Girard Trust Co. v. Summit Branch Coal Co.
Girard Trust Co. v. Summit Branch Coal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The defendant corporation, shortly after its organization, executed a mortgage in the sum of $1,400,000 to the plaintiff as trustee to secure the payment of such coupon bonds of $1,000 each, not to exceed 1,400 in number, as were issued, or might thereafter be issued, by the defendant company, and certified by the trustee. There were issued by the defendant only 1,230 of said bonds, and at the time of the decree of foreclosure about to be referred to, 1,206 of these were held by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, one was held by Emmeline C. Haddock, two were held by Emma C. Rommel in her own right, and twenty-one were held by Emma C. Rommel and others, executors of the estate of John Rommel, Jr., deceased. In November, 1899, the trustee named in the mortgage filed a bill in equity alleging default in payment of interest on the bonds and praying for a decree directing the sale of the property and franchises covered by the mortgage in order to pay the bonds secured thereby. While this bill was pending the executors of John Rommel, Jr., deceased, presented to the court a petition setting forth the fact of their holding the twenty-one bonds above referred to, but alleging no other interest or claim to be
The question we are called to pass upon relates to the disposition of the portion of the fund thus retained. It arises in this way: It appears that at the date of the filing of the bill in equity, Emma C. Rommel held, in addition to the bond issued to her, a scrip certificate issued by the defendant company in the following form: “ Scrip for Fractions of Bonds. Summit
Between the date of the sale pursuant to the foreclosure decree and the date of the confirmation thereof, these parties, evidently acting conjointly, presented the said certificates, aggregating $1,150, to the defendant company, and demanded in exchange for them a bond for $1,000, which requestwas refused. Thereupon the executors went into another court and filed a bill to compel delivery to them of a bond in exchange for the certificates and obtained a decree “ that the said defendant deliver to the plaintiffs one bond for $1,000, being one of a series of 1,400 bonds of like amount, secured upon all and singular the railroads, estates, real and personal, corporate rights and franchises and premises of the said defendant.” This decree was reversed on appeal for two reasons, “ first, because the specific act sought to be compelled is not within the power of the defendant company on the facts set up in the answer; and, second, because the plaintiffs were litigants in the forum which determined the amount secured by the mortgage in foreclosure, and by that forum their right to participation in the proceeds of the sale should be determined.” See Rommel v. Summit Branch Coal Co., 18 Pa. Superior Ct. 482. After the dismissal of the bill in that suit, and after the confirmation of the sale of the mortgaged property pursuant to the foreclosure decree, Emma C. Rommel assigned her scrip certificate to the estate of John Rommel, Jr., and thereupon the executors presented a petition praying for a decree that the sum of $458.20, retained out of
It will be observed that the scrip certificates, as such, were not secured by the mortgage. But the holders thereof were entitled to have them converted into bonds, which would be secured by the mortgage, “ when presented in even amounts of $1,000 or greater multiples thereof.” As they were thus convertible when presented by the person to whom they were issued “or bearer,” we are not prepared to say that two separate holders of scrip, each for less than $1,000 but aggregating more than that sum, might not have joined in a demand for conversion of the same into a bond of $1,000, provided they were willing to waive the excess. At any rate, it seems clear that an assignment by one to the other of his scrip would entitle the latter to demand a bond secured by the mortgage, even though the scrip thus tendered for surrender and conversion exceeded $1,000, provided such tender and demand were made at a proper time. Equity regards that as done which ought to have been done, and in such a case as we have last supposed, the refusal to issue a bond would not bar the holder of the scrip from participating in the distribution of the proceeds of a foreclosure sale. But here, as was pointed out in Judge Porter’s opinion filed in the former case, the scrip holders knew of the foreclosure proceedings under the mortgage, became parties thereto upon their own petition, submitted to a decree determining the amount and character of the indebtedness secured by the mortgage and how and amongst whom the fund to be created by the sale should be distributed and permitted the sale to be made, all without raising any objection to the form or substance of the decree, and without demanding a bond in exchange for their scrip or asserting in any way their right to the security of the mortgage except in respect of the bonds held by them. It is not intimated that this apparent acquiescence in the proceedings was induced by
The decree of February 14, 1902, is reversed at the cost of the appellees; and it is now ordered, adjudged and decreed that the fund retained by the plaintiff as trustee pursuant to the decree of September 26,1901, be distributed by the plaintiff to and among the holders of the 1,280 bonds referred to in the original decree of foreclosure pro rata, so that no preference, priority or distinction shall be given to any of said bonds.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.