Manley v. Park
Manley v. Park
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Richard A. Park (who is succeeded by Anna O. Park) held a debenture bond issued by a corporation in which George Manley owned stock. The corporation having suspended business for more than a year, and Manley having died, Park sued the executor, Reuben M. Manley, as a stockholder, on the bond and recovered judgment, to review which this proceeding is brought.
All the questions just decided in the preceding case
When the owner of a note, for reasons satisfactory to himself, assigns it to another, thereby vesting in him the full legal title, the assignee becomes, so far as the debtor is concerned, the real party in interest. The original owner is still the person to be finally benefited by the litigation, but his legal demand is no longer against the maker of the note, but against the person to whom he has assigned it. When the obligor is sued by such assignee (no claim as innocent purchaser being involved), he can make any defense he could have made against the assignor ; he is fully pro
The second question turns upon the fact that the plaintiff had formerly sued defendant and obtained a judgment against him on a similar cause of action. It is argued that the creditor of a corporation has but one demand against a stockholder for the payment of all his claims against the corporation; that he may not split this demand and harass the stockholder with several suits; and that when he has once obtained a judgment for any amount, based on the stockholder’s individual liability, he has exhausted his remedy against him. The principle is well settled that a single demand, entire in its nature, may not be made the basis of different suits, and if judgment be obtained on one part of it that is a final adjudication of the whole matter. But this principle cannot apply to the facts of the present case. It is true that there is a sense in which the action is brought not on the note, but on the statutory liability. This is illustrate^ by the application of the three-year statute of limitations. On the other hand, it is recognized that the stockholder’s obligation is contractual. In view of the statute, whenever one subscribes to stock in a corporation he thereby assumes a liability as to each and every obligation of that body. The corporation
For the reasons stated in Manley v. Mayer, supra, the judgment, in this case is excessive, and will be reduced to $1033.97.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Reuben M. Manley, as etc. v. Anna O. Park
- Cited By
- 40 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1, Promissory Note — Action by Holder, Regardless of Ms Interest in Proceeds. One who holds the full legal title to a promissory note by assignment may maintain an action thereon against the maker, notwithstanding he has no beneficial interest in the proceeds, the assignment having been made to enable him to realize on the claim in the interest of the original payee. 2, - Case Overruled. 'Th.Bc&seol Stew art v. Price, 64 Kan'. 191, 67 Pac. 553, is overruled. 3, Corporations — Action against Stockholder — Non Pes Judi-cata. The right of a creditor having various claims against a corporation to exact payment from a stockholder is not such a single and indivisible demand that by placing one claim in judgment against the stockholder he is precluded from proceeding against him on the others.