Sigua Iron Co. v. . Brown

64 N.E. 194, 171 N.Y. 488, 9 Bedell 488, 1902 N.Y. LEXIS 876
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 10, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 64 N.E. 194 (Sigua Iron Co. v. . Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sigua Iron Co. v. . Brown, 64 N.E. 194, 171 N.Y. 488, 9 Bedell 488, 1902 N.Y. LEXIS 876 (N.Y. 1902).

Opinion

Martin, J.

This action was brought by a foreign corpo-

ration to recover unpaid calls upon sixty shares of its assessable capital stock transferred to the defendant and represented by its certificate 14o. 106. The original complaint was twice *492 amended, but the issues tried arose upon the last amended complaint and answer. At the time of the transfer of the stock in question seventy per cent of its par value had been paid, leaving thirty per cent subject to future calls. A call for five per cent appears by the record to have been issued by the corporation and paid by the defendant before the actual transfer upon the books of the company and the certificate to the defendant were made. Subsequently the defendant paid three calls, one for five per cent due ^November 1, 1890 ; one for two and one-half per cent due January 15, 1891, and another for two and one-half per cent due February 1, 1891. The calls thus paid amounted to six hundred dollars, leaving twelve hundred dollars unpaid, for which calls were after-wards duly made by the corporation. The defendant was not an original subscriber to the stock of the plaintiff, but the, shares represented by certificate No. 106 were transferred to him by one Smith as trustee, who was obviously the original Subscriber. The unpaid calls upon the defendant’s stock and the interest thereon from the time they became due amounted to $1,878.10.

On the trial and at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, the defendant moved to dismiss the complaint upon the grounds : 1. That it did not state, and the pMintiff had not proved, facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; 2. That the action was commenced at a time when the corporation had no right to bring such an action, being restrained by the Pennsylvania receivership; 3. That the receiver had no right to commence the action, not having been appointed receiver in this state; and, 4. “ That as the amended complaint was interposed by an utter stranger to the action, the action has been practically abandoned by the corporation plaintiff, and is now being conducted by a stranger to the action.” This motion was denied and an exception was taken. The defendant’s counsel then offered in evidence the original and supplemental complaints in this action, the order substituting Logan M. Bullitt as plaintiff, and the order vacating that order. After the introduction of this evidence, and after certain admissions *493 by the .plaintiff were made, the defendant rested and the evidence was closed. The defendant thereupon moved to dismiss the complaint upon the ground that the order appointing the ancillary receiver made him receiver of the assets of the plaintiff in this state, confining him to the collection of those assets, and upon the ground that the defendant, at the time of the commencement of this action and ever since, has been a non-resident of the state. This motion was also denied and the defendant excepted. The record then states: ££ Plaintiff and defendant move for the direction of a verdict. The court' directs a verdict for the plaintiff for $1,878.10. Defendant moves for a new trial on the minutes. The court entertains the motion and directs that entry of judgment be suspended until the determination of that motion.” The motion for a new trial was subsequently denied and judgment entered upon the verdict. From the order denying the motion for a new trial and from the judgment an appeal was taken to the Appellate Division, where both were affirmed, and the defendant has appealed to this court. The court directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the amount of the calls and interest thereon, to which the defendant took no exception. Nor did he request the submission of any question to the jury. The request by both parties for the direction of a verdict amounted to a submission of the whole case to the trial judge, and his decision upon the facts has the same effect as if the jury had found a verdict in the plaintiff’s favor after the case was submitted to it. (Adams v. Roscoe Lumber Co., 159 N. Y. 176 ; Smith v. Weston, 159 N. Y. 194; Thompson v. Simpson, 128 N. Y. 270, 283; Koehler v. Adler, 78 N. Y. 287; Sweetland v. Buell, 164 N. Y. 541, 548.)

The first ground upon which the defendant relies to sustain this appeal is that the plaintiff had no right or legal capacity to bring this action, its title and right of action having passed to a Federal receiver before it was commenced. The defendant introduced in evidence a decree of the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania made in October, 1893, appointing Logan M. Bullitt a receiver *494 of the plaintiff. This decree was granted with the consent of the plaintiff and upon the application of certain persons named as plaintiffs in that action. It was based upon a bill of complaint and affidavits, and was evidently an appointment of a temporary receiver pefidente lite. Subsequently, and after the commencement of this action, the same person was appointed ancillary receiver in this state. It is obvious from an examination of the decree of the Federal court that the receivership consented to by the parties was a temporary one and not a permanent receivership after trial and dissolution of the corporation. If he was a permanent receiver it was not established by the proof. The appointment of a temporary receiver pendente lite does not dissolve a corporation, nor restrain the exercise of its corporate powers. His functions are limited'to the care and preservation of the property committed to his charge. He does not represent the corporation in its individual or personal character, nor supersede it in the exercise of its corporate powers, except as to the particular property confided to him. This receiver was appointed by the Hnited States Circuit Court for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, and, consequently, his powers were limited to the district in which the decree was made, unless some additional power was subsequently conferred. The corporation still had the right to exercise its corporate powers, except as to the matters and claims specially confided to the receiver by that court. The title to the property was not changed by his appointment. The receiver acquired no title, but only the fight of possession as the officer of the court. The title remained in the corporation in which it was vested when the appointment was made. (Keeney v. Home Ins. Co., 71 N. Y. 396, 401; Herring v. N. Y., L. E, & W. R. R. Co., 105 N. Y. 340, 372; Decker v. Gardner, 124 N. Y. 334,- 338; Stokes v. Hoffman House, 167 N. Y. 554, 559; Kincaid v. Dwinelle, 59 N. Y. 548; United Glass Co. v. Vary, 152 N. Y. 121, 125; Pringle v. Woolworth, 90 N. Y. 502, 503.) Therefore, it follows that the right to recover the calls unpaid by the defendant remained in the corporation and it had a *495

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Bluebook (online)
64 N.E. 194, 171 N.Y. 488, 9 Bedell 488, 1902 N.Y. LEXIS 876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sigua-iron-co-v-brown-ny-1902.