Meeker v. Sprague
Meeker v. Sprague
Opinion of the Court
Appellant seeks by this appeal to reverse an oi’der of the lower court denying his application to be allowed to bring an action against a receiver for the purpose of foreclosing certain mortgages held by him upon property owned by the corporation defendant in the action in which said receiver had been appointed. Respondent moves this court to dismiss the appeal on the ground that such order is not a final order within the meaning of our statute relating to appeals. We think that such application was a special proceeding within the meaning of such statute, and that as the order made therein finally disposed of the rights of the parties in such proceeding, it was a final one, and that an appeal therefrom will lie to this court. The motion to dismiss must, therefore, be denied.
It appears from the record before us that a complaint had been duly filed against the defendant corporation alleging its insolvency, and asking the appointment of a receiver, and that all persons having liens upon any of the property of such corporation should be brought into court, to the end that the rights of all might be therein adjudicated. And such proceedings had been had in the action that a receiver had been duly appointed to take possession of the property of the corporation, and that those holding liens thereon had been, pursuant to an order of the court, notified to appear in said action, and there wage their claims for relief. Among those brought in by this notice was the appellant herein. After having been thus brought into the original action he filed in said court the petition upon which the order was made from which this appeal is prosecuted. Under the circumstances disclosed by the record, will this court reverse the order denying the application for leave to sue? It will be seen that a court of equity had regularly secured jurisdiction in a suit against this corpo
We have not lost sight of the argument presented on the part of the appellant in which he has sought to show that
And upon the question of the effect of the deed from the corporation to the receiver, it seems to us clear that it can
The order appealed from must be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ezra M. Meeker v. Otis Sprague, Receiver of the Tacoma & Puyallup Railroad Company, and R. F. Radebaugh
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- RECEIVERS—APPLICATION TO SUE — DISCRETION OE COURT — APPEALABLE ORDER. An application to the superior court to be allowed to bring an action against a receiver in a cause pending in such court is a special proceeding within the meaning of the statute governing appeals, and an order denying such application is appealable for the reason that it finally disposes of the rights of the parties in such proceeding. Where a court of equity has regularly secured jurisdiction in a suit against an insolvent corporation, and has appointed a receiver to take possession of all its property, an application made by a party for permission to sue the receiver is addressed to the sound discretion of the court, and an order denying such application will be upheld unless it is made to appear that the discretion thus vested in the court has been abused. Where a court has, in a suit in equity, regularly acquired full jurisdiction, not only of the property of an insolvent corporation, but also of all the parties’ interests therein, and has appointed a receiver for the corporation, the refusal of the court to allow a mortgagee of the corporation to institute foreclosure proceedings in a separate suit against the receiver is not an abuse of the discretion vested in the court, although the mortgagee may allege that the property upon which he has a first lien will be charged with a greater proportion of the expenses of the receivership than would be just, and that by the terms of a deed given by the corporation to the receiver of all its property there seems to be a preference in favor of certain lien claims as against the claim of the mortgagee.