Bergling v. Wardell
Bergling v. Wardell
Opinion of the Court
In September, 1934, appellee’s predecessor, as Receiver of the Seventh Street Savings Bank, began this action against appellant to recover $2,000 with interest on account of a double liability stock assessment made by the Comptroller of the
On this appeal the real and substantial question is whether appellant was entitled to have the assessment apportioned between herself and the prior owners of the same snares or, stated differently, whether there must be a prior apportionment of the indebtedness among the present and former stockholders as a condition precedent to the right of the receiver to enforce liability. No such apportionment had been made.
The question is interesting, and, if it were not, as we think, foreclosed, would afford an opportunity for discussion. But we are bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia declaring the law of that state in relation to stockholder’s liability in a West Virginia banking corporation, and the question has been decided adversely to appellant in Lawhead v. Davis, 112 W.Va. 13, 163 S.E. 629. Likewise, on the authority of Tabler v. Higginbotham, 110 W.Va. 9, 156 S.E. 751, and Lawhead v. Garlow, 114 W.Va. 175, 171 S.E. 250, we must hold that liability for immediate payment of an assessment precedes application of the remaining assets of the insolvent bank. Hence, the dividends paid to creditors in the interim do not affect appellant’s liability. As it now appears, 95 per cent of the principal indebtedness has been paid, and valuable assets remain unliquidated in the receiver’s hands. We think it quite proper to add that if a fair computation of the stockholder’s ultimate liability can now be made, the receiver should in his discretion exact no more in the settlement of this and other judgments.
Affirmed.
Hamilton v. Bergling, 66 App.D.C. 83, 85 F.2d 249.
W.Va.Code (1932), § 3138.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BERGLING v. WARDELL
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- Published