demanded.

The proposition involved in the issue was whether A. Boyd Cummings was the absolute owner of the bonds sued on, or merely the bailee of defendant. The learned judge said to the jury: “ The executor has presented these bonds, and their execution is not denied, consequently he has made out his case, and he is entitled to receive his money, unless the defendant can satisfy you there is some reason why he should not.” This is-a correct statement of the question at issue; the only fact in favor of the plaintiff was, he was m possession of the bonds,, which on their face disclosed no restriction on the title; therefore, arose the presumption of ownership from the fact of possession. The defendant did not deny that Cummings’ possession was originally rightful, but alleged he was a mere bailee of the-bonds; that at the time they went into his possession as bailee he-was a manager of the company, and the contract of bailment,, through his neglect and that of other officers of the company,, had not been reduced to writing; there was no written receipt, nor was there any written entry on the books. But then, to-show the bailment, the defendant proved circumstances occurring through many years, even to what was almost an express-written disclaimer of ownersMp, every one of wMch circumstances, without explanation, was inconsistent with the absoluteownersMp of the bonds by Cummings; and one of them, the-writing on the envelope, reconcilable on no reasonable theory other than that of ownership by defendant. As already stated not one of the significant facts proved by defendant was contradicted, nor so far as we can see, disputed by plaintiff; the-[48]*48inference warranted by them alone was disputed. The defendant was then in this attitude; it says, true, the possession is in the plaintiff, and that shows prima facie title in him; we admit that his possession at first was not wrongful, and that the company put in him this possession for a specific purpose, which, however, was accomplished, and then he should have at once returned the bonds to the company; owing to his own neglect and that of other servants of the company, the transaction was not reduced to writing,, but we prove indisputably, facts from which it can be clearly inferred, and which warrant no other inference.

Now the learned judge, instead of stating this situation to the jury, and calling their attention to the facts which tended to establish a bailment, thus rebutting the inference warranted by the single fact of possession, takes up the fact of the absence of a written contract, and earnestly argues to the jury that this rebuts the inference claimed to be warranted from the undisputed and significant facts ; his argument, in effect, is, and the jury must have so understood him, that because defendant had proved no written contract of bailment, it was highly improbable there was any contract. He thus speaks: “Now you would suppose in a case of this sort, that the defendant, to establish the fact which he alleges, would produce for that purpose the books of the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company, and would point out to you on the books of that company that $24,000 worth of bonds, numbered consecutively from one date to the other, had been transferred to Mr. A. Boyd Cummings for the purpose of using it as collateral to raise money for the benefit of the company. No such thing appears upon the books of the company; no such fact is stated on any book •or in any memorandum. You would suppose also that the whole history of the issue of these bonds would then be made so clear, inasmuch as these books are the defendant’s books, as would enable him to satisfy you of the truthfulness of his claim. Strange to say there is nothing on the books, according to the present treasurer, which shows that these bonds were not issued for a valuable consideration. Therefore, as far as these books are concerned, on both these points they fail to establish the claim of the defendant.”

The meaning of this argument, as we understand it, is, that the defense is incredible, because defendant has not supported [49]*49it by irrefutable evidence from its own books. If such evidence had existed, neither the court below nor we, in all probability, would have been troubled by trying the issue. It is the absence of absolutely incontrovertible evidence on both sides on questions of fact, that gives rise to the controversy raised by the issue. The theory on which the court put the case to the jury may be fairly stated thus:

Important contracts of corporations ought to be written in the corporation’s books.

This is an important contract; it is not written in the books.

Therefore, it is highly improbable there was such a contract.

This is not a fair presentation of the fact; the conclusion is not warranted, either by our observation or consciousness. As concerns written evidence of a contract, neither side had any advantage ; there was not a written word on or in the bonds indicating that Cummings was the owner. They were payable to John Lindsey, treasurer, and by him transferred in blank. There was nothing written in the books evidencing a bailment. The law, however, raised the presumption of fact that he who was in possession of the bonds was the owner; this gave the vantage ground to plaintiff, but the presumption stopped just at that point; it did not go further, and from the absence of a written contract of bailment on the books, also, raise the presumption there was no such contract. The contract, as alleged by defendant, was then the very thing to be proved, and the fact of no written contract being shown was a simple fact to be viewed by the jury in connection with the other facts in evidence. We all know important contracts, very often, either from pure neglect, indifference, the subject of them, or a relation of confidence between the parties, are not reduced to writing, and that about half the lawsuits we try have their source in this very neglect.

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Bluebook (online)
35 A. 688, 177 Pa. 38, 1896 Pa. LEXIS 949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/philadelphia-trust-safe-deposit-insurance-v-philadelphia-erie-pa-1896.