Lane v. Hale
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Lane v. Hale
Opinion of the Court
The American Savings & Loan Association, a corporation, became insolvent, and William D. Hale was appointed receiver thereof by the district court of Hennepin county on June 18, 1896. He duly qualified, and has been at all times since, and still is, such receiver. He employed as his attorneys and legal advisers the firm
On February 3, 1899, said district court made an order authorizing the receiver to advertise for and receive bids for the real estate belonging to the insolvent association, and report the same, if any were received, to the court on March 18, 1899. At the hearing on that day one bid of $85,000 was made. The stock of the association amounted to $1,100,000. The appellants, Lane and Gallagher, representing stockholders owning stock of the value of $1,100, ¿ppeared, and opposed the acceptance of the bid, and procured an adjournment of the matter until April 8. The receiver and his attorneys also opposed the acceptance of the bid. There were several subsequent adjournments, which were applied for and requested by appellants, and the matter came on for final hearing on April 21. At this hearing a bid for the property of something more than $38,000 over and above the first bid was offered by the same persons, and accepted by the court. The appellants appeared at all the hearings upon the subject of the sale of the property, and rendered services in procuring other and more favorable bids than the one first offered, but it does not appear that they had anything to do with obtaining the bid finally accepted.
Appellants made application to the court below for an allowance of compensation out of the trust property, claiming that, as their services, though rendered at the instance and request of shareholders or creditors, inured to the benefit of the trust estate, the value thereof was a proper expense in the administration of the trust. The court denied the application, and subsequently denied appellants’ motion for a modification of such order. Both orders are appealed from.
To justify the allowance, out of trust funds, of compensation to a creditor who appears and conducts proceedings, independently of the receiver or assignee, for the purpose of obtaining and saving to the trust estate property which might otherwise become lost, it must appear not only that such services were necessary to the protection of such property, and resulted beneficially to the estate, but that property or some valuable benefit was thereby secured or preserved which would not otherwise have been realized or ob
The contention on the part of the appellants is that they were solely instrumental in preventing the acceptance by the court of the first offer made for the property, and in bringing about the last offer, whereby about $38,000 was realized to the estate over and above the first offer. Unless appellants’ contention in this respect can be sustained, they are not entitled to compensation, it is the duty of the assignee or receiver in proceedings of this kind to protect the rights of all interested parties, and it must be assumed, in the absence of some showing to the contrary, that he will do so. J3y denying appellants’ application for allowance of compensation the court below must be taken to have found that there was no failure of duty on the part of the receive!’, and that there was no necessity for the interference of appellants. And, to find the contention of appellants to be true, we must necessarily find that it conclusively appears from the record that the court below was in error; that the receiver was neglecting his duties; that his attorneys were neglecting their duties; and, further, that the court below was about to make an order accepting the bid of $85,000 for the property of the trust in the face of the fact that all parties interested — the appellants in behalf of creditors, and the receiver and his attorneys— were protesting against its acceptance; and that, but for the objections and labors of appellants, such order would have been made.
We have examined the record with care and patience, and are unable to reach any such conclusion. The receiver and his attorneys appeared at all hearings before the court, expressly opposed the acceptance of the first bid for the property, and at all times kept the court fully advised as to the condition and value of the estate. There is no suggestion of fraud or collusion between them and any
We agree with counsel for appellants that their clients rendered valuable services in this matter, and ought to receive compensation therefor, but we cannot agree with them that such compensation should come out of the trust estate. As already stated, it is the duty of the assignee or receiver in proceedings of this kind to protect the rights of all interested parties, and to justify the allowance of compensation out of the trust funds to third parties who volunteer their services in that behalf it must be shown by them that the assignee or receiver was neglecting his duties, and that, in consequence of such neglect, such services by them were necessary to protect the estate. Any other rule would work disastrously to trust estates. We cannot open the door to claims of this kind. The rule allowing compensation in such cases as heretofore stated must be followed and applied. Appellants have not brought their case within that rule, and we have no alternative but to affirm the orders appealed from.
Orders affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I cannot concur in the foregoing opinion. Neither can I concur in the proposition that it was necessary for appellants to show that they were the sole cause of the rejection of the first bid, or that the higher bid was due solely to their action. This is equivalent to saying that, no matter how slight and pro forma the assistance of the receiver or his attorney was, and no matter how little he con
In order to understand this case, the facts should be stated. The real estate to be disposed of by the receiver was scattered over many states, much of it being in Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Washington. In February, 1899, the receiver appraised all of this real estate at the total sum of $425,780. Shortly afterwards the receiver employed the firm of Kobe & McKinnon, of Chicago, to appraise the property, and they appraised it at the total sum of $150,000. On February 8, 1899, the court made an order that the receiver receive bids for any and all of said real estate, and report the same to the court on March 18, 1899, at 9 a. m., -and that all persons interested show cause at that time why any bids so received should not then be accepted. The receiver appeared at that time by Hay & Van Campen, his attorneys, reported a bid of Kobe & McKinnon of the lump sum of $85,000 for all of said real estate, and advised that the bid be rejected. Kobe & McKinnon appeared by their attorneys,1 Russell & Jamison, and moved that the bid be accepted. Certain of the stockholder creditors appeared by Mr. Lane and Mr. Gallagher, their attorneys, opposed the acceptance of the bid, and moved for a continuance for one month in order to get time to procure higher bids. The record proceeds:
“That motion was opposed by Judge Russell, and denied by Judge Elliott. Thereupon Judge Russell made a motion for continuance until April 8, 1899, and that motion was granted. Judge Russell, as one of the attorneys for Kobe & McKinnon, opposed each and every continuance had after April 8, 1899.”
On April 8 the parties again appeared, and Lane and Gallagher moved for a further continuance in order to procure bidders. The court continued the matter to April 15. On the latter date the parties again appeared. Mr. Lane stated that he had found a bidder in Chicago who would offer $110,000 for the properties, but advised the rejection both of this bid and the Kobe & McKinnon bid as being too low. After a strenuous contest over the matter, Lane;
Possibly, the evidence is not conclusive that the court ever intended to accept the original bid of Kobe & McKinnon. We cannot tell what the court had in his mind. But actions are louder than words. Every one interested was opposing the acceptance of this bid except the bidders themselves, and, if the court was not seriously contemplating the acceptance of it, why did he not reject it during all these 32 days of incessant and strenuous contest? Why did he so often refuse to continue the matter for more than one day or three days at a time if he was not exceedingly anxious to hang on to this bid, and was not seriously contemplating the acceptance of it? He knew that it would be practically impossible to get other bidders for this large amount of widely scattered property in one day or in three days. In my opinion, the evidence is
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FREEMAN P. LANE and Another v. WILLIAM D. HALE
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