Union Savings Bank v. Carnegie Trust Co.
Union Savings Bank v. Carnegie Trust Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
This is an appeal from a judgment of the supreme court of the District quashing a writ of attachment.
Sec. 19 of the banking laws of the State of New York authorizes the Superintendent of Banks, if be shall have reason to conclude from an examination provided .by the section that
On January 7th, 1911, the Superintendent of Banks of the State of New York, acting under authority conferred upon him by said sec. 19, took charge of the Carnegie Trust Company, a New York corporation located in the city of New York, for the purpose of liquidating its assets, and appointed George W. Egbert as special deputy superintendent in charge of said Trust, company, who immediately took possession of the property and' the business of said trust company, and who thereafter continued in such possession. Among the assets of said trust company thus coming into the possession of said superintendent was a demand promissory note for $9,000, dated March 12, 1907, signed by E. Quincy Smith, of. Washington, District of Columbia, as maker, and payable in the city of New York to-said Carnegie Trust Company. Two thousand dollars had been paid upon said note, and it was collaterally secured by forty
Mr. Smith, the maker of the above note, was president of the National City Bank and the Union Savings Bank of this city. Said Carnegie Trust Company was indebted to the Union Savings Bank, it is claimed, in a sum exceeding $4,000, and to said National City Bank in a sum somewhat less than $4,000. On or about January 7, 1911, said National City Bank addressed a letter to said Carnegie Trust Company, stating that there had been deposited with said National City Bank the sum of $7,006.88 to pay principal and interest of Mr. Smith’s note, and requesting that the note and collateral be forwarded to said National City Bank. On January 10th, following, said special deputy superintendent of banks wrote the National City Bank suggesting that it forward a draft in payment of the Smith note to some financial institution in the city of New York. Upon the same day said special deputy superintendent received a telephone message from- the National City Bank requesting that the note be forwarded to Washington for collection, and on the following day, January 11th, said special deputy superintendent received another message from the National City Bank to the same effect. On January 14th, following, said special deputy superintendent received a letter from Mr. Smith addressed to the Carnegie Trust Company, in which he stated that, having understood from telephonic communications that the note would be sent to Washington, he had disposed of the collateral, promising immediate delivery; that the situation was embarrassing to him and threatened financial loss. He therefore requested that the Carnegie Trust Company immediately send the note for collection, with the collateral attached. In response to this letter, said note was deposited for collection with the Bankers’ Trust Company of the city of New York, and was indorsed, “Pay to the order of Bankers’ Trust Company, O. H. Cheney, Superintendent of Banks, in trust for Carnegie Trust Company.” Thereupon said Bankers’ Trust Company forwarded said note and collateral to its Washington correspondent, the National Savings and Trust Company, for
From the foregoing statement it will be at once apparent that the question before us is whether said Superintendent of Banks, upon taking possession of the Carnegie Trust Company, acquired possessory title to the Smith note as a local asset of the company for the benefit of all its stockholders and creditors. If he did, the judgment of the trial court was correct. Jenkins v. Purcell, 29 App. D. C. 209, 9 L.R.A.(N.S.) 1074. In that case certain cattle rightfully in the possession of the Virginia receiver were brought into this jurisdiction for delivery to a local purchaser from the receiver. The proceeds of the sale were attached by a domestic creditor of the owner. We ruled that, inasmuch as the receiver came here vested with the legal custody and control of property that passed to him within the jurisdiction of his appointment, we would, upon the principle of comity, recognize and protect his title to such property.
In the present case the Smith note was payable in the city of New York, and the Superintendent of Banks took possession of it as an asset of the trust company. We think that upon
In Osgood v. Maguire, 61 N. Y. 524, the receiver of a New York corporation brought an action upon promissory notes which were part of the assets that came into his hands as receiver, and which were made by a resident of Massachusetts and payable in the State of New York. The defendant pleaded in bar that after the appointment of the receiver, the debt due upon the notes was attached in an action in Massachusetts brought by a creditor against the corporation. The court sustained the right of the receiver to recover, saying: “These notes were payable in this State, and passed into the hands of the receivers; they were property the situs of which was in this State. By the law of this State this property was put into the hands of the receivers for the benefit of all the stockholders and creditors of the company. The appointment of the receivers worked an involuntary transfer of the property to them, and there was an attempt to procure an involuntary transfer in Massachusetts for the benefit of a creditor there. Under such circumstances the first transfer must prevail.” The reasoning in that case is applicable here.
Conceding, as we must, that the debt evidenced by this Smith note would have been subject to attachment or trustee process in this District prior to the act of the Superintendent of Banks
The judgment is affirmed, with costs. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNION SAVINGS BANK OF WASHINGTON v. CARNEGIE TRUST COMPANY
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Attachment and Garnishment; Bills and Notes. A demand promissory note made'in this District, and payable in New York city to the order of a trust company there, becomes, by involuntary transfer, the property of the superintendent of banks of the State