Beekman Lumber Co. v. Ahern

• Decision Date: 15 April 1905
• Citation: 86 S.W. 842,75 Ark. 107
• Parties: BEEKMAN LUMBER COMPANY v. AHERN
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

86 S.W. 842

75 Ark. 107

BEEKMAN LUMBER COMPANY v. AHERN

Supreme Court of Arkansas

April 15, 1905

Appeal from Miller Circuit Court, JOEL D. CONWAY, Judge.

Affirmed.

STATEMENT BY THE COURT.

P. J Ahern during the year 1898 was president of the Little River Lumber Company, whose place of business was in Little River County, Arkansas. On the 18th day of April, 1898, there was filed in the office of the clerk and recorder of Little River County a statement showing the financial condition of the company with lists of the stockholders, which statement was signed by the president and secretary of the company. No other statement was filed. In November and December of that year the lumber company contracted with Beekman Lumber Company, with Barton Brothers, and with Swofford Brothers' Dry Goods Company. On the 30th day of December 1898, the machinery and lumber of the company were destroyed by fire. The company was adjudicated to be bankrupt on the 11th day of January, 1899, and the debts named were never paid. These creditors afterwards brought action to recover their debts against P. J. Ahern on the ground that he had, as president of the company, failed to file the annual statement showing the condition of the lumber company as required by law, that the debts due each of them were contracted during the period of such neglect on his part, and that he thereby became liable for each of such debts. Wherefore they ask judgment against him for the amount of their debts. The defendant filed an answer to the complaint in each of these actions in which he denied that he had neglected to file the annual statement showing the condition of the company as required by law, and denied that the indebtedness to plaintiffs was contracted during the period of any such failure on his part. He also alleged that the right of action on the part of plaintiffs, if any existed, was barred by the statute of three years.

As the issues presented in these cases were exactly alike, they were heard together by consent of parties, being submitted to the court without a jury. On the trial the plaintiff asked the court to declare the law to be "that defendant was liable herein by reason of the failure of the Little River Lumber Company, of which he was president, to file such statement as required by law, and that the statute of limitations did not begin to run upon the purchase of the goods by the lumber company, as claimed by the defendant, but upon the maturity of the debts created by such purchases." The court refused to so declare the law, but held "that the liability of defendant Ahern accrued when he failed to file the statement required by law, and that the statute of limitations began to run from the date when the debts were contracted by the purchase of the goods, and not from the date of maturity of said debts against the lumber company." The court thereupon sustained the plea of the statute of limitations, and gave judgment in favor of the defendant. Plaintiffs appealed.

Judgment affirmed.

Ellis Cook & Ellis and Webber & Webber, for appellant.

The appellant's claim is not barred by the statute of limitations. Kirby's Dig. § 859; 68 Ark. 433; 69 Ark. 65; 62 N.Y. 202; 35 N.Y. 412; 134 N.Y. 262; 164 N.Y. 224; 82 Cal. 650.

W. H. Arnold, for appellee.

The suit was brought within three years after the debt was contracted, and is barred. 107 F. 188; 114 F. 290; 81 N.Y. 49; 79 N.Y. 404; 124 N.Y. 25; 71 N.Y. 597; 76 N.Y. 521; 68 Ark. 21.

RIDDICK, J. Mr. Justice MCCULLOCH disqualified, and not participating.

OPINION

RIDDICK, J., (after stating the facts.)

The question presented by this appeal is whether the defendant, who was in 1898 president of the Little River Lumber Company, is liable to the plaintiffs for certain debts of the company by reason of the fact that he failed to file a statement showing the condition of the company within the time required by law.

The statute requires that the president and secretary of any corporation organized under the law of this State "shall annually make a certificate showing the condition of the affairs of such corporation, as nearly as the same can be ascertained, on the first day of January or of July next preceding the time of making such certificate." The act requires that such certificate shall be deposited with the county clerk of the county in which the corporation does business "on or before the 15th day of February or of August," and it requires that the clerk shall record it in a book kept for that purpose. Kirby's Dig. § 848. Now, ...