In re Bank of Leeton v. Major.

• Decision Date: 21 May 1928
• Docket Number: No. 16292.,16292.
• Citation: 6 S.W.2d 646
• Parties: IN RE. FARMER'S BANK OF LEETON, J.T. GREER ET AL., RESPONDENTS, v. EARL A. MAJOR, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF FINANCE, APPELLANT.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

6 S.W.2d 646

IN RE. FARMER'S BANK OF LEETON, J.T. GREER ET AL., RESPONDENTS, v. EARL A. MAJOR, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF FINANCE, APPELLANT.^*

No. 16292.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

May 21, 1928.

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Johnson County. — Hon. Ewing Cockrell, Judge.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

M.D. Aber for appellant.

No brief for respondent.

ARNOLD, J.

This is an appeal from an order and judgment of the trial court in a hearing on a citation for contempt. No bill of exceptions is presented and the cause is before us on the record proper. From this record it is learned the petitioners for the citation are J.T. Greer and others, stockholders in the Farmers Co-operative Company, theretofore incorporated for the purpose of operating an elevator for storing and handling grain, purchasing supplies, etc., at Leeton, Johnson county, Missouri. On March 3, 1925, a statutory number of the stockholders of the said corporation by petition sought dissolution at the hands of the circuit court of Johnson county and a decree to that effect was entered in March, 1925.

It appears that at the time of the trial and the subsequent decree of dissolution, the Cooperative Company was indebted to the Bank of Leeton, Leeton, Mo., in the sum of $4701.72, which company at that time had ninety-three stockholders and fifty-one of whom entered their appearance at the hearing and consented to the dissolution. It further appears that at the entry of said order of dissolution, or soon thereafter, the Farmers Bank of Leeton received the available assets of the corporation and operated to reduce the debts of the company to approximately $1000. On April 25, 1925, the officers of the Cooperative Company wrote all the co-partners and sometime stockholders, advising them of the amounts of their proportionate shares of the debt to the bank remaining unpaid, and requiring each to pay his proportionate share thereof; that a sufficient number responded to further reduce the indebtedness by $262.17.

While the matter thus stood — the exact date not given — the Farmers Bank of Leeton failed and its affairs passed into the hands of E.A. Major, special deputy commissioner of finance of the State of Missouri, for liquidation. It appears that at the June term of the Johnson county circuit court, 1926, an order was made directing said special deputy to pay to the depositors of the bank whose claims had been given an ordinary status, a dividend of thirty-three and one-third per cent of the amount of their several claims which were represented by the proceeds of the assets of the bank, including the stockholders of the Cooperative Company who were depositors. This the special deputy refused to do as applied to the Cooperative depositors, but applied the same to the indebtedness of the Cooperative Company to the bank.

On December 27, 1926, there was filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court a petition for a citation for contempt, as follows:

"Comes now your petitioner and states to the court that this court has ordered a dividend in the above-entitled cause and that E.A. Majors, party in charge of said bank's affairs, has failed and refused to pay said dividend to those to whom it belongs, in this, that he is deducted from said dividends or refusing to pay until each shareholder in the defunct corporation known as Farmers Cooperative Elevator pay his proportional share of a note held by said bank against said corporation, all of which he has no right to do.

"Your petitioner further states that a part of those complaining about such action are W.D. Swigert, Allen W. Swigert, W.D. Shields and J.T. Greer.

"Your petitioners pray the court to cite said E.A. Majors for contempt and require him to show cause why the order of this court has not been complied with and for such other relief as to the court may seem fit and proper."

The record shows no citation thereon was issued, but upon oral direction of the court that the accused make a showing, there was a statement filed on February 14, 1927, by and on behalf of said special deputy commissioner to the effect that prior to April 25, 1925, the Farmers Cooperative Company was indebted to the Farmers Bank in the sum of $4701.72; that on March 3, 1925, a petition for dissolution of the Cooperative Company was filed. No notice was served on any of the stockholders and no writs were issued; no notice was issued to any of the creditors of the Cooperative Company and none such entered appearance. That on March 27, 1925 a decree of dissolution was entered dissolving the corporation; that the proceedings relative thereto, by reason of the omissions aforesaid were not effective to accomplish a dissolution, and that as a result of such abortive dissolution the stockholders are, in effect, partners of such organization and liable for its debts. That at the time of said attempted dissolution the Farmers Bank received the available assets of the corporation which operated to reduce the...