Southern Pac. Co. v. Lion Bonding & Surety Co.

294 S.W. 599, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 263
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 16, 1927
DocketNo. 9938.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 294 S.W. 599 (Southern Pac. Co. v. Lion Bonding & Surety Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Pac. Co. v. Lion Bonding & Surety Co., 294 S.W. 599, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 263 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

JONES, C. J.

Appellee Lion Bonding & Surety Company, a foreign corporation with a permit to do business in this state, was duly adjudged insolvent by a district court of Dallas county, and its estate is being duly administered by said court through a receiver appointed on the 21st day of April, 1921. This adjudication and the appointment of the receiver was the result of a suit filed in said court by a mortgagee creditor of said bonding company on whose matured claim a default had been made. Appellant, Southern Pacific Company, had theretofore secured a final judgment in the district court of Galveston county against said appellee, as surety on a bond of guaranty, upon which an unsatisfied execution had been issued. On August 25, 1922, appellant intervened in said suit and set up the fact of its judgment obtained in a district court of Galveston county on March 19, 1919, in the sum of $730.90, together with interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from date of judgment, and for all court costs, and prayed that this claim be allowed in its full amount, and that it be-declared a superior claim to all other claims except those within its class. The petition for intervention contained all necessary allegations in reference to appellant’s alleged right of priority.. The trustee and other creditors contested this right of priority of claims within the class of appellant’s claim, and, upon hearing, judgment was entered al- *600 Jawing appellant’s claim for tlie amount of tlie judgment, court costs,' and for interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum to the date of the appointment of the receiver, but denied the claim of the right of priority. Appellant has- duly perfected its appeal to this court, and there is presented here the questions as to right of priority and of interest during the receivership.

On May 19,1913, appellee bonding company was authorized to do in the state of Texas a fidelity, surety, accident, health, burglary, and theft insurance business. This authority was renewed each year thereafter; the last certificate being granted on May 18, 1920. The agreed statement shows that, beginning with the permit of 1914, the subject of plate glass insurance was .added to the business it was authorized to transact; that the permit for the year 1916 omitted the subject of theft from the authorized business; the subsequent permits, .except as to the last one issued, were identical with the one of 1916. The last permit, issued May 18, 1920, authorized the doing of a fidelity, surety, plate glass, accident, health, automobile liability, property damage, fire, theft, transportation, and burglary insurance.

At the time the bonding company was first authorized to do business in this state, it deposited with the state treasurer securities of the value of $50,000, as required by article 4930 of Vernon’s Sayles’ 1914 Revised Statutes. These securities were in the possession of the state treasurer at the time of the appointment of the receiver, and, by order of the court duly entered, the state treasurer delivered such securities to the receiver as a part, in fact all, of the estate of said bonding company. At the time the judgment was entered on appellant’s claim, there was in the hands of the receiver, as proceeds of such securities, a sum of money in excess of $33,-000, which Was sufficient to pay in full all claims of the same class as appellant’s claim, but was not sufficient to pay in full all outstanding obligations of the bonding company.

It was contended by the receiver of the said bonding company that the deposit made with the state treasurer in pursuance of the provision of article 4930, supra, was for the benefit of the holders of all obligations of such company wheresoever incurred, if the claimants established them by final judgment. It was contended by appellant that the deposit, under the terms of said statute, became a trust fund primarily for the benefit of holders of obligations arising under the surety business of such company as authorized by the provisions of chapter 13 of title 71, supra. The trial court adopted the view of the receiver and entered judgment in accordance with such theory, and this action is assigned as error.

• These respective contentions must be determined by the provisions of our statutes relat- • irig to this subject. As some of these provisions have been amended in important particulars since the filing of this suit, the citations will be from Vernon’s Sayles’ Civil Statutes 1914. Chapter 13 of said title relates to fidelity, guaranty, and surety companies. Chapter 14A of said title relates to' casualty and other insurance companies, except fire, marine, and life insurance companies.

Article 4942a of the latter chapter provides for the incorporation of domestic companies to do the character of business authorized by said chapter and enumerated in said article. Article 4942v provides that:

“Only companies organized and doing business under the provisions of this act shall be subject to its provisions.”

Article 4942e provides that:

“Any company organized under the provisions of this act shall have .not less than $100,000 of capital stock subscribed, paid in, in cash, with an additional fifty thousand dollars of capital stock subscribed and fully paid in, in cash, for every kind of insurance, more than one of which it is authorized to transact as specified in any of the subdivisions; provided, that such companies with $200,000 of capital stock subscribed and fully paid in, in cash, shall be authorized to transact all and every kind of insurance specified in any and all of the subdivisions. * * * ”

Said article also provides that:

“Upon such company furnishing evidence satisfactory to the commissioner of insurance and banking that the capital stock as herein prescribed has been all subscribed and paid up in cash in good faith, and that such capital stock has been invested as ’ herein prescribed, and upon the deposit of the sum of $50,000 of such securities or in cash with the state treasurer, then the commissioner of insurance and banking shall issue to said company a certificate authorizing it to do business.”

It is further provided in said article that, if such company shall be required by the law of any other state, as a requirement for doing any insurance business in such state, to deposit with the state treasury of this state any securities or cash in excess of the $50,-000 deposit, such company may deposit an additional amount with the state treasurer sufficient to enable it to meet such requirements.

It is manifest, from the provisions of said chapter 14A, that th’e deposit of $50,000 required by article 4942e is not required of foreign corporations doing only the character of business in this state as described in said chapter, and it appears that the department of insurance of this state has not required such deposit from a foreign company doing such business. The deposit required to be made under article 4942e is not specifically made a trust fund for any purpose. It is therefore manifest that the deposit of securities made by the Lion Bonding & Surety Company of the value of $50,000 was made *601

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Bluebook (online)
294 S.W. 599, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-pac-co-v-lion-bonding-surety-co-texapp-1927.