Porter v. Hermann
Porter v. Hermann
Opinion of the Court
It is unnecessary to examine the evidence, as we are satisfied that the allegations of the complaint are insufficient to sustain a verdict, convicting the defendant of fraud. The allegations are made, and the verdict is sought in order that the judgment may be enforced by the arrest and imprisonment of the person of the defendant. They must therefore bring the case clearly within the provisions of the statute authorizing arrests, and must be certain and positive, and not ambiguous, argumentative, or in the alternative. The seventy-third section of the Practice Act specifies the cases in which an arrest may be made. In the present action it is sought to bring the defendant within the provisions of the second subdivision of that section which provides for an arrest. “ In an action for a fine, or penalty, or for money or property embezzled, or fraudulently misapplied, or converted to his own use, by a public officer, or an officer of a corporation, or an attorney, factor, broker, agent, or clerk, in the course of his employment as such, or by any other person in a fiduciary capacity, or for misconduct or neglect in office, or in a professional employment; or for a willful violation of duty.”
The allegation of the complaint is, that the money was “ collected and received by the defendant as the agent, or attorney in fact, of the plaintiff.” This is, in substance, an allegation that the defendant collected the money as agent, or if he did not collect as agent, then he collected it as attorney in fact. If the defendant can be charged in this alternative form, he may with the same propriety be charged, in the disjunctive form, with the
Where the character or capacity in which a party is alleged to have collected money, is essential, as in the present case, to the charge of fraud, that character or capacity must be averred .in direct and positive terms, or the charge must fall. The defects cannot be cured by a verdict, as stated by Ellenborough, in the case above quoted, and it follows, they cannot be cured by a judgment by default.
But is urged that the words “ or attorney in fact,” are synonymous with the term “agent,” and, therefore, mere surplusage. We do not so understand their import. All attorneys in fact are agents, but all agents are not necessarily attorneys in fact. Agent, is the general term which includes brokers, factors, consignees, shipmasters, and all other classes of agents. By attorneys in fact, are meant persons who are acting under a special power, created by deed. It is true, in loose language, the terms are applied to denote all agents employed in any kind of business, except attorneys at law, but in legal language they denote persons having a special authority by deed. The allegations of the complaint amount, then, only to this, that the money was col
Judgment affirmed.
Concurring Opinion
I concur with my brother Field, in affirming the judgment of the Court below.
1. The judgment was by default, and the summons was fatally defective in this, that it did not apprise the defendant that, upon his failure to appear and answer, the plaintiff would take judgment against him for fraudulently converting the property of the plaintiff. The notice in the summons was that “ if you fail to appear and answer the said complaint, as above required, the said plaintiff will take judgment against you for the said sum of eleven thousand one hundred and fifty-six dollars and sixty-two cents, interest and costs, etc.” Under such a notice, the plaintiff could only take an ordinary judgment upon default for the money demanded. A defective summons will not sustain a judgment by default. 2 Cal. R., 241.
2. The complaint does not state facts sufficient to authorize the judgment prayed for. It is not only defective in the particular stated in the opinion of my brother Field, but it would not, in my opinion, have been sufficient had the phrase “ or attorney in fact ” been omitted, or had the conjunction and been used instead of or.
The proceeding against a party for fraudulently embezzling, misapplying, or converting property, in the course of his employment, as agent or in any other fiduciary capacity, is, in its essential character, a quasi criminal proceeding, and the defendant should be distinctly apprised of the facts intended to be proved against him. The complaint should state the facts that constitute the party the agent of the plaintiff, if he was but an agent for one especial purpose; and if a general agent, then an affirmative allegation that he was such general agent, either for all purposes of a certain character, or for business purposes of every kind. Agency is usually created by previous contract between the parties, and the contract should be stated. It may be that the whole question of fraud will turn upon the fact whether the defendant did act in a fiduciary capacity. The facts constituting that fiduciary capacity should be stated with as much certainty, at least, as would be necessary in a complaint where the principal sues his agent for unfaithfully or negligently performing his trust.
In this complaint, it was alleged that on a specified day the defendant was in possession of certain moneys collected and received by him as agent, or attorney in fact. The allegation simply is, that defendant collected the money, as agent, not that he then had it in his possession, as such. There is no allegation that he fraudulently converted the same to his own use “ in the
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- A complaint, alleging that the defendant collected and received certain money, as the agent, or attorney in fact, of the plaintiff, and had embezzled and converted the money to his own use, and praying that he be adjudged guilty of fraud, and for judgment and execution against his person and property, is insufficient to sustain a verdict convicting the defendant of fraud. The allegation is, in substance, that the defendant collected the money as agent, or, if not as agent, then as attorney in fact. Where the character or capacity in which a party is alleged to have acted is essential to the charge of fraud, that character or capacity must be averred in direct and positive terms, or the charge must fall. A charge in the alternative cannot be cured by verdict, nor by a judgment by default. The words “ attorney in fact” are not synonymous with the term “agent.” Attorneys in fact act under a special power created by deed; the term agent includes all classes of agents, and an agent is not necessarily an attorney in fact, though an attorney in fact is an agent. Per Burnett, J.—Where judgment by default is entered, in an action against a party, for fraudulently converting money of the plaintiff, the summons must have apprised the defendant that, on failure to answer, judgment would be taken against him for the fraud; a mere notice in the summons that a money-judgment would be taken will not support a judgment for fraud. Such a proceeding is, in its essential character, a quasi criminal proceeding, and the defendant should be distinctly apprised of the facts intended to be proved against him. The complaint should state the facts that constitute the fiduciary capacity, as well as its nature and extent. It is necessary, in such a case, to charge not only that defendant received the money as agent, but that ho converted it in the course of his employment as such.