Childs v. Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc.
| Citation | 255 N.E.2d 606,357 Mass. 33 |
| Parties | Donald J. CHILDS et al. v. HARBOR LOUNGE OF LYNN, INC. and others. |
| Decision Date | 10 February 1970 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
Robert J. Morrissey, Boston, for plaintiffs.
Louis Karp, Boston, for defendants.
Before WILKINS, C.J., and CUTTER, KIRK, SPIEGEL and REARDON, JJ.
This bill to reach and apply under G.L. c. 214, § 3, was brought by co-partners doing business as accountants under the name of United Services. They had performed certain accounting services for the defendant Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc. (Harbor Lounge No. 1), a Massachusetts corporation. They had brought an action for those services rendered by them for which they were unpaid and obtained on January 11, 1967, an execution from the Suffolk Superior Court in the sum of $2,920.02. In addition they claimed to be owed for certain other services in the sum of $810. The court found that Harbor Lounge No. 1 was indebted to the plaintiffs in the total sum of $3,730.
In March, 1967, after the plaintiffs had rendered to Harbor Lounge No. 1 all the services for which this suit was brought, it sold all of its assets to a new corporation, also a defendant here, Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc. (Harbor Lounge No. 2). This sale was made pursuant to an agreement dated January 11, 1967, under the terms of which the new corporation was to retain the name of the old corporation. The sales agreement provided for transfer of the corporate assets of Harbor Lounge No. 1, and the buyer was to assume two mortgages, to pay unsecured obligations of that corporation according to the schedule attached to the agreement, and the sum of $16,000 in cash. The agreement specified that the buyer has 'this day paid to the Seller the sum of Sixteen thousand dollars ($16,000.00) as a deposit, of which the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) shall be held in escrow for ninety (90) days by (the defendant) Attorney Harold Karp after performance of this agreement; Said amount of Sixteen thousand dollars ($16,000.00) is to be accounted for as part of the purchase price upon the performance of this Agreement by the parties.' Mr. Karp was clerk of Harbor Lounge No. 1 and participated in the negotiation of the sale of its assets. The plaintiffs were listed under the name of United Services as creditors to be paid 'forthwith upon the passing of papers.' Not having been paid, they brought on January 17, 1968, this bill to reach and apply the money held by the defendant Harold Karp, who answered that he was still holding $5,000 delivered to him in escrow on January 11, 1967. The judge in a report of material facts and order for final decree stated as follows: 'The court specifically rules that the sum of money held by the defendant Harold Karp was for the benefit of all of the creditors of Harbor Lounge #1, and that the plaintiffs who are listed in the Bill of Sale as creditors are not entitled to reach and apply the money that is being held by attorney Harold Karp for the payment of the outstanding creditors in accordance with the Bill of Sale executed by Harbor Lounge #1 and Harbor Lounge #2.' The plaintiffs' bill was then dismissed.
Before us is a full report of the evidence, both oral and documentary. There is nothing in the reported testimony to substantiate the judge's finding that a sum held by Mr. Karp was to be held for all the creditors of Harbor Lounge No. 1. We go, therefore, to a review of the documentary evidence. In making that review w...
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Mickelson v. Barnet
...for the benefit of creditors, see G.L. c. 203, § 41, tends to corroborate the parties' stipulation. See Childs v. Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc., 357 Mass. 33, 35, 255 N.E.2d 606 (1970). Under the circumstances, we consider the proof sufficient to warrant We conclude that the legal effect of t......
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In re Thornhill Global Deposit Fund, Ltd., Bankruptcy No. 99-12558-CJK.
...the term "escrow" can be used with respect to written instruments as well as to deposits of money. See Childs v. Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc., 357 Mass. 33, 35, 255 N.E.2d 606 (1970); Kaarela v. Birkhead, 33 Mass.App.Ct. 410, 412-13, 600 N.E.2d 608 (1992). The sparse Massachusetts case law t......
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In re Hilson
...promise by the other to hold it until the performance of a condition or the happening of a certain event. Childs v. Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc., 357 Mass. 33, 35, 255 N.E.2d 606 (1970). There need not be an express writing signed by the parties. Kaarela v. Birkhead, 33 Mass. App.Ct. 410, 41......
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ZANG v. NRT NEW ENGLAND Inc.
...escrowed funds in trust under the terms of the agreement and not for general creditors”), cited in Childs v. Harbor Lounge of Lynn, Inc., 357 Mass. 33, 35, 255 N.E.2d 606 (1970). The escrow agent's duty is to “keep the deposit; he could not dispose of it without the express or implied autho......