Wright's Trust

53 Pa. D. & C. 54, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedMay 11, 1945
Docketno. 1242
StatusPublished

This text of 53 Pa. D. & C. 54 (Wright's Trust) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright's Trust, 53 Pa. D. & C. 54, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1945).

Opinion

Brown, Jr., J.,

— The first account, and supplement thereto, of Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company, trustee for the Annie Wright Seminary, under deed of trust of Charles B. Wright, dated November 15, 1884, which was filed on November 14, 1944, was presented to the court for audit on January 23, 1945.

[55]*55Proof of notice of the filing of the account, and of the time and place for audit, was duly made and filed of record.

Exceptions were filed by Annie Wright Seminary, the beneficiary under the deed, to the following items in the supplement to the account: (1) Credit claimed in the amount of $1,035. for the purchase on November 1, 1944, of $1,000. Armour & Company of Delaware, First Mortgage 20 year S. F. Series E 3/4s due 9/1/64 @$103.50 (page 2); and (2) retention thereof in the balance of principal (page 3).

The reasons assigned in support of the exceptions are, respectively, (1) that the security purchased is not a legal investment for trust funds and the deed of trust does not authorize investment in so-called “non-legals”, and (2) that the-retention of non-legal investments is at the peril of the trustee.

The pertinent part of the deed of trust is as follows: “To have, hold and keep the same [$50,000. of the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company] to the said Company, and its successors in Trust, as an ‘Endowment Fund’ forever, with power and authority under and with the assent arid approval of the Bishop for the time being, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of Washington Territory, having jurisdiction over Tacoma, or of a majority of the Trustees of ‘The Annie Wright Seminary’ aforesaid, to change and from time to time change the investment of the said Fifty Thousand Dollars, and for that end to sell the aforesaid Bonds, and realize from the same, and in like manner to sell and resell, and realize from the Securities that subsequently take their place, and after, at and upon the sole discretion and judgment of said Company, to successively reinvest the proceeds anew, or in other Securities, when and as often as the said Company Trustee may deem it expedient to do so, in order to keep , the said ‘Endowment Fund’ always invested ju[56]*56diciously, and so as to yield interest and income, for the following uses and purposes

At the time of the execution of the deed, the settlor transferred and delivered to the trustee $50,000. of the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which constituted the entire trust estate. As the result of the failure of the purpose of another trust established by the settlor, the trustee was directed by decree of this court entered June 4, 1896, to apply the fund held for such purpose to the uses and purposes of the deed now under consideration, “subject to all the terms and conditions” thereof, and the trust estate, as thus supplemented has been administered accordingly.

The bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company originally constituting the trust estate were surrendered and in lieu thereof other bonds of a later issue and stock of the company were received by the trustee. The stock was sold, as well as bonds of another company which had subsequently become part of the trust estate by the decree above-mentioned, and the proceeds were invested in bonds secured by mortgages on properties in Philadelphia and additional bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. While the bonds of that company obtained in exchange for the bonds originally in the trust estate and also by purchase, all of which are still retained by the trustee, may not have been legal investments for trust funds when acquired by the trustee, they are such at the present time by virtue of changes in the law. The beneficiary has not objected to their acquisition and retention by the trustee.

The bond of Armour & Company of Delaware, which is the subject of the beneficiary’s exceptions, was purchased by the trustee apparently with moneys realized originally from the sale of the stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which was with the consent of the beneficiary, or the bonds which became part of the trust estate by the decree referred to above, and [57]*57subsequently invested in mortgages. This bond, which is still retained by the trustee, is concededly not a legal investment for trust purposes, and so the question presented for determination is whether nonlegal investments are permitted by the deed of trust.

The language of the deed is not free of ambiguity. By the provision, which is quoted in full above, the trustee was authorized, “under and with the assent and approval” of the beneficiary, “from time to time to change the investment” of the $50,000., and “for that end to sell” and “realize from” the bonds originally delivered to it by the settlor, “and in like manner to sell and resell, and realize from the Securities that subsequently take their place.” It is clear from that phraseology that the consent of the beneficiary was required not only to the sale of the bonds originally in the trust estate but- also to subsequent purchases and sales, the words “from time to time to change the investment” and “in like manner to sell and resell” permitting no other conclusion. But the trustee whs also authorized, by the words which follow in the provision, “and after, at and upon the sole discretion and judgment” of the trustee, “to successively reinvest the proceeds anew, or in other Securities, when and as often as the said Company Trustee may deem it expedient to do so, in order to keep the said ‘Endowment Fund’ always invested judiciously, and so as to yield interest and income.” The words “at and upon the sole discretion and judgment” of the Trustee were apparently used for the purpose of removing the restriction previously imposed on the trustee by the words “under and with the assent and approval” of the beneficiary, and not for the purpose of removing the limitation on the kind of investments to be made by the trustee imposed by law. This construction is supported by the word “sole”, which denotes acting without another or individually, and also by the words “when and as often as the said Company Trustee may deem it expedient to do so”, for they ex-[58]*58elude the exercise of “discretion and judgment” by the beneficiary, and place such responsibility on the trustee, alone. It is to be noted, however, that had the settlor intended to remove the limitation as to the kind of investments to be made by the trustee imposed by law, the restriction imposed by the deed would remain, and the consent of the beneficiary to all investments, whether legal or nonlegal, would be necessary. The settlor might have meant to give the trustee complete power to make investments and reinvestments without any restriction or limitation of any nature whatsoever, but this is not sustained by the wording of the provision.

Although the trustee was empowered to “reinvest * * * in other Securities” at its “sole discretion and judgment” and “when and as often as” it “may deem it expedient to do so”, it was required by the deed “to keep the said ‘Endowment Fund’ always invested judiciously, and so as to yield interest and income.” No case has been cited, and research has revealed none, in which the words “invested judiciously” have been defined, but their meaning and effect upon the trustee’s power are readily ascertainable. While “judiciously” might be construed as requiring judicial authority, i. e. the approval of the court, it is sufficient to consider and treat it as meaning “directed or governed by sound judgment”, or “wisely”, “prudently”, “sagaciously”, “discreetly”.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 Pa. D. & C. 54, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wrights-trust-pactcomplphilad-1945.