Hood v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 26 June 1935
• Docket Number: 665.
• Citation: 180 S.E. 706,208 N.C. 321
• Parties: HOOD, Com'r of Banks, et al. v. RICHARDSON et al.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

180 S.E. 706

208 N.C. 321

HOOD, Com'r of Banks, et al. v. RICHARDSON et al.

No. 665.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

June 26, 1935

Appeal from Superior Court, Guilford County; Alley, Judge.

Action by Gurney P. Hood, Commissioner of Banks, and others against H. S. Richardson, the Piedmont Financial Company, Mrs. C. F Chapin, and others. Motions by named defendants to remove cause to the District Court of the United States for trial were allowed by the clerk of the superior court and reversed on appeal by the judge, and movants appeal.

Reversed.

Civil action to determine liability of defendants for certain alleged stock assessments by reason of alleged ownership legal or equitable, of shares of stock in the North Carolina Bank & Trust Company, brought by the Commissioner of Banks against three nonresident and six resident defendants.

Motions by nonresident defendants, Mrs. C. F. Chapin, Piedmont Financial Company, Inc., and H. S. Richardson, to remove cause to the District Court of the United States for the Middle District of North Carolina for trial. Motions allowed by the clerk of the superior court and reversed on appeal by the judge of the superior court.

From this latter ruling, the movants appeal, assigning errors.

Brooks McLendon & Holderness, of Greensboro, for plaintiffs.

James F. Hoge, of New York City, Clyde R. Hoey, of Shelby, and Frazier & Frazier and Huger S. King, all of Greensboro, for defendants.

STACY Chief Justice.

The petitions for removal, in addition to showing the presence of the requisite jurisdictional amounts, assert rights of removal on grounds of diverse citizenship and separable controversies.

The complaint, in part, in substance alleges:

1. That H. S. Richardson is a resident of Connecticut; Mrs. C. F. Chapin, a resident of New York; Piedmont Financial Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation; and that the remaining defendants are residents of this state.

2. That the North Carolina Bank & Trust Company, a banking institution, was organized under the laws of this state by the merger of certain other banking institutions, etc. That it ceased to do business on May 20, 1933.

3. That on June 22, 1933, the plaintiff Commissioner of Banks, by authority of law, levied a 100 per cent. stock assessment against all the stockholders of the North Carolina Bank & Trust Company, including an assessment of $274,580 against the Piedmont Finance Company; it appearing as the owner of 27,458 shares of stock upon the books of the bank.

4. That in reality the said Piedmont Finance Company was never anything more than a "dummy," that it is insolvent and that the defendants H. S. Richardson, Piedmont Financial Company, Inc., and L. Richardson are the real owners of 22,208 shares of said stock, and, as such, are liable for $222,080 of said assessment; Mrs. C. F. Chapin is the real owner of 1,500 shares of said stock, and, as such, is liable for $15,000 of said assessment; and the other defendants are the real owners of the remainder of said stock in varying...