Security-First National Bank v. Superior Court

104 Cal. App. 2d 227
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 16, 1951
DocketCiv. No. 18424
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 104 Cal. App. 2d 227 (Security-First National Bank v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Security-First National Bank v. Superior Court, 104 Cal. App. 2d 227 (Cal. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinion

WILSON, J.

In an action for declaratory relief, for reformation and for cancellation of a declaration of trust, entitled Cora St. Clair v. Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, a corporation, as trustee, and Leonard St. Clair, the superior court made an order directing the bank to make certain designated payments to and for the benefit of the beneficiary out of a fund held by it as trustee under the decla[228]*228ration of trust. The validity of such order is the sole question for decision here.

The trust was established in February, 1929, with Cora St. Clair as the trustor and defendant Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles (petitioner here) as trustee. The corpus of the trust consisted of 300 shares of the common capital stock of the St. Clair Estate Company. The trust agreement provided that the trustee “shall pay the entire net income received from the trust estate hereof and available for distribution, in equal monthly payments ... to the Trustor” and upon her death to “pay and distribute said net income to Leonard St. Clair Cooper, son of the Trustor, until he becomes thirty (30) years of age.” The declaration of trust further provided that the trust “shall finally cease and terminate upon the death of the Trustor after her said son shall have reached the age of thirty (30) years-, and thereupon the entire corpus of this trust, together with the undistributed net income therefrom, shall, by said Trustee, be distributed to him. ’ ’

In 1938 Cora St. Clair instituted the instant action. On July 20, 1949, she filed her third amended and supplemental complaint to which answers were filed by both defendants. In paragraph V of that complaint plaintiff alleges that a controversy has arisen relating to the legal rights and duties of the respective parties with respect to the declaration of trust in the following particulars :

“ (a) That at the time of the creation of said trust and the execution and acceptance of said Declaration of Trust, the said Trustee and plaintiff understood that all dividends paid by said Estate Company [St. Clair Estate Company] to the Trustee as the owner of said three hundred (300) shares of stock were to be considered as income and that after making the proper deductions therefrom as provided for in said trust, the net income remaining was to be paid to plaintiff, and at all times since the execution of said Declaration of Trust and prior to the commencement of this action all monies received by said Trustee as dividends have been paid to plaintiff as income; but said Trustee is now raising the question as to what portion, if any, of said monies received by it and paid or to be paid to plaintiff is ‘net income’ under the terms used in said Declaration of Trust as specifying monies to be paid to said plaintiff and what portion thereof, if any, represents ‘capital assets’ as contemplated by said Declaration of Trust [229]*229and to be accumulated for the benefit of the remainderman, the defendant Leonard St. Clair.
“ (b) That at the time of the execution of said Declaration of Trust plaintiff was told by the Trustee and, for that reason, has at all times since, understood and contended that the only corpus of said Trust was such distributions to the stockholders of said corporation as were exclusive of dividends, and that such was the meaning of the clause ‘capital assets as distinguished from dividends’ as used in said Declaration of Trust, and that this would limit the corpus of said Trust to $6,000.00, the original capital represented by said stock. That at the same time plaintiff was also told by said Trustee that any and all sums received by said Trustee excepting that paid in liquidation of said amount of $6,000.00 would be ‘dividends, interest and income from the trust property’ from which would be deducted taxes and the expenses of said trust, and that the balance remaining would be the ‘net income’ to be paid plaintiff by said Trustee under the terms of said Declaration of Trust, but said Trustee now contends to the contrary.
“(c) Plaintiff contends that the only corpus or ‘capital assets’ of said trust as contemplated by said Declaration of Trust consists of $6,000.00; that $6,000.00 represents the original capital represented by said three hundred (300) shares of common capital stock of the Estate Company, and that any and all sums received by said Trustee excepting that paid in liquidation of said amount of $6,000.00 as representing the capital of said Estate Company is ‘dividends’ or ‘income’ or ‘net income’ as contemplated and defined in said Declaration of Trust, but that said Trustee contends to the contrary. ’ ’ By its answer the defendant bank ‘ ‘ admits that it is raising the question as to what portion, if any, of the monies received by it are net income, and what portion, if any, of the monies received represent ‘capital assets’ ” and denies every allegation contained in subdivision (b).

The action has never been brought to trial. On November 3, 1950, plaintiff, Cora St. Clair, joined by defendant Leonard St. Clair, petitioned the superior court for an order directing the trustee to pay out of the account entitled “Receipts on Assets Received in Dissolution of St. Clair Estate Company” (1) the income taxes assessed against her by the federal government in the sum of $1,117.51 with accrued interest; (2) to pay her the entire balance held by the trustee in the account; (3) to pay her pending the trial of her action, monthly, the entire net balance remaining in the account after [230]*230deducting reasonable fees for its services as trustee. In her petition she alleged that from the inception of the declaration of trust and continuing thereafter throughout the year 1948, the entire corpus of the trust consisted of 300 shares of the common stock of St. Clair Estate Company; that on or about December 23, 1938, the Estate Company adopted resolutions to dissolve and on or about January 6, 1939, all the parties to the action, as petitioners, filed in the superior court, in and for the county of Kern, a shareholders’ petition for court supervision of winding up proceedings of the Estate Company; during the year 1949 the trustee, as owner of the 300 shares of Estate Company stock, received from that company in final distribution assets of a distributive value of $119,917.21; subsequent to the distribution of such assets there has been paid to the trustee income consisting of dividends and oil royalties upon the assets so distributed amounting to $5,515.92 as of August 15, 1950, and since that date additional dividends and oil royalties amounting to not less than $1,000.

No answer to this petition was filed by defendant bank and the superior court issued its order to show cause. Upon the hearing of the petition and the order to show cause the court issued its order of January 16, 1951, directing the trustee to make the payments as prayed for in the petition.

Defendant bank thereafter filed its “Notice of Motion for Order Vacating Order of January 16, 1951; for Order Bringing in Additional Parties Defendant or for Dismissal of Action.” Defendant’s motion was denied and it thereupon filed this petition to review and annul the order of the superior court upon the ground that it is a nullity because (1) it construes the declaration of trust in advance of trial; (2) it is a “hybrid preliminary order purporting to function as a piece-meal final ¡judgment”; and (3) parties indispensable to jurisdiction are lacking.

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Bluebook (online)
104 Cal. App. 2d 227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/security-first-national-bank-v-superior-court-calctapp-1951.