Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. v. Lake St. Elevated R.
Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. v. Lake St. Elevated R.
Opinion of the Court
after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.
The Circuit Court’s opinions, which we find in the record, except that rendered in connection with the decree from which these appeals are taken, were stated with respect to proposed action on receivership and foreclosure which was never had. The only appealable order or decree in the cause is the one which is now attacked by both parties. Into the decree for fees and expenses certainly enter the questions of jurisdiction and of the right of the New York trustee to appear as complainant in foreclosing the trust deed. If the New York trustee was acting outside of its delegated powers, as lawfully determined by the settlor, most assuredly it could not recover against the settlor fees and expenses for doing so.
The case in 177 U. S. 51, 20 Sup. Ct. 564, 44 L. Ed. 667, came to the Supreme Court on writ of error to the Supreme Court of Illinois. Within an hour after the present foreclosure suit was started in the Circuit Court, the mortgagor filed a bill in the superior court of Cook county, Ill., against the New York trustee, to restrain it from acting as a trust company in Illinois, and from foreclosing this trust deed. The mortgagor was successful in the state courts. The Supreme Court held that the fact that an earlier suit was pending in the federal court, in which the rights of the New York trustee under the Illinois statutes and under the trust deed were involved, precluded the state courts from taking jurisdiction to pass upon those 'questions. But, as we understand the case, the Supreme Court did not decide that the New York trustee’s suit was maintainable in the federal court. The federal court, by the filing of the bill to foreclose, acquired jurisdiction in the broad sense to pass upon the rights of the complainant and to determine the question of its own jurisdiction in the narrow sense; that is, whether the requisite diversity of citizenship existed.
In denying the petition for a writ of certiorari in 178 U. S. 614, 20 Sup. Ct. 1030, 44 L. Ed. 1216, the Supreme Court delivered no opinion. It would seem that one very good reason for refusing the writ would be this: The foreclosure suit was pending in the Circuit Court, unheard and undetermined. No receiver had been appointed. No foreclosure or other final decree had been entered. It could not be known that errors, if any had been committed, would not be corrected in the Circuit Court, and cured by a final decree thereafter to be entered.
We conclude that the questions are open.
1. In taking up the first of the mortgagor’s propositions, we deem it necessary to consider (a) the terms of the trust deed, and (b) the facts established by the record respecting the attitude of the trustees.
(b) The New York trustee was of the opinion that the discretionary power of the trustees should be exercised in the way demanded by the holders of one-tenth of the bonds, and there is nothing in the record from which we can find that its opinion was not an honest one. Thereupon the New York trustee filed its bill to foreclose for overdue interest. No charge was made in the original bill that the Chicago trustee had renounced or abandoned the trust, or that it had acquired interests in the trust estate which incapacitated it to form and hold an honest judgment with respect to the exercise of the discretionary power. If the averments of the amended bill could rightly be construed to charge (which we doubt) that the Chicago trustee had renounced or. abandoned the trust, or that its action was anything more than an expression of its honest opinion how the discretionary power of the trustees should be exercised, the charges are explicitly denied in the verified answer, and there is no proof to sustain them. The circular notice sent by the Chicago trustee to the bondholders, which is found in the amended bill and in the proofs, shows that the mortgagor had deposited with the Chicago trustee money which the Chicago trustee at first thought was applicable to the payment of interest coupons; but other parties notified the Chicago trustee that they had furnished the money to the mortgagor under an agreement that the money should be used, not .in payment, but in purchase, of coupons. When notified of this claim, the Chicago trustee acted under the circumstances as any prudent stakeholder would. There is nothing in the record from which we can find that the Chicago trustee’s opinion, any more than the New York trustee’s, was not an honest one. And if each was only engaged in forming and holding and acting on its real judgment with respect to the exercise of the discretionary- powers lodged in the trustees, then each, far from renouncing or abandoning the trust, was acting under it.
Now, considering that under the trust deed the foreclosure for overdue interest was a matter within the discretionary power of the trustees, and considering that the trustees honestly differed with regard to the manner in which that discretionary power should be
This leads to the conclusion that the' decree is not sustainable. But the New York trustee contends that “where one trustee refuses to bring suit, and one is willing to sue, a bondholder cannot maintain the suit, as he must allege the refusal of the trustees,” and cites “Robinson v. Railroad Co., 46 Fed. 12.” We do not find the case cited, but assume that reference was intended to Robinson v. Alabama & Georgia Mfg. Co. (C. C.) 48 Fed. 12. There a suit by one trustee against the mortgagor and the other trustee was sustained on the facts that the defendant trustee had acquired an interest in the trust property inimical to the trust, and that it was doubtful whether the defendant trustee had ever been properly appointed. But neither that case, nor any other we have examined, supports the proposition that, if a joint discretion is lodged in two trustees, and if the beneficiary may sue upon the failure of the trustees to sue, the beneficiary may not sue in case one trustee is willing to sue, and the other is unwilling. On the basis that the trusteeship is a unit, no action can be taken in a discretionary matter without the concurrence of the two trustees; and nonconcurrence with respect to the bringing of a discretionary suit is a .failure of the trustees to sue, which warrants the beneficiaries in suing for themselves, if any one but the trustees jointly may sue.
2. If one trustee, in a joint trusteeship, by disagreeing with his co-trustee in a matter of discretion, may sue the settlor by making his co-trustee a party defendant (which we deny), we are of opinion that on the facts of the case the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction.
But without pursuing this topic further, and without expressing any views upon other questions presented, we are content to rest our conclusion on the first proposition.
The appeal of the New York trustee is denied. On the, cross-appeal of the mortgagor, the decree is reversed, with the direction to dismiss the cause for want of equity.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FARMERS' LOAN & TRUST CO. v. LAKE ST. ELEVATED R. CO. LAKE STREET ELEVATED R. CO. v. FARMERS' LOAN & TRUST CO
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