Fidelity Trust Co. v. Elberton & E. Ry. Co.
Fidelity Trust Co. v. Elberton & E. Ry. Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit brought by the Fidelity Trust Company, as the trustee under a mortgage or deed of trust to secure certain bonds, to foreclose the mortgage. Application was made for the appointment of receiver. A temporary receiver was appointed, and his appointment was subsequently made permanent.
There is a question made in the intervention as to the fact that the road was not finished within the specified time, and certain damages are claimed for that, as well as interest on fifty thousand dollars claimed to have been deposited with the Fidelity & Deposit Company to secure it for going on the bond of the McCord Company, the original contractor.
At all events, all that seems to be claimed here of a substantial character is against the Fidelity & Depbsit Company, there being certain allegations in the intervention to the effect that the Fidelity Trust Company, the plaintiff, is so connected with the Fidelity & Deposit Company as that they are one and the same in law and in legal effect.
I have come to this conclusion about the right to intervene in this case: That, so far as the interveners represent the corporation and
In the case of Dickerman v. Northern Trust Company, 176 U. S. 181, 20 Sup. Ct. 311, 44 L. Ed. 423, in concluding a very interesting opinion, which, taken altogether, is very strongly against the right to intervene in cases like this, Mr. Justice Brown, delivering the opinion of the court, says:
“This is a decree ordering a foreclosure and sale of the property to pay the bonds, to which the bondholders are clearly entitled. It finds that all the bonds were duly issued, negotiated, and sold, and that they are outstanding and valid obligations of the company, and that they are now held by a large number of persons who have become the owners thereof for a valuable consideration. These bonds must ultimately be presented for redemption from the proceeds of sale, and we see nothing in the decree appealed from to prevent an inquiry being instituted as to their validity in the hands of their present holders. We are clearly of opinion that, so far as they were purchased for a valuable consideration by innocent holders, they are not subject to the set-off claimed. The question whether, so far as they are held by parties cognizant of the alleged fraud, they are subject to a set-off, is not one which properly arises in this case, where the bonds must be treated as an entirety, but is a defense applicable to each individual bondholder.”
It seems to me perfectly clear that all that can be properly claimed, if that can be, is the set-off against the bonds in the hands of the Fidelity & Deposit Company, when it shall present those bonds for payment.
That and the additional fact that ¡the matter of the right of the Fidelity & Deposit Company to retain' this $50,000 is now pending in another court, seem to be ample grounds for denying the right to intervene as to that matter.
The application for leave to intervene is denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FIDELITY TRUST CO. v. ELBERTON & E. RY. CO.
- Status
- Published