Phillips & Buttorff Mfg. Co. v. Whitney

102 F. 838, 42 C.C.A. 667, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4610
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided May 29, 1900·No. No. 904·Published

Opinion

PARDEE, 'Circuit Judge.

As this case is presented for our review, it seems clear that the Phillips & Buttorff Company, defendant helow and plaintiff in error here, really and substantially owes to the estate of F. H. Whitney the full' amount of the principal and interest of the notes sued on, and against them, when sued on by the proper plaintiff, said company has no defense, legal or equitable, and that the plaintiff helow (defendant in error here) is the legal and beneficiary owner and holder of the notes in question, either as the assignee of Eranklin H. Whitney, under an assignment for the benefit of creditors executed by Franklin H. Whitney in his lifetime, or as executor of the last will and testament of Franklin H. Whitney, duly executed and probated. The defense in the court helow, so far as it had any merit, was on the line of defect in plaintiff’s title as assignee of Franklin H. Whitney, and to that question were directed most of the demurrers, pleas, objections to evidence, and requested charges to the jury, with which the record abounds. On that question nearly all of the 90 assignments of error and the bulk of the very able and ingenious. briefs .of counsel in this court are based; and it seems clear that if that question is ruled, as we think it should he, in favor ■of the defendant in error, there can he no good reason for considering other rulings of the trial court, which, even if erroneous, were [843] not really injurious to the plaintiff in error, provided the plaintiff "below was the legal owner and holder of the notes sued on.

The undisputed facts are that on or about the 29th day of September, 18ÍK5, the said .Franklin 11. Whitney and Ella Whitney, his wife, conveyed to said .James 15. Bruff, as trustee, by certain trust deeds, all their real estate then owned by said Franklin II. Whitney, without preference to any creditors, and further in trust: for the payment of the debts of the Bank of Atlantic, said real estate being certain lands in Colorado and Missouri and in the state of Alabama, all the real estate owned by said Franklin II. Whitney in the county of Jefferson, state of Alabama, and all the rights and interest of every description whatsoever of the said Franklin II. Whitney in said real estate; that at or about the time of making said trust deeds the said Franklin II. Whitney made an assignment, purporting to be a general assignment of all his property'located in the state of Iowa, to said James B. Bruff, in trust for the payment of his debts and the debts of the Bank of Atlantic; that Bruff accepted the trust and qualified as as-signee; that as such he acquired possession of the lease and notea now sued on, as part of said personal property, and thereafter brought iliis suit; that later still lie regularly settled his trust in the district court of Cass county, Iowa, resigned, and was discharged; that thereupon said court appointee! James (⅜. Whitney, the plaintiff, trustee in the assignment; that he accepted and qualified as such, and Bruff was ordered to convey and deliver all the trust estate to him, and in conformity he transferred the notes by indorsement, and the lease by such delivery as was practicable, to James Gf. Whitney, whereby there was vested in Whitney all the title that had been in the assignor, Whitney, and in his original assignee, Bruff. And when it is considered that under the laws of the state of Iowa, where Whitney, the assignor, and Bruff, his assignee, had their domiciles, which law controls in the premises as to personalty, the said general assignment made by F. IT. Whitney on September 29, 189(5, was authorized and valid; that it devested out of said Whitney, and invested in his as-signee, Bruff, “the title to any property belonging to the assignor tWhitney] at the time of making the assignment” (McClain’s Code Towa, gg .‘5292-15294 [2115-2117']); that said assignee, Bruff, thereby became vested, when duly qualified, with as “full power and authority to dispose of all the estate, real and personal, assigned, as the debtor had at. the time of the assignment, and to sue for and recover in the name of such assignee everything belonging or appertaining to said estate, and generally do whatever the debtor might have done in the premises” with one exception, affecting only the sale of real properly fid. § 830(5 [2127]); that: the district court of Iowa for Cass county, in that state, is a superior court of record, of general jurisdiction both at law and in equity, with full jurisdiction'of the trusts of said assignment from Whitney to Bruff; (hat having acquired jurisdiction. in fact, of such trust estate and trustee, said district court was fully empowered and authorized, in all cases shown to it to be proper, to remove such trustee, or. if he died, resigned, or failed to exorcise the trust as by law required, to appoint a successor, who, when qualified under its orders, is declared by law to “possess all [844] the powers conferred upon such assignee, and shall be subject to all the duties hereby imposed as fully as though named in the assignment” (Id. § 3807 [2128]), — we fed bound to hold that the plaintiff below acquired a title good in every respect until impeached by fraud or mistake.

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Phillips & Buttorff Mfg. Co. v. Whitney, 102 F. 838, 42 C.C.A. 667, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4610 (5th Cir. 1900).

102 F. 838 (Phillips & Buttorff Mfg. Co. v. Whitney) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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