McKee v. Smith
McKee v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This action was brought to recover the difference between the amount for which shares of stock held as a collateral security for the payment of the plaintiff’s note were sold and the amount of the debt they were pledged to secure. The plaintiff gave his note to the defendant for $2,395.86, payable one year after date, and deposited with him as collateral security thirty shares of the stock of L. H. Smith Wooden Ware Company. The note contained a power to sell the collateral on nonpayment at maturity, and gave the payee the right to purchase at his sale. After the maturity of the note, and demand and refusal to pay, the defendant caused the stock to be sold at the Pittsburg Stock Exchange and it was purchased by his nephew, who was in his employ, for $300: The plaintiff
alleged in his statement of claim that the sale was prearranged and fictitious; that the price was grossly inadequate; that the defendant did not transfer the stock to the pretended purchaser, but retained the control and ownership of it until the company was merged with another company which issued to him its stock which he sold for $4,500; and that he in fact realized this amount from the sale of the stock pledged.
It appeared from the testimony that after the sale at the stock exchange the defendant opened an account with his nephew in which he charged him with $3,000 for this stock and credited him with $300 cash paid; and the defendant, who was called as a witness by the plaintiff, testified that he afterwards received from his nephew $2,700 for the stock, $800 of which he subsequently refunded. The failure to show irregularity in the sale or such gross inadequacy of price as would indicate a want of good faith, did not defeat the plain
The judgment is reversed with a procedendo.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Debtor and creditor — Sale of collateral — Fictitious sale. Where a creditor sells, at the stock exchange, stock held by him as collateral for a debt, and by a secret arrangement with his nephew, the latter bids in the stock at a sum much smaller than the debt, but in reality pays for it a sum much larger than the debt, the debtor has a right to recover the difference, and it is no answer to his claim that the creditor paid back to his nephew a part of the secret purchase price.