Woerz v. . Rademacher

23 N.E. 1113, 120 N.Y. 62, 30 N.Y. St. Rep. 271, 75 Sickels 62, 1890 N.Y. LEXIS 1226
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 21, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 23 N.E. 1113 (Woerz v. . Rademacher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woerz v. . Rademacher, 23 N.E. 1113, 120 N.Y. 62, 30 N.Y. St. Rep. 271, 75 Sickels 62, 1890 N.Y. LEXIS 1226 (N.Y. 1890).

Opinion

Bradley, J.

The action was brought for specific performance of a contract of April 4, 1884, made by the plaintiff, named as trustee, with the defendant, by which he agreed to convey certain land in the city of Brooklyn in exchange for land in that city to be conveyed to him by the defendant. The defendant alleged that the plaintiff was unable to give a marketable title to the premises which he undertook to convey. Prior to July 12, 1878, the Abingdon Square Savings Bank was the beneficial owner of the land, although the title was nominally in another. On that day Prank Thompson, the receiver of the bank, made to the plaintiff a deed of conveyance, which referred to an agreement of December 12, 1877, and recited that the receiver entered into it Avith the plaintiff and ten other persons (naming them), former trustees of the bank, and by it undertook, on performance by them of the covenants on their part therein mentioned, to transfer and convey to them, or to anyone designated in Avriting by a majority of them, the remaining assets and property of the bank; and that they had so performed and designated the plaintiff as the party to Avhom the transfer and conveyance should be made; and then proceeded in terms to convey the premises in question Avith other property to him. Three days thereafter the plaintiff, by an instrument in Avriting under seal, after reciting that *66 the receiver had pursuant to the contract made such deed, proceeded to state that the conveyance- “ was made for the joint benefit and advantage of ” himself and such ten other persons (naming them); and added “ that they are, and each of them is, equally interested with myself in all benefits and advantages to be derived therefrom, and are equally liable with myself for all costs, expenses and liabilities attending or in any way connected with the same.”

The plaintiff and his ten associates had been trustees of the bank, and actions had been brought against them by the receiver to charge them with liability for alleged waste or impairment of its fund, and by way of adjustment of the subject-matter of those actions the contract of December 12, 1877, was made between him and them, by which they undertook to pay thirty-five per cent of the amount of the liabilities of the bank, and the receiver agreed thereupon to assign and convey the property of the bank to them or to such one as they or a majority of them should designate. It also provided that they should sell the property, and out of the proceeds reimburse themselves for the amount paid to the receiver and pay'to him the surplus, if any, remaining. 'The plaintiff’s associates with him were beneficiaries of the conveyance, and made so by the terms of the instruments by which it was made and characterized. And unless it came within the provisions of the statute defining express trusts (1 R. S. 728, § 55), the plaintiff took title to only an undivided part of the land so conveyed. It was urged that it came within the provision of that section authorizing the creation of a trust to sell lands for the benefit of creditors.' It cannot be so treated, because that was not the primary or sole purpose of the grant. The plaintiff and his associates had assumed an obligation to pay a certain amount which they paid, and the deed was made to him to enable them first to repay themselves as provided by the contract pursuant to which the obligation was assumed and the conveyance made, then as to some, at least, of the land conveyed by the deed those parties were at liberty to take at an estimated value and retain it to their own use. The creation *67 of a trust for the purpose before mentioned, requires that the duty of the grantee to sell for the benefit of creditors be imperative. (Cook v. Platte, 98 N. Y. 35; Chamberlain v. Taylor, 105 id. 185.) The grant was not within subdivision two or any other provision of that section, and, therefore, created no express trust. The purpose of the deed was declared by the prior contract referred to in it, as well as by the subsequent instrument made by the plaintiff. Those parties were beneficiaries of the grant, and the title with all the right of property taken by it was for their benefit, amongst which was the right to the possession and rents and profits of the land. It, therefore, seems to be within the statute which provides that in such case title vests in the beneficiaries of the conveyance without reference to the party taking it nominally as grantee (1 R. S. 727, § 47; Id. 728, § 49); and that the plaintiff and his associates took the title to the premises. But it is urged that as between those parties title was vested in the plaintiff by force of the statute, which provides that where a grant for a valuable consideration shall be made to one person, and the consideration therefor shall be paid by another, no use or trust shall result in favor of the person by whom such payment shall be made, but the title shall vest in the person named as alienee in such conveyance, subject only to the provision ” of the next succeeding section reserving the rights of creditors of the person paying the consideration. (1 R. S. 728, § 51.) The purpose of that statute was to abrogate the common-law doctrine of resultance by legal implication of a trust in favor of the party paying the consideration, and it has no application to a case where the trust is expressly reserved by the instrument making the grant, or declared by another instrument relieving it from the effect of a secret trust. The resulting trust which was within the denunciation of this statute, was dependent upon the payment of the consideration before the execution of the conveyance. (Botsford v. Burr, 2 Johns. Ch. 405 Steere v. Steere, 5 id. 1; Jackson v. Moore, 6 Cow. 706; Niver v. Crane, 98 N. Y. 40.)

Inasmuch as all the beneficiaries joined in the contract, *68 which provided that the conveyance be made to such one as a majority of them should designate to take it, and as it was made pursuant to such designation, the conveyance to the plaintiff may be deemed to have created a power in trust within the provision of the statute that “ Where an express trust shall he created for any purpose not ” therein before enumerated, “ no estate shall vest in the trustees; but the trust if directing or authorizing the performance of any act which may be lawfully performed under a power, shall be valid as a power in trust, subject to the provisions in relation to such powers contained ” in the third article of the same title of the Revised Statutes on that subject. (1 R. S. 729, § 58.) It is, however, suggested that the provisions relating to powers are so qualified that a power cannot be created unless the party granting it might himself lawfully perform it (Id. 732, § 74); and that the receiver who made the grant had no authority to execute the power which was contemplated and sought to be created by the grant to the plaintiff. Whatever force that view may have had if it depended solely upon the deed of the receiver, the fact that all the plaintiff’s associates beneficially interested with him in the grant and the execution of the power, united in the contract and direction pursuant to which it was granted to him, was sufficient to make it effectual for the purposes of the execution of the power by the plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
23 N.E. 1113, 120 N.Y. 62, 30 N.Y. St. Rep. 271, 75 Sickels 62, 1890 N.Y. LEXIS 1226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woerz-v-rademacher-ny-1890.