Wagner v. Kelso

195 Iowa 959
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 6, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 195 Iowa 959 (Wagner v. Kelso) 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
Wagner v. Kelso, 195 Iowa 959 (iowa 1923).

Opinion

Weaver, J.

The petition was several times amended upon motions for more specific statement, and as finally perfected, sets up the alleged cause of action substantially as follows: That the defendants Kelso and Ridenour were stock brokers, duly licensed by the secretary of state to carry on such business, and that each had qualified therefor by giving a bond, as required by statute, Chapter 13-B, Title IX, of the Supplemental Supplement to the Code of Iowa, 1915, which bond undertakes that, if the broker therein named ‘ ‘ shall pay any and all fines assessed against him for the wrongful sale of stocks, bonds, or other securities, and shall pay any and all damages sustained by any person or corporation growing out of any transaction appertaining to the business.of brokers as defined in such statute, then said obligation shall be void; otherwise to be and remain in full force and effect in law.”

It is further alleged that negotiations were had between said brokers and plaintiff for the sale to plaintiff of 800 shares of the capital stock of the T.exlouana Producing and Refining Company, at $1.25 per share, resulting in an oral agreement for the purchase of said shares by plaintiff; that, as a part of said-transaction and part of the consideration therefor, said brokers agreed that, in case the defendant should, within the next 60 days, for any reason become dissatisfied with the bargain so [961]*961made, they would take back or repurchase said shares for the full contract price, and refund the money; that plaintiff was unacquainted with the merits or value of the shares so purchased, and the promise to repurchase the same was a chief consideration or inducement upon which he relied in making the deal; that, within the prescribed limit of 60 days, he did become dissatisfied therewith, and offered and tendered a return of said shares to said defendants, and demanded the repayment of said price; and that said demand has been refused. Judgment for such sum is therefore demanded against said brokers and their sureties upon the bond. Responding to the defendants’ motion, plaintiff attaches to his pleading.a copy of the “certificate of interest” issued or delivered to him by said brokers, in the following form:

“Member’s Certificate of Interest. Number 1763. Shares 800. Texlouana Producing and Refining Co. Wichita Falls, Texas. Capitalization $2,500,000. Par Value $1.00. This is to certify that J. B. Wagner is the owner of eight hundred shares, fully paid and nonassessable, of one dollar ($1.00) each of the beneficiary interest in the Texlouana Producing and Refining Co., a common law company, transferable only on the books of the company by the owner thereof in person or by duly authorized attorney, upon surrender of this certificate properly indorsed. This certificate is held subject to an agreement and declaration of trust dated January 1, 1920, a duplicate original of which is on file with the trustees, and which is also recorded in the deed records in the county clerk’s office in Wichita County, Texas, and which is hereby referred to and made a part of this certificate. No member of said company or owner or holder of this certificate as such shall have any authority, power, or right whatsoever to do or transact any business for or on behalf of or binding upon the company or any member thereof, and no member of this company shall ever be personally liable for any debts, covenants, demands, contracts, or torts of any kind of this company. Witness the signatures of the trustees of said company this 24th day of June.
“Texlouana Producing and Refining Co.
“By Miller Sandusky, Pres.
“Attest: By A. C. Sheehan, Asst. Secretary.
[962]*962“Registered by Bankers Trust Company of Wichita Falls, Texas. Registrar and Transfer Agent M. M. Harrington, Secretary. ’ ’

Accompanying this is a printed document, which we assume to be the “Agreement and Declaration of Trust” referred to in the certificate. Its volume, filling 23 pages of the abstract, prohibits its embodiment in this opinion. It calls itself “an agreement and declaration of trust between one Stahl and one Schachner or their assigns and such others as may thereafter become the owners of a certificate or certificates evidencing a beneficial interest of one or more shares in and to the trust estate hereinafter mentioned.” Then follows a “whereas” certain contracts and leases for oil, gas, minerals, and other holdings, together with certain privileges, franchises, rights, plans, etc., have been acquired in the name of Stahl and Schachner (such property rights being listed in Exhibit A thereto attached), and whereas Stahl and Schachner had by proper assignment, “to be hereafter filed for record,” conveyed the same to the Texlouana Producing and Refining Company, of which said Stahl and Schachner are hereby made trustees, and “said Texlouana Producing and Refining Company is hereby created and hereby organized with a capitalization of $2,500,000, divided into 2,500,000 shares of $1.00 each,” all of which are to be issued to Stahl and Schachner in payment for “certain properties turned in by them to the company,” they agree, “in consideration for $1.00 and other considerations,” to turn into the “treasury of this trust estate 1,250,000 of said shares.” This preliminary matter concludes as follows:

“Now, therefore, we, the parties hereto, do covenant and agree to and with -each other, each for a valuable consideration and mutual covenants and agreements of the others, to hold the property so conveyed for the use and benefit of the present and all future subscribers and stockholders in accordance with the following, to wit: * * *.”

The Exhibit A referred to, being a list of assets turned in by Stahl and Schachner, consists of 36 items, setting forth such descriptions as “10 acres in Potter County, Texas; 320 acres in Deaf Smith County, Texas; 20 acres in Brown County, Texas; 20 acres in Tom Green County, Texas;” and others of equally [963]*963illuminating character. There are further • set forth many solidly printed pages, specifying an almost numberless variety of business in which the so-called trust was authorized to engage, and the practically unlimited power of the trustees with respect thereto, and exempting them from liability for failure or negligence in the matter of their duties or powers, provided only that the same should not amount to fraud, embezzlement, or willful breach of trust. It is finally provided that:

£ £ This trust shall continue and remain in force for the term of twenty years, after the death of the trustees ivhose names are signed hereto unless the same shall have been sooner terminated by the action of the trustees, as herein provided. It is agreed that said trustees may, if it seems to them judicious so to do, convey the trust property to new or other trustees, or .to a corporation, or otherwise dispose of same, or terminate this trust as in their opinion the interests of the shareholder may demand, being first duly indemnified for any outstanding obligations.

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195 Iowa 959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wagner-v-kelso-iowa-1923.