Burt v. Bailey
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a decree entered by the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kansas, dismissing a bill of complaint which was filed by the appellant, Frank 1. Burt, as receiver of the First National Bank of Alma, Kan., against the appellees, Joseph H. Bailey, Anna M. Bailey, William W. Speak-man, Abagail S. Worrell, and Anna F. Worrell. The action was brought to recover the amount of an assessment that had been levied by the comptroller of the currency on certain shares of stock of the First National Bank of Alma, Kan., which stock, as the bill charged, belonged to the several defendants when the bank became insolvent and a receiver of its affairs was appointed. The defendants filed separate answers to the bill of complaint, but. the defense interposed by each defendant was the same, and to the following effect: They averred, in substance, that: they, respectively, bought from the First National Bank of Alma, in the years 1888 and the early part: of 1889, the number of shares of stock which they were charged to own, and that the hank issued to them, respectively, certificates of stock for the amount: of their several purchases, but that at the time such stock was purchased by them said hank had already issued to other persons the full amount of stock which it was entitled to issue under
The testimony contained ip the record establishes, without much contradiction, the following facts: John F. Limerick was the president of the First National Bank of Alma, Kan. (hereafter termed the “Bank”), from the date of its incorporation, on August 3, 1887, until it suspended business, on November 10,1890. A portion of that time his wife, Mary Limerick, acted as assistant cashier. The bank was organized with a capital of $50,000, the shares being $100 each; but the capital .was increased on August 21, 1888, to the sum of $75,000, which was divided into 750 shares of $100 each. On December 22, 1888, said John F. Limerick stood charged on the stock ledger of the bank as the owner of stock to the amount of 275 shares, and there is no evidence in the record that he was not the owner of that amount of stock at that time. The stock journal and the stock ledger that were kept by the bank show that on that day, and on- the succeeding 2d day of January, 1889,25 shares of the stock thus owned by said Limerick were by him sold and charged to the defendants Joseph EL Bailey and Anna M. Bailey, his wife. Twenty shares were thus sold and charged on the stock ledger to Joseph EL Bailey, and the remaining five shares to his wife. The stock ledger and stock journal show similar sales of stock by said John F. Limerick to the following named defendants on the following days, to wit: To Anna F. Worrell, 10 shares on February 10, 1889; to William W. Speak-man and to Abagail S. Worrell, 10 shares each on April 11, 1889; to Anna M. Bailey, 10 shares on June 15, 1889. At all of these dates, John F. limerick appears ,to have been the owner of stock largely in excess of the amount sold and transferred from his account to the account of the several defendants. The purchases made by the defendants were negotiated by correspondence, which was conducted by Limerick, either as president of the bank, or in his individual capacity; and stock certificates duly executed by him, as president, under the seal of the bank, were transmitted to the defendants at the dates of their several purchases. Subsequent to the aforesaid transactions, John F. Limerick, as president of the bank, made a sworn return to the comptroller of the currency, pursuant, to section 5210 of the Revised Statutes, showing who were stockholders of the bank on July 1, 1889. In such return the defendants were reported as holding stock to the amount above stated. The defendants Joseph H. Bailey and wife voted their stock at a stockholders’ meeting held in January, 1889; and, prior to the suspension of the bank, all of the defendants appear to have received dividends on the stock that they had acquired in the manner aforesaid. The stock-certificate book, which was introduced in evidence on the trial below, showed that
The foregoing facts — and they are, substantially, all that the record discloses — are not sufficient, in our opinion, to warrant the conclusion that the stock held by the defendants is overissued .stock, and for that reason is void and unassessahle. Tire burden of showing that the bank had issued more stock than was authorized by its charter when certificates were issued to the defendants clearly rests upon them; and the evidence, we think, wholly failed to establish that contention. The excessive issue complained of seems to have1 been occasioned by the hypothecation, subsequent to July 1, 388!), of old certificates that were in the custody of the president of the bank. The stock that was bought by the defendants was stock that was owned by John F. Limerick, with which he stood credited on the books of the bank, and there had been no overissue when the several purchases were made. At or about the time when the stock was purchased, it wras transferred, by direction ox John F. Limerick, on the stock journal and stock ledger that appear to have been kept by the bank, from his account to the account of the several defendants; and they were thereafter treated by the bank as the lawful
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- BURT v. BAILEY
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