State Security Bank v. Hoskins

106 N.W. 764, 130 Iowa 339
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 5, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 106 N.W. 764 (State Security Bank v. Hoskins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Security Bank v. Hoskins, 106 N.W. 764, 130 Iowa 339 (iowa 1906).

Opinion

McClain, C. J.

1. Corporations: organization: estoppel. Appellants question the right of appellee to maintain the action on the ground that it is not duly incorporated and has no legal capacity to hold real es-Or to SUe. But by Code, Section 1636, one who is sued for an injury to the property pf a corporation or for wrong done to its interest is not permitted to set up want of legal organization in his defense, and we have no suggestions from counsel as to any reasons, nor do any reasons occur to us why this statutory provision does not apply in an action brought by the plaintiff corporation to protect its property from the wrongful acts of defendants. The claim as to the effect of defective organization predicated upon Clegg v. Hamilton and Wright County Grange Co., 61 Iowa, 121, is without foundation, for in that case the question was as to the liability of stockholders, on account of defects in the proceedings for incorporation.

2. TT acts: estoppel. The claim that plaintiff as a banking corporation had no capacity to own real property is also devoid of merit. The title of the plaintiff to the real property was acquired from one who held it in trust for the defendants, and as against such conveyance, the defendants are estopped from pleading ultra vires. Franklin v. Twogood, 18 Iowa, 515.

[341]*3413. Banking”15 reaí property, [340]*340But, however this may be, the plaintiff bank, though not expressly organized to deal in real estate, or authorized by statute to do so, may, as an incident to its business and for the purpose of securing itself from loss in the trans[341]*341action of its authorized business, become the lawful owner real estate. See the reasoning of the court applicable here in Fidelity Ins. Co. v. German Savings Bank, 127 Iowa, 591. See, also, First National Bank v. Elmore, 52 Iowa, 541.

4. Injunction: fixtures. It is further objected that the court should not grant an injunction to restrain the removal of the engine from the real property, but that plaintiff should be left to his remedy at law. That injunction is a proper remedy in such case, see Lemmon v. Guthrie Center, 113 Iowa, 36; Kraft v. Welch, 112 Iowa, 695 ; Schmaltz v. York Mfg. Co., 204 Pa. 1 (53 Atl. 522, 59 L. R. A. 907, 93 Am. St. Rep. 782).

It appears that the plaintiff bank acquired the land in question in payment of indebtedness to it, and not by way of direct purchase. These points are not argued by counsel for appellant beyond the mere suggestion of them, and we have not thought it necessary to elaborate our reasons for the conclusions stated, nor make an extensive citation of authorities.

5. fixture: machinery. The questions elaborately argued, and upon which extensive citations of authorities are made by counsel are: First, whether the gasoline engine in question, which was erected by plaintiff’s remote grantor on the farm †0 which plaintiff acquired title by warranty deed covering “ all the appurtenances,” placed on a solid stone foundation, inclosed in a permanent building also resting on a stone foundation, and intended for use and used to propel machinery or grinding feed for stock, was a part of the realty passing to plaintiff by the deed, as .against the defendants, who by bill of sale, acquired from the same grantor “ the following described property: Live stock, plows, etc. [specificially described], and all other machinery and tools and farm wagons on said premises.” And, second, whether, conceding the gasoline engine in question to be a part of the realty as a matter of law in .the absence [342]*342of any agreement or understanding that it was • to become personal property and pass to the defendants under the bill of sale, there is any evidence to show an agreement or understanding binding on the plaintiff that said engine should be personal property.

Courts have found difficulty in many cases in determining whether chattels have been so annexed, actually or constructively, to the realty as to pass with it by a conveyance, but as to this engine, placed by the original grantor, Anderson, upon his stock farm for permanent use, we think there can be no difficulty whatever in determining its character.-

In holding an engine to be part of the realty this court has laid particular emphasis on the intention of the person making the annexation, and has said that the character of the physical attachment, whether slight or otherwise, and the use are mainly important in determining his intention. Ottumwa Woolen Mill Co. v. Hawley, 44 Iowa, 57. And in holding that platform scales placed oh a foundation were part of the realty, we have said that the intention which controls is not a secret purpose of the owner, but that which should be implied from his acts and is ordinarily to be inferred from the nature of the article, the manner and object of its use, and the mode of its annexation. Thompson v. Smith, 111 Iowa, 718. Applying the same tests, we have held that a furnace standing on a brick foundation in the cellar of a house, and connected with pipes and flues for the purpose of furnishing heat, and a boiler attached to pipes connecting it with the kitchen range and intended to supply hot water to the rooms in the house, were part of the house, although they might have been removed without injury to it by severing their connections. West v. Farmers’ Mut. Ins. Co., 117 Iowa, 147.

This engine could have been taken off its stone and cement foundation by unscrewing the burrs of the'bolts by which it was fastened to the foundation, and might have been taken out of the building constructed around it by [343]*343cutting a hole in the wooden walls, but to so remove it would clearly have been contrary to the intention with which it was "fastened to the foundation and inclosed in the building. The mere fact that such a piece of machinery can be removed from the support on which it rests even by its own weight alone does not, in itself, negative the intention to annex it permanently to the realty. Detroit United Railway Co. v. Board of State Tax Com., 136 Mich. 96 (98 N. W. 997) ; Knickerbocker Trust Co. v. Penn Cordage Co. 66 N. J. Eq. 305 (58 Atl. 409). We are inclined to give greater weight to the intention of the party indicated by his acts in attaching chattels to the realty and using them in connection therewith, than to the manner of physical annexation. As is said by Gibson, C. J., in Voorhis v. Freeman, 2 Watts & S. 116 (37 Am. Dec. 490) : “ The simple criterion of physical attachment is so limited in its range and so productive of contradiction, even in regard to fixtures in dwellings to which it was adapted before England had become a manufacturing country, that it will answer for nothing else.” And in support of the more liberal rule, see, also, Farrar v. Stackpole, 6 Me. 154 (19 Am. Dec. 201) ; Despatch Line v. Bellamy Mfg. Co., 12 N. H. 205 (37 Am. Dec. 203); Cavis v. Beckford, 62 N. H. 229 (13 Am. St. Rep. 554) ; Bullard v. Hopkins, 128 Iowa, 703; 19 Cyc. 1045. We have not the slightest doubt that aside from any special agreement or understanding of which plaintiff had notice, this gasoline engine became the property of plaintiff under the conveyance to it.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

First Trust & Savings Bank of Moville v. Guthridge
445 N.W.2d 401 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1989)
Comly v. Lehmann
253 N.W. 501 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1934)
Cornell College v. Crain
235 N.W. 731 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1931)
Des Moines Improvement Co. v. Holland Furnace Co.
213 N.W. 651 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1927)
Speer v. Donald
207 N.W. 581 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1926)
O'Bryon v. Weatherly
206 N.W. 828 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1926)
Potter v. Mobley
194 S.W. 205 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1917)
Murphy v. Continental Insurance
178 Iowa 375 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1916)
Sharum v. Whitehead Coal Mining Co.
223 F. 282 (Eighth Circuit, 1915)
Thos. Beck & Sons v. Economy Coal Co.
127 N.W. 1109 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1910)
Peoria Stone & Marble Works v. Sinclair
124 N.W. 772 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 N.W. 764, 130 Iowa 339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-security-bank-v-hoskins-iowa-1906.