Seeley v. Reed

28 F. 164, 12 Sawy. 40, 1886 U.S. App. LEXIS 2239
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 28 F. 164 (Seeley v. Reed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seeley v. Reed, 28 F. 164, 12 Sawy. 40, 1886 U.S. App. LEXIS 2239 (uscirct 1886).

Opinion

Deady, J.

This suit is brought by the plaintiff, a citizen of Ohio, against the defendant, a citizen of Oregon, for an account of a loan of $150,000 heretofore made by the defendant to the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, an Oregon corporation, and to enjoin him from selling or disposing of the securities received therefor, or any portion of the 361 shares of the stock of said corporation heretofore delivered by the plaintiff, to the defendant, as security for the payment of his note of $50,000 given to the defendant on March 27, 1884, on an [165]*165agreement that he should receive one-third of the securities obtained on said loan, on the payment of said note. The case was heard on the bill and answer. The plaintiff expressly waived the oath of the defendant to his answer. Counsel, however, insist that the defendant cannot thus be deprived of this privilege, and cites to that effect Clements v. Moore, 6 Wall. 314. That case was decided in 1867,, while rule 41, as amended in 1871, gives the plaintiff the right to waive the oath of the defendant to his answer in whole or in part; but, on a hearing on the bill and answer, the latter, whether under" oath or not, is admitted to be true, as if the hearing was on a demurrer thereto, and so the amended rule provides.

The suit grows out of a contract made by the parties on March 27, 1884. They were then in New York, and the plaintiff was a stock-, holder in the Oregon Iron & Steel Company, of which the defendant was president. The writing recites that Reed “is willing and is about, to advance or loan” said corporation, including the amount heretofore loaned or advanced to it, the sum of $150,000; that Seeley “is-willing and desires to obtain an interest of $50,000” in said loan,' and to that end has given his note for that amount to Reed, payable in two years, with interest at 7 per centum per annum, at the banking-house of Ladd & Tilton, and has “delivered, as collateral security, for said note and the interest thereon, 361 shares of the capital stock, full paid,” of said corporation; in consideration whereof Reed thereby agrees, on the payment of said note, to redeliver to Seeley said shares of stocks, “together with one-third of said bonds, stocks, notes, or. other securities,” as he may obtain from said corporation, “in consideration of his said advance of $150,000,” and Seeley thereby authorizes Reed, in default of payment of said note, “to sell or dispose” of said 361 shares of stock, and the said one-third of the securities received from said corporation, subject, however, to the stipulation that, if the proceeds of such sale or disposition are not sufficient to pay said note at the maturity thereof, Seeley shall not be further liable thereon, but the same shall be surrendered to him; and, in consideration of the premises, Seeley agreed to act as the general manager of the corporation for the period of two years, at a salary not exceeding $3,000 per annum.

On July 29, 1884, the plaintiff commenced a suit against the defendant for a rescission of this contract, on the ground that he had been induced to enter into it, to his injury, by the fraudulent misrepresentations of the defendant. The case was finally heard on the bill, answer, and replication thereto, and the evidence of the plaintiff; when the court, having found the allegations of the bill in this respect to be altogether untrue, on November 2, 1885, dismissed the bill, with costs. 25 Fed. Rep. 361.

On March 30, 1886, the plaintiff offered to pay at the bank of Ladd & Tilton the sum of $58,000 on said note and contract, which the bank, not having either of said papers, declined to receive; and [166]*166on the same day the plaintiff informed the attorney of the defendant —the latter being absent in California — that he had tendered the sum of $57,039.16 in payment of said note at said bank; whereupon said attorney proposed to turn over to the plaintiff, in pursuance of said contract, two notes of said corporation, payable to the plaintiff’s order, the one for $20,847.91, dated October 23, 1884, and the other for $30,000, dated June 16, 1884, and to assign to him as much of an open account, held by the defendant against said corporation for money advanced thereto, as would, with said notes and the interest thereon, make the sum of $57,039.16; and also to deliver to him the certificate for said 361 shares of stock, and the plaintiff’s said note, as soon as the said papers could be sent to San Francisco, and returned with the necessary indorsements and assignments thereon; which proposition was acceded to by the plaintiff, and the computations of interest made, and the papers forwarded to San Fraficisco for indorsement and assignment; that on April 13th the defendant, by his attorney, deposited with Ladd & Tilton said two notes, duly indorsed “without recourse,” and an order on said corporation in favor of the plaintiff for $161.39; the same being the one-third of the securities received by the defendant for the $150,000 advanced by him to said corporation as per the contract of March 27, 1884; also the certificate for said 361 shares of stock, and note of $50,000, with instructions to said Ladd & Tilton to deliver to said plaintiff, or his order, said papers, upon the payment to them for the defendant of said note of $50,000, amounting, on March 30, 1886, to the sum of $57,039.16; and notified the plaintiff thereof in writing, and thereby tendered to him said papers in fulfillment of the defendant’s-part of the contract of March 24, 3884, and demanded payment of the plaintiff’s note according to the tenor and effect thereof.

To this notice and tender the plaintiff replied in writing on the following day, saying: “My tender to you of the amount of my note and interest, made on March 30th last was unqualified, and I am keeping it good, and your money is ready for you any time. You should return my note, and deliver to me, without qualification or restriction, the notes and securities you promised. This you have not done, and do not offer to do,” — the “qualification” and “restriction” referred to being, as was admitted on the argument, the “without recourse” clause in the indorsement of said corporation notes by the defendant.

On April 22,1886, the defendant, by his attorney, wrote the plaintiff that, in consequence of a conversation between them in which it was suggested that there was nothing to show in the papers tendered to the plaintiff that the corporation notes and account included therein had not been paid, he had, to obviate such'objection, without admitting the validity of it, deposited with Ladd & Tilton the certificate of the secretary of said corporation that no payments had been made on such notes and accounts; and “I hereby further notify [167]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 F. 164, 12 Sawy. 40, 1886 U.S. App. LEXIS 2239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seeley-v-reed-uscirct-1886.