Cook v. Monroe

• Decision Date: 18 June 1895
• Citation: 45 Neb. 349,63 N.W. 800
• Parties: COOK ET AL. v. MONROE.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

45 Neb. 349

63 N.W. 800

COOK ET AL.

v.MONROE.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

June 18, 1895.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Dividends declared by a corporation upon shares of its stock belong to the parties in whose names the shares of stock are registered in the books of the corporation at the time the dividends are declared, but such dividends may be made the subject of a valid contract in like manner and to the same extent as other personal property.

2. One who interferes with personal property not his own, at the instance and request, or by the authority, of another, who is not the owner of the property, or authorized to act, is a wrongdoer, and, as such, liable to the owner of the property for his wrongful act.

3. The admitted, coupled with the undisputed, facts in this case, fully warranted the trial court in directing the jury to return a verdict for plaintiff for the amount claimed.

Error to district court, Washington county; Ogden, Judge.

Suit by Byron F. Monroe against Wesley J. Cook and another to recover the amount of a dividend. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendants bring error. Affirmed.F. W. Fitch and D. Z. Mummert, for plaintiffs in error.

Jesse T. Davis and E. R. Duffie, for defendant in error.

HARRISON, J.

It is alleged, in substance, in the petition filed in this action, commenced in the district court of Washington county, that on January 30, 1892, the defendant in error (plaintiff in the district court, and hereinafter referred to as plaintiff) was the owner of 20 shares of the capital stock of the Keeley Institute at Blair, Neb., of the face value each of $100, and on that day he sold and transferred the stock stated to Clement L. Hart, one of the plaintiffs in error (hereinafter called defendant and defendants), who, as a consideration of such sale and transfer of stock, executed and delivered to plaintiff his three certain promissory notes in the sum of $1,000 each, payable, one in twenty days, one in six months, and one in one year after date, and also conveyed to plaintiff a quarter section of land situated in Howard county. Some time thereafter, defendant became dissatisfied with the trade, and began an action in the district court of Douglas county against the plaintiff, praying that he might be enjoined from selling or disposing of the notes and land, and that a decree be entered ordering the plaintiff to return the notes to the defendant Hart, and reconvey the land to him. During the pendency of the injunction suit, the plaintiff sold and assigned one of the notes to E. H. Monroe, who commenced an action in the district court of Washington county against plaintiff and Clement L. Hart, to collect the amount due on the note. That on November 11, 1892, the plaintiff and the defendant entered into a stipulation by which their legal differences arising out of the trade were settled and which was as follows: “Clement L. Hart, Plaintiff, v. Byron F. Monroe, Deft. Stipulation of dismissal: It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between the parties plaintiff and defendant in the above-entitled cause, that this case be, and the same is hereby, dismissed, upon the following terms and conditions: (1) That the defendant herein return to the plaintiff the three certain promissory notes in plaintiffs described of one thousand dollars each, dated Blair, Nebraska, January 30th, 1892, and payable in twenty days, six months, and one year from the date thereof, respectively, to Byron F. Monroe, and signed by C. L. Hart and re-deed and quitclaim to the plaintiff the land in the plaintiff's petition described, consisting of one hundred sixty acres in Howard county, Nebraska, being the southeast one-fourth (1/4) of section twenty-nine (29), township fourteen (14), range nine (9), west of the 6th P. M., as free from incumbrance, and bearing as good title as it did January 30th, 1892. (2) The plaintiff agrees to pay the costs now accrued in this cause and in the cause of Monroe v. Hart, in the district court of Washington county, Nebraska, and return to the defendant the twenty certain shares of capital stock of the Keeley Institute at Blair, Nebraska, and assign the same to defendant, together with all accretions, interests, and gains thereto belonging, and pay to the defendant the sum of $175.00.” That, pursuant to the stipulation, the notes were returned to defendant, and the land reconveyed to him, the shares of the stock were assigned to plaintiff's wife, the $175 paid, and the suits at law dismissed. On March 25, 1892, and during the time the shares of stock stood on the books of the Keeley Institute in the name of defendant and were in his possession, the institute declared a dividend, the owner of the shares of stock in question being entitled to the sum of $252.18, which amount remained in the treasury of the institute until January 4, 1893, and until after the stock was reassigned by defendant and returned to plaintiff. That on the 4th day of January, 1893, the defendant Wesley J. Cook, by means of an order therefor, signed by his codefendant, drew the $252.18 from the treasury of the institute, and appropriated the same to his own use and benefit, and to the use and benefit of Clement L. Hart; and it is further charged that this was done with full knowledge on the part of Cook of the conditions of the agreement of settlement between plainti...