Denison v. Alpena Loan & Building Ass'n
Denison v. Alpena Loan & Building Ass'n
Opinion of the Court
This action is brought to recover from defendant association the amount claimed to be due plaintiff as a withdrawal stockholder upon 30 shares of the first series of defendant’s capital stock, and for amount due William R. Hyatt as a withdrawal stockholder upon two shares of the same series, which were sold and transferred to plaintiff January 16, 1897, and after Hyatt had filed his notice of withdrawal. Defendant pleaded the general issue, and gave notice that it would show that defendant had no funds on hand to pay the plaintiff’s claim. It also gave notice that a former secretary had converted and appropriated some of its funds, and that said appropriation and loss were accomplished through the connivance or gross carelessness of plaintiff, he being one of the auditors or special agents of the defendant. The court directed a verdict for plaintiff of $2,088.61.
The defendant association was organized under Act No. 50, Pub. Acts 1887 (3 How. Stat. chap. 119a). Section 6 of this act (3 How. Stat. § 3981/) provides:
“Any stockholder wishing to withdraw from the corporation shall have the power to do so by giving 30 days’ notice in writing at a stated meeting of his inten*100 tion to withdraw, when he shall be entitled to receive the amount paid in by him, and such interest thereon, or such proportion of the profits thereon, as the by-laws may determine, less all fines and other charges; but payments of the stock so withdrawn shall only be due when the funds applicable to the demand of withdrawing stockholders are sufficient to meet and liquidate the same, and then only in the order of the respective times of presentation of the notices of such withdrawal: Provided, that at no time shall more than one-half of the funds of the treasury of the corporation be applicable to the demands of withdrawing stockholders without the consent of the board of directors, and that no stockholder shall be entitled to withdraw whose stock is held in pledge for security.”
Section 1 of article 15 of the by-laws provides
‘ ‘ All members desiring to withdraw from the association, as provided in section 6 of the act under which this association is organized, shall, after 30 days’ notice, be entitled to receive the amount paid in by them (except membership fee), and 6 per cent, per annum, except on advanced payments; but no member shall be entitled to interest until he has been a member 6 months.”
It appears that plaintiff first took, by assignment, 10 shares of the stock December ?, 1889, and these shares were surrendered, and new certificates issued to him by defendant. On May 13, 1891, he took, by assignment, another 10 shares, and, on the same day, also another 10 shares. This last 20 shares so assigned were held by plaintiff, and no new certificates were issued to him thereon; but he paid to the association all the dues and installments thereon up to the time of the withdrawal notice, except for the months of April, May, and June, 1896. Mr. Hyatt had paid all installments due before his notice of withdrawal, and before the assignment to plaintiff. At the time plaintiff and Hyatt filed their withdrawal notices and surrendered their stock to defendant, the defendant’s secretary indorsed on plaintiff’s notice as follows:
Books Nos. 35, 41, and 143, 10 shares, 1st Series, Each.
Installments paid in_____________________________$1,455'00
Interest........r................................ 606 25
Total......-...............................--$2,061 25
Installments paid in________________________________$95 00
Interest_________ 89 58
Total_______________________ $134 58
The court found the amount less than this,' — -that is, to be $2,138.99, — and deducted from this sum the penalties and the unpaid installments for the months of April, May, and June, of $50.38, and therefore directed the verdict at $2,088.61.
“Second. From the evidence in this case, the defendant is entitled to verdict for all losses that occurred to defendant through the plaintiff’s neglect in not properly auditing Secretary Partridge’s accounts, which were referred to plaintiff and .others to look over and audit.
“Third. Defendant is entitled to a verdict of at least $3,100.06, the amount embezzled or taken by Partridge during the time that plaintiff acted as one of the auditors of defendant.
“Fourth. It was the duty of plaintiff, while acting as auditor of the defendant, to examine the books and accounts of defendant kept by Partridge, and to have reported to defendant any and all defalcations appearing from said books or accounts; and having failed to do this, either from neglect of duty or from design, the law will not permit him to recover in this suit, or recover at all, until the other shareholders receive their pay.
“Fifth. The plaintiff, as one of the defendant’s auditors, having reported to defendant that its shares were worth so much per share, which included all of these defalcations as being oil hand, the plaintiff therefore made false reports to defendant, which makes him liable to defendant for all damages or losses occasioned by said false reports, and it makes no difference whether he did this designedly or negligently. ”
. These requests were refused, and, we think, very properly. It appears conclusively that the plaintiff was never a director of the association. He acted as one of the auditing committee, and it appears that, during a portion of the time in which he so acted, the secretary of the association embezzled certain of the funds. The court held that if the defendant could show that, at the time the notices of these withdrawals were filed, the defendant association was insolvent, the plaintiff could not recover. The de
Counsel for defendant offered to show that the defendant association accepted reports from the auditing committee as correct, and paid out withdrawals to parties, taking these reports as a basis, and was injured thereby* It was said by the court:
“I do not think it competent in this action. I do not see how you can make that defense in this action. The defendant might have an action against Mr. Denison, if he is guilty of any improper conduct in making reports; but you cannot litigate it here.”
Section 5 of the act under which defendant was incorporated (3 How. Stat. § 3981e) provides:
“The corporate powers shall be exercised by a board of directors. * * * The officers of the corporation must be members of the board of directors, and shall consist of a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer. * * * The secretary and treasurer shall give bonds and security, to be approved by the board of directors.”
We think the court very properly held that the defendant could not litigate that question in the present case. Section 6 of the act under which the defendant was organized provides the conditions upon which payments shall be made upon withdrawal notices. These conditions existed at the time plaintiff attempted to withdraw; that is, a sufficient fund was on hand to meet the payments, and the stock was not held as security. Under such circum-. stances, he had the right to withdraw his funds. Heinbokel v. National Savings, etc., Ass’n, 58 Minn. 340 (49 Am. St. Rep. 519). It appeared that a proportionate share of the losses from the defalcations of the
We find no error in the record, and the judgment must be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DENISON v. ALPENA LOAN & BUILDING ASSOCIATION
- Status
- Published