Thayer v. Butler

141 U.S. 234, 11 S. Ct. 987, 35 L. Ed. 711, 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2515
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedMay 25, 1891
Docket300
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 141 U.S. 234 (Thayer v. Butler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thayer v. Butler, 141 U.S. 234, 11 S. Ct. 987, 35 L. Ed. 711, 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2515 (1891).

Opinion

*235 Mr. Justice Bradley

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action brought by the receiver of the Pacific National Bank of Boston against George L. Thayer, trustee, to recover one hundred per cent of the amount of his capital stock in said bank upon his individual liability as a stockholder under section 5151 of the Revised Statutes. The amount sued for was $8000 (with the'interest thereon), being $4000, the amount of forty shares of stock held by him, as trustee, prior to September, 1881, and $4000 for new stock subscribed for and taken by him, as alleged by the plaintiff, in September, 1881, as and for his, the said Thayer’s share and proportion of the new stock issued at that time, as shown in the preceding case just decided, and in the case of Delano v. Butler and Aspinwall v. Butler, there referred to. His liability to pay the $4000 upon the original stock was not disputed, and judgment for that amount, with interest, was rendered by consent. But Thayer denied any liability by reason of the new stock, denying that it was his stock, and claiming a set-off for the money ($4000) which it was conceded he had paid therefor, on the ground that he only paid for stock which was to form part of an increased capital of $500,000, and no such increase was ever made. The case is in all respects similar to that of Pacific National Bank v. Mary J. Eaton, ante, 227, just decided.

A jury being waived, the cause was tried by the court upon an agreed statement of fac(s; in addition to which the plaintiff (below) produced the testimony of Mr. Thayer himself, giving the particulars of his acts in relation to the new stock, which elicited nothing important, and which the court disregarded in coming to its conclusion. The statement of facts contained the same facts which were received in -evidence in the case of Pacific National Bank v. Eaton, ante, 227, just decided, and in addition thereto a list' of payments on account of the new stock, with the date of each payment; a copy of the report of the bank examiner, Needham, dated November 18, 1881; a copy of minutes of meetings of the directors of the bank December 10, 1881, and December 14, 1881; copy of letters from the comptroller of the currency to the bank examiner, *236 December' 13,1881, and from the examiner to the comptroller, December 14, 1881; and minutes of, directors’ meeting January -2,1882. This additional evidence had relation mostly to .the voluntary assessment, and -to the question of the resumption of’ business -by the bank', and has no further effect upon the .present controversy than as going to show, perhaps, good faith, on the part .of the' directors of the bank. - We do not think,-however, that it alters-the case in the slightest degree, so far-as the question, of the plaintiff in error's liability for the new stock is concerned.

It appears from the agreed statement of facts that, after the directors of-the bank had voted, on the 13th of September, 1881, to increase the capital stock from $500,000 to $1,000,000, and notice to that effect had been sent out to the stockholders, giving, to each a right- to take -the new stock at par in equal ¿mounts to that then held by them, Thayer; the plaintiff in error, went to the bank and' paid $4000 from the trust money in his hands, belonging to the same' trust for which he already held the original forty shares, and received therefor a receipt, a copy of which is as follows:

“•Pacific National Bank.
“.$4000 Sep. .28.
“ Boston, October 1 st, 1881.-
■ “ Received of Geó. L. Thayer, trustee, four thousand dollars on.account of subscription to new stock.
“ J. M. Pettengill; Cashier.”

He also, at the same time, acting for Mary- J. Eaton (the. defendant in error in the case just decided), who had forty shares of the capital stock of -the bank,- paid the same amount for her, and took a similar recéipt to -her.

■ As stated in the previous case, certificates for the new stock were made-out in. a book, with stubs to indicate their contents, and- were- delivered to the stockholders as they called for them. Such a certificate was made out for Mr. Thayer, but he never called'for it, though he was registered in the stock book of *237 the bank as owner thereof. The entry in the stock book was, and yet is, as follows:

“ Geo. L. Thayer, trustee, Boston.
1880.. ' 1878. ,
Sep. 1. To 40 shares, 40.......4,000 Jan. 16. By 40 shares, 40......4,000 1880.
Jan. 1. “ 40' do. 40......4,000 1881. .
Oct. 1. “ 40 do. 40. ■.... .4,000"

The accounts with other shareholders were similar in form to this, and the bank kept no other list of the names and residences of its shareholders and the number of shares held by each. At what time the certificates or the entries in the stock book were made does not appear except by the books. Section 5210 of the Revised Statutes requires that “ The president and cashier of every national banking association shall cause to be kept at all times a full and correct list of the names and residences of all the shareholders in the association, and the number of shares held by each, in the office where its business is transacted.” And the statement of facts states that —

“The president and-cashier of the bank began to issue certificates for stock in the proposed increase on October 1, 1881, and thereafter issued them from time to time as called for to those who had paid, and on November 18, 1881, certificates bearing date Oct. 1, 1881, .representing all but three hundred and fifty-four shares of the $161,370, had been thus delivered and the shares credited to the accounts of the respective parties on or as of October 1, 1881, on the stock ledger of the bank.”

■ We think it is sufficiently manifest that the certificates were made out, and that the entry was made in the stock book before the failure of the bank, and before the plaintiff in error had signified to any officer of the. bank his dissatisfaction at what .he had done in the matter of subscribing for the new stock.

The final disposition of the case is' shown by the following extract from the record:

“The- defendant objected to. the evidence embraced in -the *238

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Bluebook (online)
141 U.S. 234, 11 S. Ct. 987, 35 L. Ed. 711, 1891 U.S. LEXIS 2515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thayer-v-butler-scotus-1891.