Tintic-Delaware Mining Co. v. Salt Lake, F. & K. R.

203 P. 871, 59 Utah 437, 1921 Utah LEXIS 133
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 14, 1921
DocketNo. 3640
StatusPublished

This text of 203 P. 871 (Tintic-Delaware Mining Co. v. Salt Lake, F. & K. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tintic-Delaware Mining Co. v. Salt Lake, F. & K. R., 203 P. 871, 59 Utah 437, 1921 Utah LEXIS 133 (Utah 1921).

Opinions

GIDEON, J.

The complaint filed in this case, after stating the corporate existence of plaintiff mining company and defendant railroad company, alleges that the individual defendants named were the organizers of the defendant company and subscribers to its capital stock; that George W. Craig was made president, and that the other individual defendants held other offices in the corporation mentioned in the complaint; also that said individual defendants solicited subscriptions for the construction of a railroad in the southern part of this state. It is then set out in the complaint that the defendants made statements to the plaintiff as to the building of the railroad whereby said plaintiff was induced to enter into a written agreement. The agreement is set out in full as a part of the complaint, and will be referred to later in this opinion.

It is alleged that pursuant to the agreement plaintiff, on or about July 6, 1918, deposited the money mentioned in [439]*439the contract to the credit of the defendant corporation; that it was induced to make such deposit by the false and fraudulent statements of defendants to the effect that the said railroad had been fully financed, and, that surveys, grading, and building would be eommehced immediately and the road would be completed and in operation by November 15, 1918. It is then alleged that said project had never been financed; that, in violation of the terms of the agreement, the individual defendants caused the moneys deposited by the plaintiff to be expended in ways not mentioned in, but contrary to, the terms of the written agreement. It is further alleged that by reason of the false and fraudulent statements, and by reason of the violation of the terms of the written agreement, the plaintiff had been damaged in the sum of $5,000, the amount deposited.

During the tidal plaintiff was permitted to file what is designated an “amendment to and supplemental complaint.” In this supplemental complaint it is alleged that in the month of December, 1917, and prior to the incorporation of the defendant company, the individual defendants, as joint venturers, formed themselves into a syndicate of incorporation of the defendant company, and that on or about February 28th following became the organizers and subscribers of the capital stock of the defendant corporation, and ever since the former date were engaged as such syndicate in the promotion of such railroad and railroad project both as such syndicate and through the means and instrumentality of the defendant corporation. It is then alleged that the syndicate constituted the defendant George "W. Craig as its general manager in said joint venture and in the affairs of said railroad project, and that the defendant corporation, from its organization, had, at all times, intrusted its affairs in connection with such project to the general management and control of said Craig. It is further alleged that the corporation, since its incorporation and organization, and the syndicate and association, since its organization, had, at all times, intrusted their funds and the funds of said association to the custody and actual control of the defendant Nelson [440]*440as treasurer of both said syndicate and association and said defendant corporation. In tbis supplemental complaint it is further alleged that on or about July 5, 1918, in furtherance of said joint venture, a written agreement, being the same as set out in the original complaint, was executed by the plaintiff and signed by the defendant C^aig and immediately delivered; that it was signed on behalf of all of the defendants; that at the time of signing said agreement plaintiff offered to deposit the $5,000 mentioned' in the agreement on the terms recited, upon condition that the defendant corporation would execute said agreement.

Plaintiff had judgment against the defendant corporation and the individual defendants George W. Craig and Alva Nelson, respectively president and treasurer of the defendant company. Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed its action against W. S. McCormick and F. D. Kimball. The action as against the individual defendants A. Y. Robison, D. J. Carpenter, George E. Robison, and W. L. Biersach was dismissed by the court. From that part of the judgment dismissing the action as to the individual defendants last named, respondents here, plaintiff below, appellant here, appeals.

The defendant corporation, George W. Craig, and Alva Nelson have not appealed from the judgment against them, and they are therefore not before this court for any purpose.

The contract set out in appellant’s complaint is dated July 6, 1918, and was executed on the part of appellant by its president and on the part of the railroad company- by its president, the defendant Craig. The articles of incorporation of the railroad company were executed by the incorporators on or about February 7, 1918, and were filed with the Secretary of State on or about February 28, 1918. The agreement to enter into articles of incorporation was had some time in January, 1918. Prior to January, 1918, and during the month of December, 1917, the defendant Craig had a meeting with the respondents, or, at least, with some of them, and others, at which he outlined the project upon which he had been working to construct a railroad to the southern part of the state. At that time the respondents [441]*441and others contributed small amounts to a fund for making some additional and further preliminary investigations respecting the construction of the road contemplated. That money was, by common consent, paid to the defendant Nelson as treasurer, Nelson being at the time cashier of a local bank. The money was expended under the general direction and supervision of the defendant Craig, and that was done with the consent of the respondents. In the contract found in the complaint among other things, is this provision:

“If for any reason whatsoever the said railroad company shall fail to construct said railroad or shall in any way fail to carry out the provisions of this contract, then and in that event the railroad right of way, as set forth in a survey made by said railroad company, shall pass to and shall he assigned by said railroad company to the said mining company and others as their interest may appear, it being particularly understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto that the said sum of $5,000 and such other sums deposited either by the said mining company or others is to be used expressly for the purpose of surveying the right of way of said railroad and for the construction of the first mile of said railroad.
“The payment of the consideration recited, to wit, $5,000, is a lien on the property of said railroad company for the completion of a survey and the construction of said railroad to the points heretofore designated.”

Admittedly, the money so paid or deposited by the appellant'company to the credit of the railroad company was not used for the purpose stated or stipulated in the contract. The amount so deposited was applied in part payment of the fees due a financial agency in an eastern city that had been employed to finance the road or sell its bonds and procure the necessary money for the construction of the' road. The money was so applied with the consent and active participation of the defendants Craig and Nelson. It is not contended that any of the respondents knew anything about the execution of the agreement or that the money was being used contrary to the terms of the agreement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
203 P. 871, 59 Utah 437, 1921 Utah LEXIS 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tintic-delaware-mining-co-v-salt-lake-f-k-r-utah-1921.