Roethlisberger v. Bank of Monticello

253 N.W. 774, 215 Wis. 40, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 158
Wisconsin Supreme Court·Decided April 3, 1934·Published

Opinion

Wickhem, J.

The facts in this case are neither complicated nor in dispute. During his lifetime Simon Roeth-lisberger owned a real-estate mortgage securing a loan of $30,000, the mortgage debtors being Messrs. Zurfluh, Kaempfer, and Portman. On March 6, 1920, Roethlis-berger, by assignment absolute in form, assigned the mortgage to the defendant bank as collateral security for a loan of $11,000 and any additional amounts that might subsequently be loaned. Thereafter, on February 27, 1927, Roethlisberger assigned the mortgage to Rolph Brothers to secure the payment of a debt of about $12,500, and later he assigned it further to a motor company at Monroe for $500 and to one Kinzie for $1,000. Defendant foreclosed the assigned mortgage, and the real estate incumbered [42] thereby was duly sold. At the time of sale the bank’s claim against Roethlisberger was $14,656.38. At the foreclosure sale eighty acres were sold for $6,400, and that amount credited upon the debt of the bank, leaving a balance of $8,256.38. The balance of the land secured by the mortgage was bid in by Rolph Brothers for $11,000-. Rolph Brothers did not have the money to meet their bid, and the sheriff’s deed was by arrangement delivered to the bank, to be held as security for the balance of its claim. On March 13, 1931, Rolph Brothers sold the property to one Weiss for $12,500. Weiss paid $6,000 down and gave a mortgage for $6,500 for the balance. During the time between the foreclosure sale and conveyance to Weiss, Rolph Brothers had made payments upon their indebtedness to the bank;, and owed only $3,256.38. Upon receipt of the $6,000 paid by Weiss, the bank canceled its claim for which the mortgage had been assigned as security, and credited the account of Rolph Brothers with the .sum of $2,743.62. The net result of these transactions was that the foreclosure sale had yielded $17,400. The claim of the bank was $14,656.38. The balance of $2,743.62 had been received by Rolph Brothers as a credit against their claim of $12,500 against Roethlisberger. In addition, Rolph Brothers held a mortgage on the premises for $6,500, and their claim against Roethlisberger, for the purposes of this discussion, may be treated as reduced by this sum, and by the further sum of $1,500, representing the excess over the $11,000, realized by the sale to Weiss. The foreclosure proceedings resulted in a deficiency judgment entered on January 24, 1927, for $19,079.61 against Zurfluh, Kaemp-fer, and Portman. The defendant bank, through its attorney, made efforts to collect this judgment, and ultimately accepted the cash payment of $5,000 from Portman, one of the judgment debtors. In return for this payment the defendant bank satisfied the deficiency judgment. This act is the tort herein complained of.

[43] Before proceeding to a consideration of the questions of law involved in this case, it may be well to state that there is literally no evidence in the record, '(1) that the bank was guilty of negligence in making the' settlement, and (2) that plaintiff suffered any damage. The evidence tends only to prove rather meticulous investigation. Assuming the jury to have had the right to reject this evidence, and to have rejected .it, it leaves no evidence of negligence in the record. The same is true of the damages. There is no evidence to show that the security which the judgment represented was worth a sum in excess of $5,000. It is thus evident that upon the principal questions presented here the assignment of the burden of proof upon either question will be determinative.

It is the contention of the defendant that this is an action for tort, based upon an unauthorized or a negligent dealing with a pledged security, and that there is no showing either of negligence or want of authority; that if is an action for damages as a result of such negligent or unauthorized dealing, and that there is no proof of damages. Both of these elements are contended to be a part of plaintiff’s case, as to which plaintiff sustains the burden of proof. If defendant is correct with respect to the burden' of proof, then its conclusions seem clearly to follow in the present state of the record. It is the contention of the plaintiff that this is an action for the conversion of a chose in action, and that the damages in such a case are prima facie the face value of the chose in action. Kalckhoff v. Zoehrlaut, 43 Wis. 373; Dickson v. Cole, 34 Wis. 621. It is asserted that the following cases hold that the burden of proof that a converted chose in. action is worth less than its face value is on the defendant: W. H. Kiblinger Co. v. Sauk Bank, 131 Wis. 595, 111 N. W. 709; Giffert v. West, 33 Wis. 617. It is further contended that it is a rule of law that a pledgee holding a chose -in action as collateral security may recover the entire amount of the chose in action, hold[44] ing such amount as is in excess of the sum due him in trust for the pledgor. Union Nat. Bank v. Roberts, 45 Wis. 373.

The position taken by plaintiff is used as a foundation for applying the well-established rule of law that where a person occupying a position of trust deals with property of another, the burden is on such trustee to show that such dealing was authorized. Kluender v. Fenske, 53 Wis. 118, 10 N. W. 370; Biss’ Estate, 4 Pa. Dist. Rep. 251; Dufford’s Ex’r v. Smith, 46 N. J. Eq. 216, 18 Atl. 1052; Alexander v. Fidelity Trust Co. 249 Fed. 1; Walker’s Appeal, 140 Pa. St. 124, 21 Atl. 311; In re Wentworth (Sur. Rep.), 181 N. Y. Supp. 435, 442.

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Roethlisberger v. Bank of Monticello, 253 N.W. 774, 215 Wis. 40, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 158 (Wis. 1934).

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