Beaver Trust Co. v. Morgan
Beaver Trust Co. v. Morgan
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This dispute arises out of the distribution of the proceeds of the sheriff’s sale of the real estate of one J. W. Jack. The original transaction out of Avhich the controversy arises presents no unusual feature; nor are the facts relating to the subject in dispute. On the 7th March, 1911, the Monaca National Bank loaned to M. L. Jack the sum of $1,450, taking as security therefor a judgment note signed by M. L. Jack and J. W. Jack in like amount, payable at four months, and also fifteen shares of the capital stock of the Rochester Trust Company owned by M. L. Jack, as collateral. The loan was renewed at regular intervals until 15th April, 1913, on which day judgment was confessed and entered upon the single bill given by wav of renewal in favor of Robert C. Campbell, cashier, and against M. L. Jack and J. W. Jack, reduced later in amount to $1,425. On 4th December following the obligation was again renewed, but in somewhat different form, the change not affecting, however, in any way the legal status of the parties, except to
J. W. Jack, the surety, was the owner of certain lots of ground in the Borough of Rochester, in Beaver County, on which there Vas a first lien of $3,645.54 in favor of the Beaver Trust Company; next in priority was the lien of the judgment entered by the Monaca Bank to No. 215, June Term, 1913, against M. L. and J. W. Jack, for $1,450, for the loan to M. L. Jack, for which J. W. Jack was surety. Several other liens followed in their order. This was the situation when execution process was issued on the first lien by virtue of -which the real estate of J. W. Jack was, on the 3d June, 1916, sold by the sheriff for $5,200. The sheriff in his return of sale applied out of the purchase-money $3,645.54 to the judgment held by the Beaver Trust Company, and, without discoverable
It is quite clear that this bank stock, while in the hands of the Peoples National Bank, was as much impressed with its collateral character as when in the hands of the Monaca Bank. When the Peoples National Bank purchased from the Monaca Bank the obligation of the Jacks, it acquired as well, by operation of law, whatever was pledged for its payment, the same to be held and used, however, for no other purpose than that for which it had been originally pledged. A purchase of a debt is a purchase of all the securities for it, whether named or not at the time of the assignment, unless expressly agreed at the time they shall not pass. Foster v. Fox, 4 W. & S. 92. On payment of the note by the surety, the latter would be entitled to the collateral. Neither the bank nor its assigns, nor the surety, could use the collateral for other purpose than that for which it had been expressly pledged. It made no difference how many obligations the Peoples National Bank held against J. W. Jack, it was beyond the power of the latter to subject the stock to other collateral liability,to the prejudice of the surety,' J. W. Jack, than that for which it was available for the latter’s protection. “For a surety,” as said in Hawk v. Geddis, 16 S. & R. 23, “is entitled to every remedy which the creditor has against the principal, to enforce every security and all means of payment, to- stand in the place of the creditor, not only through the medium of the se
It results, from what we have said, that with the ex-tinguishment of the debt the collateral judgment against the surety fell, and distribution to it was properly refused.
The decree is affirmed.
Reference
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- Beaver Trust Company v. Morgan
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- Syllabus
- Principal and surety — Assignment of debt — Transfer of collateral security — Default—Sale of collateral — Application of proceeds to unsecured debt — Value of stock — Evidence—Discharge of surety. 1. A purchase of a debt is a purchase of all securities for it, whether named or not named at the time of the assignment, unless expressly agreed at the time that they shall not pass. 2. A surety is entitled to every remedy which the creditor has against the principal, to enforce every security and all means of payment, and to stand in the place of the creditor, not only through the medium of the security pledged but even of securities taken without his knowledge. 3. If a creditor releases the principal from the payment of the debt, he thereby releases the surety entirely, but if he releases the principal from a part only, the surety is released only pro tanto. 4. While ordinarily the price obtained for an article in the open market is the best evidence of its value, where a creditor sells a pledged security on default of the debtor and buys it at its own sale and improperly applies the proceeds to a debt other than the one secured, such appropriation easts sufficient discredit upon the bona tides of the sale to warrant a finding that the real value of the security was greater than the price obtained. 5. Where collateral pledged as security for a note upon which there is a surety is applied by the holder of the note to the payment of another obligation of the maker, without the consent of the surety, the surety is relieved from liability on the note pro tanto. 6. Where in such case the value of the collateral was sufficient to discharge the note and such collateral was sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of another obligation of the maker of the note, the debtor could not thereafter successfully claim any part of the proceeds of a sheriff’s sale of the real estate of the surety, although his judgment was prior to that of other creditors.