Sigourney v. Zellerbach
Sigourney v. Zellerbach
Opinion of the Court
July 2nd, 1859, the defendant, the Eureka Lake Company, a corporation, executed to the plaintiff its promissory note for the sum of ten thousand dollars, payable July 2nd, 1860, with interest thereon from date until paid, at the rate of two and one-half per cent, per month ; and to secure its payment, at the same time executed to plaintiff a mortgage upon certain property of the corporation, described in the mortgage as follows: “All and singular those certain water ditches, flumes, and aqueducts, and the water rights, privileges, easements, and franchises of the Eureka Lake Company, situate, lying, and being- in the County of Nevada, State of California, owned and possessed, constructed and constructing by the Eureka Lake Company aforesaid, including therein the waters of Canon Creek and its tributaries, the French Lakes, ravines, gulches,
July 1st, 1864, the plaintiff commenced this action to foreclose the mortgage, the complaint being in the usual form of such actions.
One Zellcrbach, among others, was made a party defendant. All of the defendants except Zellcrbach suffered default. Service of process was made on him October 26th, 1877, more than thirteen years after the filing of the complaint.
Intermediate the execution of the mortgage of July 2nd, 1859, and the commencement of this action, the Eureka Lake Company consolidated its water rights, ditches, etc., with like properties of the Miners’ Ditch, another corporation, and organized a new one under the name of the Eureka Lake Water-Company. This new corporation borrowed of the plaintiff, about the 9th of November, 1861, the sum of' twelve thousand dollars, and of one Marcellus the sum of twenty-eight thousand dollars; and executed to the plaintiff and Marcellus its two several-promissory notes therefor, to secure the payment of which it also executed to plaintiff and Marcellus a mortgage on its property. The Eureka Lake Water Company also became largely indebted to the defendant Zellerbach, and other persons, and for the purpose of paying and discharging such debts, it duly assigned and transferred to Zellerbach, subject to the liens of the plaintiff, (Zellerbach having become the owner of the twenty-eight thousand dollar note) all of its water rights, ditches, and property.
In this condition of affairs, Zellerbach, who, in addition to the property above mentioned, was the owner and possessor of certain other water rights and ditches, became desirous of organizing a corporation in the State of New York, to which he might sell all of the said property. To accomplish his purpose it became necessary to free the property of all liens. With that end in view, he, (Zcl
Provision is then made in the contract for the disposition of the stock in the event of the payment of the forty and ten thousand dollar notes, and also for its disposition in the event of their non-payment.
The Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company Consolidated was subsequently incorporated under the laws of the State of Yew York, and, after obtaining leave of the Court, filed in this action, on the 29th of April, 1878, its complaint in intervention, wherein it is alleged that in the year 1865 Zellerbach had succeeded to and was the owner of the property described in the plaintiff’s mortgage, and being desirous of selling it, together with other and similar property in the vicinity thereof by him either owned or controlled, and the intervenor being desirous of purchasing all of the said property, provided the liens could be removed, he, Zellerbach, for the purpose of discharging the liens, entered into the aforesaid contract with Sigourney, and that in pursuance of its terms, Sigourney executed an assignment of the notes and mortgages, as provided for in said contract, and did deposit the same, together with the assignments thereof, in the hands of John Parrott; that upon the making of the said deposit, Zellerbach executed to Sigourney his two promissory notes for forty thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars respectively, as provided for in the aforesaid contract of August 23rd, 1865, which were accepted by Sigourney, and have been ever since held by him, and upon which Zellerbach has up to and including February 1st, 1877, paid the interest as provided in said contract of August 23rd, 1865; that in further compliance with the said last mentioned contract, Zellerbach deposited with Parrott one-sixteenth of all the capital stock of the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company Consolidated, unincumbered and unassessable, as collateral security for the payment of the forty thousand dollar note, and one sixty-fourth of all of said capital stock, likewise unincumbered and unassessable, as collateral security for the payment of the ten thousand dollar note, as in the said contract provided; that Zellerbach, in brief, kept and performed all the agreements, covenants and conditions on his part provided to be kept and performed in aiid by the contract of August 23rd, 1865; that Parrott, before receiving the stock as security, became and was satisfied, and so reported to the intervenor and to the plaintiff, that the property in the
The Court also found, among other things, that about the month of February, 1866, Zcllerbach deposited with Parrott one thousand two hundred and fifty shares, being one-sixteenth of the capital stock of the corporation provided for in the contract of August 23d, 1865, to wit, the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company Consolidated, in partial compliance with the said agreement; and further, that he never deposited with Parrott any other or greater number of shares of said stock in performance of the said agreement, or on account thereof, but that he did place in the hands of the said Parrott, for the said plaintiff, about September, 1867, seven hundred and fifty other shares of said stock as collateral security for the payment of the said sum of $15,500; that “ the said Parrott has never delivered to the plaintiff the said one thousand two hundred and fifty shares of stock, nor any part thereof; nor has he delivered to the said defendant the two notes and mortgages described in said agreement, and deposited with him in escrow, nor either of them, nor
The Court below gave judgment for the plaintiff for the sum of $63,077.71, being the amount by it found to be due on the note mentioned in the complaint, including costs, and further adjudged and decreed that the one thousand two hundred and fifty shares of the stock of the Eureka Lake and Yuba Company Consolidated, in the hands of Parrott, be delivered to the Sheriff of Nevada County, and by that officer sold, and the proceeds of such sale applied to the payment of the costs of this action and the amount of the plaintiff’s judgment, and that the excess, if any, be paid to Zellerbach; and, further, that in the event the proceeds of the sale of the said one thousand two hundred and fifty shares bo insufficient to pay the costs of this action and the amount of the plaintiff’s judgment, then the whole of the property described in the mortgage mentioned in the complaint, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be sold by the Sheriff, and the proceeds applied to the payment of the residue of said judgment and costs.
We are unable to discover any ground upon which the decree can be sustained. It is a cardinal rule that the pleadings of the party to whom relief is awarded must be sufficient to warrant the relief. (Story Eq. Plead. § 878 ; Mondran v. Goux, 51 Cal. 151; Mercier v. Lewis, 39 id. 535; Collins v. Bartlett, 44 id. 372, Johnson v. Moss, 45 id. 517; Christian College v. Hendly, 49 id. 350; Hayward v. National Bank, 6 Otto, 615; Bradley v. Aldrich, 40 N. Y. 504.) In this case the plaintiff’s complaint makes no reference whatever to the shares of stock of the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company Consolidated. Nor was there any reason why it should. The plaintiff certainly had no lien upon the one thousand two hundred and fifty
In the absence of a lien to secure the payment of the note sued on, it is obvious that the plaintiff was not entitled to a decree directing the sale of the stock and the application of the proceeds to its payment.
It is said, however, that the decree, in so far as it directs the sale of the stock, was not made for the benefit of the plaintiff, but that it was “ so decreed because the admitted facts showed that Zellerbach had bound himself to satisfy the mortgage, had in part kept his agreement, and had become insolvent.”
Wc cannot see how the fact that Zellerbach had bound himself with the intervenor to satisfy the plaintiff’s mortgage, and had in part kept his agreement, and become insolvent, could operate to create a lien in favor of the plaintiff, or of the intervenor, on the one thousand two hundred and fifty shares of stock, to secure the payment of the note described in the complaint.
This is not the case where one party has a lien on, or interest in, two funds or two pieces of property for a debt, and another party has a lien on, or an interest in, one only of the funds or pieces of property, and seeks, in equity, to compel the former to resort to the other fund or piece of property, in the first instance, for satisfaction; but here, on the contrary, and as already observed, the plaintiff never had any lien on the stock to secure the debt sought to be recovered by his action. Under such circumstances, wc know of no principle which would authorize a decree directing the sale of the stock for the payment of the debt, whether it be made for the benefit of the plaintiff, or the subsequent purchaser of the property which was mortgaged to secure its payment.
There is another reason for the same conclusion, even if it be conceded that resort can be had in support of the decree to the complaint in intervention. That pleading, as we have seen, alleges, among other things, full compliance on the part of Zellerbach with all the agreements, covenants, and conditions of his
The Court below, however, contrary to the allegations of the intervenor, found as a fact that none of the stock was ever accepted by plaintiff as security or as a compliance with the contract of August 23d, 1865; that it was deposited only in escrow, and that the contingency upon which the transfer was to take effect has never happened. According to these findings, no lien could have arisen in plaintiff’s favor upon such deposit: first, because none of the stock was ever accepted by the plaintiff as security; and, secondly, because it was deposited in escrow, and the conditions upon which it was to be delivered never happened. The delivery, therefore, never became absolute, and the stock continued as unaffected by any lien as though it had remained in Zellerbach’s pocket.
Judgment and order reversed, and cause remanded to-the Court below for a new trial, as of date May 20th, 1880.
McEinstry, J., and McKee, J., concurred.
Reference
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- SIGOURNEY v. ZELLERBACH
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- Pleading—Relief.—It is a cardinal rule that the pleading of the party to whom relief is granted must he sufficient to warrant the relief. Id.—Id.—Intervention—Marshaling Securities.—Escrow.—In an action to foreclose a mortgage, a complaint in intervention was filed, setting up a contract between the plaintiff and the defendaht Z. (the mortgagor’s grantee); whereby the former agreed to execute to the latter an assignment of the note and mortgage in suit, (and of another note and mortgage) and to place the same, with the instruments assigned, in escrow with one P.; Z., thereupon, to give his notes to the plaintiff for specified sums, and the assignment and instruments assigned to remain in the hands of P. as security for the payment of the notes, until Z. should deliver to him, as collateral security for the notes, certain shares of stock, and then to be delivered to Z.; the complaint in intervention further alleging full performance of the contract by Z., and the conveyance of the mortgaged premises by him, with warranty against incumbrances to the intervenor, and praying that the notes and mortgages be decreed to be delivered up and canceled, or, if the Court held the mortgage to be still in effect, that the stock delivered by Z. to P. should be first sold, and the proceeds applied on the mortgage. Z. answered the original complaint, setting up the same facts as the intervenor, but suffered default to the complaint in intervention. The Court found that such a contract had been made, and that Z. had made and delivered to the plaintiff his notes, and had delivered to P. certain shares of stock of the kind but not of the quantity required by the contract, and that the stock had not been accepted by the plaintiff in satisfaction of the contract, and decreed that the stock should first be sold and the proceeds applied on the mortgage, and that the mortgaged premises should be sold for the balance only. Held, that the allegations of the complaint were insufficient to sustain the judgment; and held, further, that (without re-reference to the sufficiency of the complaint) the plaintiff had no lien upon the stock, the same not having been accepted by him, and that, therefore, this was not a case for a marshaling of securities in favor of the intervenor.