Corsicana Nat. Bank v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 05 January 1915 |
| Docket Number | 2597. |
| Parties | CORSICANA NAT. BANK v. JOHNSON. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Francis Marion Etheridge and Joseph Manson McCormick, both of Dallas Tex., and Richard Mays, of Corsicana, Tex., for appellant.
W. J McKie, of Corsicana, Tex., and Cullen F. Thomas and Henry C Coke, both of Dallas, Tex., for appellee.
Before PARDEE and WALKER, Circuit Judges, and CALL, District Judge.
The bill in this case charged the defendant, who had been an officer of the plaintiff bank, with liability for the loss sustained by the bank on a loan of its funds in an amount which exceeded one-tenth of the amount of the bank's paid-in capital and surplus, the ground of the asserted liability of the defendant being his alleged participation in and responsibility for the violation of the statutory prohibition of such a loan. 5 Fed.Stat.Ann. 139, 34 Stat 451. The suit was the assertion of the right of the bank to hold the defendant liable in his personal and individual capacity for all damages sustained by the bank in consequence of the defendant knowingly violating the provision of the above-mentioned statute. Rev. Stat. U.S. Sec. 5239. Plainly a suit to recover damages so sustained may be maintained at law, and is not cognizable by a court of equity, in the absence of any showing of the inadequacy of the legal remedy which is available. Cockrill v. Cooper, 86 F. 7, 29 C.C.A. 529; Stephens v. Overstolz (C.C.) 43 F. 465.
In the case at bar no fact was alleged or proved which tended to show any inadequacy of the legal remedy to which the plaintiff might have resorted. The plaintiff's claim was that it had lost the total amount loaned, less what had been and what might yet be realized from certain corporate stock which it had received in a settlement of the bankrupt estate of one of the insolvent borrowers. The holding of that stock by the plaintiff constituted no ground for a resort to a court of equity. The bank's claim was subject to be reduced by the amount already realized on that stock and by the reasonable value of it, if it still represents anything of value. This abatement of the amount of damages recoverable could be made in a court of law as well as in a court of equity. It was simply a matter of showing the actual loss sustained by the plaintiff as a result of the forbidden loan. It was not made to appear that in a court of law there was any obstacle...
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... ... 383; Goldschmidt Thermit Co. v. Primos Chemical Co ... (D.C.) 225 F. 769, 772; Corsicana National Bank v ... Johnson, 218 F. 822, 823, 134 C.C.A. 510, 511; Id ... 237 F. 1016, 150 ... of the first class are Casey v. Carvaroc, 96 U.S ... 467, 486, 490, 24 L.Ed. 779; Third Nat. Bank v. Buffalo ... German Ins. Co., 193 U.S. 581, 588, 24 Sup.Ct. 524, 48 ... L.Ed. 801; ... ...
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Adams v. Clarke
...tried as one at law instead of in equity. Were there but a single defendant, admittedly, that view would be correct. Corsicana National Bank v. Johnson (C. C. A.) 218 F. 822. Where, however, the defendants are numerous, similar actions have been entertained on the equity side of the court. ......
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...Co. (D. C.) 216 F. 382, 383; Goldschmidt Thermit Co. v. Primos Chemical Co. (D. C.) 225 F. 769, 772; Corsicana National Bank v. Johnson, 218 F. 822, 823, 134 C. C. A. 510, 511; Id., 237 F. 1016, 150 C. C. A. 665; Id., 251 U. S. 68, 40 S. Ct. 82, 64 L. Ed. 141; United States v. Utah Power Co......
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