Barnes v. Chicago St Ry Co

• Decision Date: 23 May 1887
• Citation: 30 L.Ed. 1128,122 U.S. 1,7 S.Ct. 1043
• Parties: BARNES, Trustee, v. CHICAGO, M. & ST. P. RY. CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

122 U.S. 1

7 S.Ct. 1043

30 L.Ed. 1128

BARNES, Trustee, v. CHICAGO, M. & ST. P. RY. CO.

May 23, 1887.

Francis Fellowes and Wm. Barnes, for appellant.

John W. Cary, for appellee.

WAITE, C. J.

This is a suit by William Barnes to foreclose a mortgage made to him, as trustee, by the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company, hereinafter designated as the La Crosse Company. The record shows that this company was incorporated by the legislature of Wisconsin on the eleventh of April, 1852, to build and operate a railroad in that state between La Crosse, on the Mississippi river, and Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan, a distance of about 200 miles. The road was originally regarded by the company and treated as consisting of two divisions,—one, called the 'Eastern Division,' extending from Milwaukee to Portage City, a distance of 95 miles; and the other, called the 'Western Division,' extending from La Crosse to Portage City, a distance of 105 miles. The Eastern division was incumbered by three mortgages, as follows: (1) The Palmer mortgage, so called, to secure an issue of bonds to the amount of $922,000; (2) a mortgage to Greene C. Bronson and James T. Soutter, to secure bonds to the amount of $1,000,000; and (3) a mortgage to the city of Milwaukee, to secure about $314,000. The Western division was likewise incumbered: (1) By a mortgage to Greene C. Bronson, James T. Soutter, and Shepherd F. Knapp, known as the land-grant mortgage, to secure bonds to the amount of $4,000,000; and (2) by a mortgage to Albert Helfenstein, to secure bonds for $200,000. >>Judgments had also been rendered against the company prior to June 21, 1858, as follows: (1) One in favor of Selah Chamberlain, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Wisconsin, on the second of October, 1857, for $629,089.72; (2) another in the same court, on the seventh of October, 1857, in favor of Newcomb Cleveland, for $111,727.31; (3) another in the circuit court of Milwaukee county, in the spring of 1858, in favor of Sebra Howard, for $25,000, and (4) another in the last-named court in favor of the Mercantile Bank of Hartford, Connecticut, on the twelfth of June, 1858, for $25,000.

On the first of June, 1858, the company being embarrassed by a large floating debt, and by its obligations to persons who had mortgaged their farms to aid in building its road, determined to issue other bonds to the amount of $2,000,000, and secure them by another mortgage on its entire line of road between La Crosse and Milwaukee, subject to the prior mortgage incumbrances. Accordingly the mortgage now in suit was executed to William Barnes, trustee, on the twenty-first of June, 1858, to secure such an issue. It covered 'all the property, real and personal, of said railroad company to be acquired hereafter, as well as that which has already been acquired, together with l l the rights, liberties, privileges, and franchises of said railroad company in respect to said railroad from Milwaukee to La Crosse, except its land grant, but subject to all the prior mortgages above referred to. Afterwards, on the eleventh of August, 1858, a mortgage supplemental to this was executed by way of further assurance. The mortgages thus executed contained a provision that if there should be default in the payment of interest for the space of 15 days the principal should become due, and the trustee, on the request of the holders of bonds to the amount of $100,000, should advertise and sell the mortgaged property.

Afterwards the following judgments were recovered against the company, namely: (1) One in favor of Edwin C. Litchfield, in the district court of the United States for the district of Wisconsin, October 5, 1858, for $26,353.51; (2) another in the same court, April 5, 1859, in favor of Nathaniel S. Bouton for $7,937.37; (3) another in favor of Philip S. Justice and others, in the circuit court of the county of Milwaukee, for $2,035.33; and (4) another in the lastnamed court, in favor of E. Bradford Greenleaf, September 10, 1858, for $840.86.

At the time when the mortgage to Barnes was executed, the Revised Statutes of Wisconsin, § 33, c. 79, provided that, in case of any sale of a railroad 'on or by virtue of any trust deed, or on any foreclosure of any mortgage thereupon, the party or parties acquiring the title under any such sale, and their associates, successors, and assigns, shall have and acquire thereby, and shall exercise and enjoy thereafter, all and the same rights, privileges, grants, franchises, immunities, and advantages in and by said mortgage or trust deed enumerated and conveyed which belonged to and were enjoyed by the company,' so far as they relate to the property bought, in all respects the same as 'such company might or could have done therefor had no such sale or purchase taken place. Such purchaser or purchasers, their associates, successors, and assigns, may proceed to organize anew and elect directors, distribute and dispose of stock, take the same or anoter name, and may conduct their business generally under and in the manner provided in the charter of such railroad company, with such variations in manner and form of organization as their altered circumstances and better convenience may seem to require.'

Afterwards, on the eighth of February, 1859, an act supplementary to chapter 79 of the Revised Statutes was passed, by which it was provided that, in case of any sale of a railroad in the state under a deed of trust, or on a foreclosure, if no one bid an amount equal to 75 per cent. of the mortgage debt, the trustee might bid that amount or more, in his discretion, to the full amount of the debt and interest due, if competition should make it necessary; and that the estate so acquired by the trustee should 'be held in trust for the holders of the outstanding bonds or obligations in the same manner as if they had become the purchasers in proportion to the amount of such bonds or obligations severally held by them.' Laws Wis. 1859, c. 10, p. 13.

On the eleventh of the same month of February holders of the bonds secured by the mortgage in favor of Barnes, to the amount of more than $100,000, presented to him their request in writing that he proceed to sell under his trust, and that he purchase the property at the sale for the bondholders at the price of 75 per cent. of the outstanding bonds and past-due interest, and more if necessary, not exceeding the full amount of the debt, principal and interest. Accordingly he advertised the property for sale pursuant to the provisions of his mortgage, and on the twenty-first of May, 1859, bought it under the authority of the act of February 8, 1859, and the request which had been made, at the price of $1,593,333.33, for the benefit of the bondholders. Two days afterwads he united with certain persons representing themselves to be the owners of bonds o the amount of $1,302,850 in the organization of the Milwaukee & Minnesota Company, hereafter called the Minnesota Company, under section 33, c. 79, Rev. St., to own and operate the railroad, and by the same instrument be transferred his purchase to the company. The capital stock was fixed at $2,500,000, and the articles of organization contained the following provisions in reference thereto:

'Art. 4. The stockholders of the said Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company are the holders of the said bonds, secured by the said mortgages or trust deeds, for whose benefit the said sale and purchase was made by the said William Barnes, and such other persons as shall hereafter associate themselves with them by subscription to the said capital stock or other proper means. Each holder of the said bonds, upon surrendering his bonds to the proper officer of the said Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company, shall be entitled to receive a certificate of stock in the company hereby organized of an equal amount with the principal of the bonds so surrendered by him, subject, nevertheless, to the payment in money of the pro rata share of the costs, charges, and expenses of the said sale, and of the organization and of carrying the same into effect, being the proportion of the whole of such costs, charges, and ex- penses as the amount of stock so to be issued shall bear to two millions of dollars.

'Art. 5. the payment of the said pro rata share of such costs, charges, and expenses is hereby declared to be a charge and lien upon the stock to which each holder of the said bonds is entitled. And the board of directors of the said Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company shall have power to declare the right to such stock forfeited by the non-payment of such pro rata share of such costs, charges, and expenses in such manner as the said board of directors shall determine.'

On the fifth of December, 1859, a bill was filed in the district court of the United States for the district of Wisconsin, by Bronson and others, trustees, against the La Crosse Company, the Minnesota Company, Helfenstein, trustee, and Cleveland and Chamberlain, judgment creditors, to foreclosure the land-grant mortgage on the Western division; and on the ninth of the same month a like bill was filed in the same court against the same parties by Bronson and Soutter, trustees, to foreclose the mortgage to them on the Eastern division. Under the bill for the foreclosure of the land-grant mortgage, the Western division was sold April 25, 1863, to purchasers who organized themselves selves pursuant to section 33, c. 79, Rev. St., into a corporation by the name of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail way Company, to which the property so purchased was duly conveyed. This company will be hereafter referred to as the St. Paul Company.

In the suit for the foreclosure of the mortgage on the Eastern division such proceedings were had that a receiver was appointed, who took possession of the mortgaged property under an order of the court, and caused it to be operated by the St. Paul Company in connection with the Western...