Ritchie v. Burke

109 F. 16, 13 Ohio F. Dec. 649, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4761
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Ohio
DecidedMay 29, 1901
DocketNo. 6,117
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 109 F. 16 (Ritchie v. Burke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ritchie v. Burke, 109 F. 16, 13 Ohio F. Dec. 649, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4761 (circtndoh 1901).

Opinion

WING, District Judge.

A hill has been filed by the complainants, Samuel J. Ritchie and Sophronia J. Ritchie, against Stevenson Burke and others, to set aside a decree entered on the records of this court in a cause wherein James B. McMullen and George W. McMullen were complainants, and all the parties defendant in this cause, natural and artificial, excepting William McParlin, John B. Wright, and Charles Baird, were defendants,‘and also the complainants herein, Samuel J. Ritchie and Sophronia J. Ritchie. One Thomas W. Cornell was also a defendant in that cause, but, be being now deceased, and William McParlin, John B. Wright, and Charles Baird being the executors of his last will and testament, [17]*17they are made parties defendant in the present cause in their representative capacity. It appears from the hill now under consideration that the decree which is sought to be set aside was based upon a judgment obtained in this court in 1890, in a suit at law brought by the McMullens against Ritchie (41 Fed. 502, 8 L. R. A. 268), which judgment was based upon another and prior judgment rendered by the high court of justice of the province of Ontario in an action between the same parties; that the McMullens held certain bonds of the Central Ontario Railway Company, and other collateral, as security for the payment of such judgment; that they (the McMullens) commenced suit in this court to foreclose the equity of redemption of the Ritchies in the securities thus held; that in such suit were joined Stevenson Burke, Henry B. Payne, and Thomas W. Cornell, who also had claims against Ritchie, and held similar collateral as security. In the final decree rendered, a sale ■was ordered of all these securities so held by the complainants and the defendants Burke, Payne, and Cornell, which was made as ordered, and the securities bid in by those who held them as collateral. The complainants in this bill allege that the defendants herein were guilty of fraud in and about the procuring of the rendition of the decree sought to be set aside, in this: that in 1894 the Mc-Mullens converted to their own use the bonds of the Central Ontario Railway, which they held as collateral security, by presenting them to the secretary of said railway company, and, by virtue of the conditions contained in said bonds, procuring such bonds to be registered in their own names without any notice to Ritchie; that by virtue of such conversion the debt and judgment against the Ritchies in favor of the McMullens was fully paid, extinguished, and satisfied; that, in like manner, Henry B. Payne and Stevenson Burke, who were defendants in said cause, had registered their bonds without notice to Ritchie, and while they were actively engaged in this court in trying to secure a judgment and decree against the complainants herein; that the par value of said bonds was in each instance a greater amount than the debt for which they were held as collateral security; that these facts with respect to the registration of bonds were kept secret by the McMullens and by Payne and Burke, both from the Ritchies and from this court, and a decree obtained in favor of the McMullens and of the defendants Payne and Burke, notwithstanding what had been done in and about the registration of the bonds; that the decree sought to be set aside was entered in 1897, some three years after the registration of the bonds complained of, and under its provisions all of said securities, including bonds, stocks, and coupons, were sold or attempted to be sold on the 6th day of November, 1897, and said sale was subsequently confirmed by the court, and in the order of confirmation certain findings were made as to the balance due said Payne and Burke upon their pretended claims, and the execution and process of the court was awarded to said parties. It is further-said that the McMullens, after they had registered the bonds, pledged the same, together with certain detached coupons of such bonds, to secure their own private debts. With respect to the defendant [18]*18Thomas W. Cornell it is stated in the bill that, while neither he nor his executors converted any of said bonds, “they were parties to said fraud, and received and enjoyed the benefit of the fraud and deception practiced by their said co-defendants.” It is further stated that, because the judgment in favor of the McMullens, which was set forth in their bill in the cause in which the decree complained of was rendered, was fully paid and discharged in 1894, and after the filing of the bill, this court lost jurisdiction of the cause, for the reason that the jurisdiction of the court depended upon the fact pleaded, — that the McMullens were citizens of the state of Illinois. The prayer of the bill is to vacate, set aside, and declare null and void the said order, decree, and judgment of this court, so as aforesaid rendered, for the reasons: First. Because this court ceased to have any jurisdiction over the subject-matter of said action and proceedings on the 15th of May, 1894, when said McMullens registered said bonds, and converted the same, together with said coupons, to their own use. Second. Because said decree and judgment were rendered in favor of the said Henry B. Payne and Stevenson Burke, when said parties had by their own act converted all of said bonds and coupons to their own use, and by their said act fully and forever discharged and canceled the claims, of every kind and nature, which they held against said S. J. Bitchie on said dates in 1894. Third. Because all of said parties herein-before named are guilty of having knowingly, purposely, and corruptly practiced a fraud upon these complainants and upon this court by their doings in and about the registration of the bonds, and keeping that fact secret from the Bitchies, or either of them, and the court.

Demurrers have been filed by Stevenson Burke, by O. W. Bingham, administrator of the estate of Henry B. Payne, and by John B. Wright and Charles Baird, as executors of the estate of Thomas W. Cornell. In support of these demurrers it is urged, first, that this is a bill of review, and, the decree complained of having been entered in accordance with the mandate of the circuit court of appeals of this circuit, that it is necessary and essential that leave should have been obtained from the circuit court of appeals to file the bill, and that, because it does not appear by the bill that such leave has been obtained, it is insufficient. If this were a bill of review, the position of the defendants in this regard would undoubtedly be correct; but this is' a bill which seeks to set aside the decree complained of, for fraud, and is an original bill in the nature of a bill of review, and no leave is required for its filing. Mitf. & T. Eq. Pl. & Prac. p. 190; Story, Eq. Pl. § 426; Daniell, Ch. Pl. & Prac. p. 1584; Ex parte Smith, 34 Ala. 455.

I then come to the consideration of the sufficiency of the bill. Its theory is that a holder of bonds as collateral security converts them to his own use, and is chargeable, as upon conversion, with their value, by procuring them to be registered in his own name. There is pleaded in the bill a finding of the high eonrt of justice, queen’s bench division, on the 24th day of September, 1900, in an action in which James B. McMullen and George W. McMullen and [19]*19Samuel J. Ritchie were parties, to the effect that the judgment of the. McMullens against Ritchie was satisfied on or before the 15th day of May, 1894, by reason of the dealings of the plaintiffs with tiie bonds in question. The entry or decision or decree of the court is further quoted as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
109 F. 16, 13 Ohio F. Dec. 649, 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ritchie-v-burke-circtndoh-1901.