Wing v. Sedgwick

4 F.2d 177, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 2925
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedMarch 10, 1925
DocketNo. 1787
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 4 F.2d 177 (Wing v. Sedgwick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wing v. Sedgwick, 4 F.2d 177, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 2925 (1st Cir. 1925).

Opinions

BINGHAM, Circuit Judge.

This is the same case that was previously before this court (254 P. 5, 165 C. C. A. 415) on a writ of error from a judgment in favor of the defendant sustaining a demurrer to the plaintiff’s declaration.

"We then held that the arrangement under which the $800,000 note was deposited by the managers through the Refugio Syndicate with tho Guardian Trust Company for the issuance of participation certificates therein was an authorized method of borrowing within tho powers conferred upon the managers by the underwriting agreement (Old Record, Schedule A; Present Record, Exhibit 1) of September 1, 1907, and consequently the pledging of the underwriting agreement and all the stock wa,s authorized within the terms of that agreement, and that the underwriting agreement was not conditioned upon the subscribers receiving full paid stock legally issued; that the lenders, through the trustee, were bound only to turn over to the defendant, on payment of his subscription, his proportionate part of the stock pledged, whether that stock was full paid stock legally issued or not; and that, if borrowings were had on the $800,000 note pursuant to the deposit and pledge, as alleged in the declaration, the defendant having defaulted, the trustee would be entitled to recover from the defendant on the subscription agreement tho $9,200 which he had subscribed, less the payments be had made; but that, as it was apparent that the borrowings bad did not equal the sum of $800,-000, the plaintiff would bo bound to hold and pay over to the managers for the Refugio Syndicate such part of the sum recovered as exceeded the sum required to pay the defendant’s part of the borrowings actually made.

This decision having been rendered, the ease was remanded to the District Court for trial, where, after trial before the district judge, a jury having been waived, facts were found and rulings of law were made, to which tho plaintiff excepted, and, judgment for the defendant having been entered thereon, this writ of error was prosecuted.

This action is brought by the plaintiff, as trustee, on a syndicate underwriting agreement for 8,000 shares of stock, par value of $100 each, of the Refugio Syndicate, a New Jersey corporation, against the defendant as a subscriber thereto, wherein the defendant subscribed for and agreed to pay $9,200 for 92 shares of stock; the underwriting agreement, together with 2,000 shares of stock of the Refugio Syndicate previously purchased by the subscribers and paid for, having been pledged with the Guardian Trust Company as trustee to secure the note of $800,000 deposited with the trust company as depository, in which participations or borrowings were to be had to pay for the 8,000 shares.

The District Court has found that all the material faets alleged in the declaration are true except those alleged relating to ratification (paragraph 17 of the declaration), which, in view of further facts found, we regard as immaterial. As additional faets, it was found that, after the $800,000 nolo and collateral had been deposited with tho Guardian Trust Company, it borrowed on participation certificates $538,500, the net proceeds of which the Refugio Syndicate received in payment for the stock as and when the certificates were issued; that by the payment of subscriptions this amount of partic[178]*178ipations on September 28, 1910, had been reduced to $290,608; that on that date the $800,000 note was long overdue and the holders of participations were demanding payment; that to meet these demands the Refugio Syndicate entered into an arrangement to borrow from Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Limited, $300,000 on its promissory note for that sum, dated September 28, 1910, which sum it turned over to the Guardian Trust Company; that the Guardian Trust'Company applied $275,144.-70 to cover the principal and interest on certain participation certificates then outstanding, amounting to $264,368, of the total outstanding certificates of $290,608; that nothing was paid on the balance of the outstanding certificates of $26,240;, that the remainder of the $300,000 was turned back to the Refugio Syndicate; that certificates representing the total outstanding borrowings of $290,608 were turned over to the trust company and canceled, as was the deposit agreement of March 2, 1908; that the $800,-000 note was delivered by the Guardian Trust Company to the Refugio Syndicate; that the •holders of the $26,240 of participation certificates received in lieu thereof participation certificates for that sum-in said note which were issued by the Refugio Syndicate; that on the same day and as a part of the same transaction the Refugio Syndicate delivered to Consolidated Gold Fields the note for $300,000 and as collateral security therefor the $800,000 note, subject to the $26,240 of outstanding participation certificates; that on the same date, September 28, 1910, the plaintiff was appointed trustee under the trust agreement of March 2, 1908, to succeed the Guardian Trust Company, which that day resigned; that, when the $300,000 note given to the Consolidated Gold Fields beeame due, it was not paid, and thereafter that company caused the $800,000 note held as collateral to be sold at public auction and bought in for its account.

Having found the material allegations of the declaration to have been, proved .and the additional facts as above stated, the District, Court made the following rulings: (1) That on the foregoing facts the plaintiff was not entitled to recover in this, action; (2) that the 8,000 shares of the capital stock of the Refugio Syndicate were never lawfully issued to the syndicate managers either on September 30,1907, or any subsequent date; (3) that the underwriting agreement did not authorize the syndicate’managers'to issue the $800,000 note for 8,000 shares of the capital stock of the Refugio Syndicate; (4) that neither the Refugio Syndicate as holder of the $800,000 note nor the plaintiff as trustee can hold the subscribers to the underwriting agreement liable- thereon; (5) that the loan of $300,000 by the Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Limited, to the Refugio Syndicate upon the security of the $800,000 note of the syndicate managers as collateral did. not constitute a borrowing by the managers within the contemplation of the underwriting agreement (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1), and sajd underwriting agreement is not enforceable as collateral to said loan ; (6) that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover upon defendant’s subscription agreement either for the benefit of Consolidated Gold Fields or for the holders of .any participation certificates issued by the Refugio Syndicate.

It is to these rulings that error is assigned.

In view of the conclusions reached in our former decision we regard the second ruling of law as immaterial, for we there held that it would not be a defense to an action brought by the trustee on the underwriting agreement for the benefit of lenders on participation certificates whether the shares of stock ’ of the Refugio Syndicate were full paid and lawfully issued or not. Neither do we regard the third ruling as material, for, if it be assumed that the underwriting agreement did not authorize the syndicate managers to give the $800,000 note in payment for the stock, it did authorize, as we previously held, the deposit of that note with the trust company, as depository, to represent borrowings that might be had to the amount of the note. Neither do we regard the fourth ruling as essential to a decision of this case, for this suit is not brought upon the $800,000 note by the Refugio Syndicate or by the plaintiff as trustee, but upon the underwriting agreement.

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

Related

Medrash v. Riley
Second Circuit, 2007
McCallum v. Wing
31 F.2d 940 (First Circuit, 1929)
Wing v. McCallum
16 F.2d 645 (D. Massachusetts, 1926)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 F.2d 177, 1925 U.S. App. LEXIS 2925, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wing-v-sedgwick-ca1-1925.