Club Laundry & Cleaning Co. v. Murphy
Club Laundry & Cleaning Co. v. Murphy
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is an appeal from a judgment entered for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense. The action, in so far as it relates to the judgment directed, is based upon the rescission and repudiation by a vendor of his contract of sale and it seeks to recover the moneys paid on account of that contract. The statement avers that defendant sold to plaintiff “Certain real estate consisting of three buildings [, one] 19 x 100 owned by Thomas Murphy of Club Pressing Company, [the others] 22 x 100 and 41 x 100 owned by Club Pressing Company, also all the certain good will and existing business conducted by said Thomas W. Murphy under the name of Club Pressing Company, situate at 6339 Penn avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., consisting of all stock, furniture, fixtures, book accounts, merchandise, horses, wagons and all other assets on said premises,” for the sum of $70,000. The only reference to payment of consideration is as follows: “The company hereby agrees, in consideration of said sale and upon the delivery of said property to it, to issue to the vendor......at such times and in such amounts as they shall respectively direct, certificates of stock of the company to the aggregate amount of three thousand five hundred shares,” the shares having a par value of $10 each. The agreement does not attempt to direct how the balance of the consideration should be paid; $4,000 was paid on account of it, and that is the sum plaintiff now seeks to recover in this action. So far as the agreement expresses the intention of the parties, it contemplates a sale of real estate and personal property and makes the stock issue conditioned upon delivery of the proper
Some objection has been made to the authority of plaintiff’s officers to institute this action. Passing over the sufficiency of the affidavit to raise this question, an objection of this character is one that should be decided before the trial takes place. The parties should not be put to the inconvenience and annoyance of going to trial if the plaintiff’s officers or counsel were not authorized to institute the litigation. The proper practice is to require counsel to file a warrant of attorney, and if the officers lack the necessary authority, the question can be decided before trial and the time of the court not be unnecessarily taken up with the merits of the case if the authority does not exist. The statement is signed by counsel for plaintiff and attested by the club company’s secretary and treasurer. There is no denial that the latter is an officer of the company, and there was no request to file a warrant of attorney; while defendant was president of the company, his position would not precludé the company from instituting an action to recover from Mm moneys unlawfully held.
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Reference
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- Contract — Rescission—Contract for sale of real estate — Affidavit of defense — Corporations—President—Warrant of attorney — Practice, C. P. 1. In an action by a corporation against its president to- recover from him a sum paid in cash under a written agreement by which he sold to the company certain real estate and personal property incident to a business and by which he was to receive, as part o£ the purchase price, stock of the company “upon the delivery of said property,” without any time set for the payment of the balance, but with covenant for further assurances, the court will construe the contract a§ making the stock issue conditioned upon immediate delivery of the property, without such delivery being dependent upon payment of the balance of the purchase price. 2. Ordinarily, in the sale of real estate, if the contract is silent as to the time and manner of payment, the law will presume, unless the contract expresses otherwise, that delivery of the deed and payment of the purchase money are intended to be mutual, concurrent and dependent covenants; if either would charge the other upon it, he must put him in default by showing a refusal to perform, or show some act equivalent to a refusal. 3. In such a ease an affidavit of defense is insufficient, which denies repudiation of the contract and avers that consummation of the contract was talked over many times by defendant with the other officers and directors of the company, and “defendant stood ready and willing to perform all and every part of his agreement with said company until it was fully demonstrated to the officers and directors and so stated and admitted by them that the same [contract] could not be carried into effect under the existing conditions.” 4. As president of the company it was necessary for him to give the fullest explanation as to the reasons why the deal could not be concluded, and to show that the circumstances did not arise from any act which he, as an officer of the company, was responsible for, or could, in such capacity, have prevented. As the executive officer, he was largely responsible for the successful conclusion of the deal. After receiving a part of the purchase price, he could not, by any questionable arrangement or failure to act on his part, have so arranged matters as to make it impossible to carry the deal through. 5. In an action by a corporation against its president, authority of the officers of the company to bring the suit cannot be questioned on an affidavit of defense. The proper practice is to require counsel to file a warrant of attorney, and if the officers lack the authority, the question can be decided before trial and the time of the court not be unnecessarily taken up with the merits of the case, if the authority does not exist. 6. The fact that a person is president of a corporation, does not preclude the company from instituting an action to recover from him moneys unlawfully held. 1. A contract for sale of real estate which does not specifically describe it or furnish data from which its size or location may be ascertained, is not sufficient.