Seattle Hardware Co. v. Waugh
Seattle Hardware Co. v. Waugh
Opinion of the Court
After the appeal was taken in this case, the appellant died. His death was suggested at the oral argument, and it was then stipulated that the administrator should be substituted as appellant. M. P. Hurd has since been appointed administrator of the estate of the appellant, and said substitution is accordingly made.
It appears that, in the year 1903, an action was brought by the Seattle Hardware Company against J. C. Waugh and others, doing business under the name of the North Avon Lumber Company. In that action J. E. Potts was appointed receiver of the property of the lumber company, and took possession thereof. He was authorized by the court to operate the sawmill and to carry on the business of the company. About that time the receiver and one H. B. Freeman organized a logging company, known as the Freeman Logging Company. The receiver thereupon, by permission of the court, entered into a contract with the Freeman Logging Company, of which he was a member as before stated, by which contract the logging company agreed to cut saw logs from lands belonging to the lumber company in possession of the receiver, and to deliver such logs at the mill of the receiver at a fixed price. The receiver was also authorized by order of the court to make certain repairs to the mill, not to exceed $5,000. Repairs were subsequently made which cost in excess of $10;000.
After the mill had been operated by the receiver for about three years, and none of the debts of the lumber company
“It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that J. E. Potts as receiver hex*ein be and he is hereby directed to forthwith make and execute a good and sufficient deed of conveyance of all the real estate hereinbefore described to said Schwager & Nettleton, Incorporated, and that he shall also make and execute a good and sufficient bill of sale of all the-personal property owned or possessed by said receiver, including mill machinery, appliances, buildings, all book accounts, bills, claims, lumber, logs, and all other personal: property owned or claimed by said receiver, and that he-shall also execute to said Schwager & Nettleton, Incorporated, a good and sufficient assignment of all leases, agreements now held or owned by him as such receiver, and that upon delivery of such conveyance he accept from Schwager & Nettleton, the said sum of $9,600, and that he forthwith pay out of the same, the sum of $1,075 to C. S. Wiley, $200'
Thereupon the transfer was made by the receiver as directed, and $9,600 was paid to him by Schwager & Nettle-ton, and the same was disbursed as directed. Thereafter the receiver made his final report, setting forth all his acts and doings, and showing a balance of cash on hand amounting to $38.89, and prayed for a discharge. The defendants in the original action, and Tatum & Bowen, one of the creditors, filed certain objections to the report, and charged that the receiver had not accounted for all the funds received by him. The hearing was had upon this report, and the objections made thereto, and the court found, among other things, that:
“(7) On March 26, 1906, there was cash in the hands of the said receiver amounting to eighty-seven and 21-100 dollars; and that after making the said sale to the said Schwager & Nettleton and after paying fifty cents on the dollar on all the claims, as directed by the court, out of the said purchase price of ninety-six hundred dollars received from Schwager & Nettleton, Inc., the said receiver had remaining the sum of thirty-eight and 89-100 dollars.
“(8) The court further finds that the said receiver sold -Angevine certain telegraph poles cut and removed from the lands owned by the said association, for which the said receiver received the sum of -- dollars; that it is admitted by the said receiver that there was due the said estate at least the sum of ninety-three and 70-100 dollars received from the said Angevine on account of said poles; that the said receiver never made any entry in his books regarding the sale of these poles, and never at any time accounted to this court for the sum received therefor and was not entered upon any of the books or files of the said receivership nor in any wise reported to the court or to the creditors or the defendants herein.
“(9) That the said receiver, on or about-, without any order or authority from this court, sold to the
“(10) The court finds that on or about-the said receiver sold to the Sumner Iron Works a quantity of lumber amounting to three hundred and fifty-seven and 59-100 dollars for which the said receiver made no report to this court and did not in any manner account therefor, but, on the contrary, took in exchange therefor certain machinery for the Freeman Shingle Company, in which the said receiver was interested as aforesaid; that neither of said transactions with the said Sumner Iron Works appears upon the books of the receivership and were not in any wise reported to this court until upon the hearing of this report.
“(11) That after the application of the said Schwager & Nettleton to purchase the property of said receivership, and before the 26th day of March, the time of the sale, the said receiver advanced to the Freeman Logging Company sixty-six hundred and seventy-nine and 98-100 dollars, or the sum of thirty-two hundred and five and 11-100 dollars more than was due the said Freeman Logging Company for logs delivered during said time; that the said receiver was during all said times interested in said Freeman Logging Company, owning one-half interest therein; that the said moneys were so advanced to the said Freeman Logging Company without any authority and without the knowledge of this court or the creditors or the defendants herein.
“(12) That on February 1, 1906, without any authority and without the knowledge of this court or any of the creditors or the defendants herein, the receiver paid to himself out of the moneys in his hands as receiver the sum of six hundred dollars, which he claims was due him as salary from the time of his appointment to January 5th, 1906; the court finds as a fact that the receiver’s salary fqr said period had
Based upon these findings, the court entered an order requiring the receiver “to immediately pay into the registry of the court the sum of $4,682.50, to be disposed of by the further order of this court.” The receiver has appealed from that order.
It is contended here that, under the order of sale, the proceeds of all these items, except the $38.90 and the $600 item which the receiver appropriated as salary, were “claims, bills, or accounts due the receiver,” and passed by the sale above mentioned to Schwager & Nettleton, and that the receiver paid the same to Schwager & Nettleton, and thereafter was discharged, and that it was error for the court to require the receiver to pay the amount thereof into court to be disposed of as assets of the receivership. The items, tersely stated, were as follows: $38.90 balance of the $9,600 in the receiver’s hands after paying fifty per cent of the claims of the creditors and the attorney’s fees; $87.21 cash on hand as reported prior to the sale of the property; $93.70 for poles sold to Angevine and collected by the receiver; $300 for machinery which was sold by the receiver and used to pay individual debts of his own; $357.59 for lumber used in the same way; $3,205.11 cash advanced by the receiver to the Freeman Logging Company of which he was a member; and $600 cash appropriated to himself as salary to which he was not entitled.
It is conceded that the first and last items mentioned above should be paid into court as directed. But appellant contests the other items upon the grounds stated above. None of these items appear to have been carried upon the books of the receivership, or to have been reported to, or filed with, the court as assets in the hands of the receiver prior to the order
We think the trial court must be sustained in this ruling. It was clearly not the intention of the parties to sell or convey money in the hands of the receiver, and we think the-wording of the order above quoted cannot be so construed as to include the conveyance of money. Appellant does not now insist that the first and last items, concededly being money in the receiver’s hands, passed to the purchaser, for it is conceded that these items must be paid into court by the receiver. The other items, while not actually cash in the hands of. the receiver, should be treated as such, because the evidence shows that the item of $93.70 for poles was actually paid to the-receiver through his daughter, who was acting as the receiver’s agent to collect the same. The two items amounting to $657.59 were used by the receiver out of the estate to purchase property for his own use. Instead of taking cash, he-took machinery and lumber, and of course became personally responsible for the amount thereof in cash. As to the-other item of $3,205, this was actual cash of the receivership, advanced in excess of what was due to the company, in which the receiver was personally interested. He was not authorized' by any order of the court to do any of the things above mentioned. In short, all these transactions amounted to taking;
The judgment appealed from is therefore affirmed.
Rudkin, C. J., Dunbar, Parker, and Crow, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Seattle Hardware Company v. J. C. Waugh, and M. P. Hurd, as Administrator etc.
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Receivers — Pinal Accounting — Order op Sale — Construction. An order for a receiver’s final sale of assets embracing “all book accounts, bills, claims, lumber, logs, and all other personal property owned or claimed by said receiver,” does not include cash on hand or items of money or property that the receiver took without authority for his private use or wrongfully advanced to a company in which he was interested, not carried on the books or reported to the court, and the existence of which was not known to the court or creditors at the time of the sale; and the receiver is therefore properly required to account for the same as cash on hand.