Moran v. Moran

Decision Date19 February 1894
Citation25 S.W. 185,120 Mo. 344
PartiesMORAN v. MORAN et al.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

In an action to establish plaintiff's title to shares of stock held by J.'s wife and formerly held by J., it appeared that J. transferred the shares to plaintiff, his brother; and that afterwards, in an action by a creditor of J., plaintiff, J., and two others testified that plaintiff paid J. $5,000 for the stock. On the trial of plaintiff's action J. did not testify, but plaintiff and another brother testified that plaintiff paid J. $5,000 for the stock. Other reliable evidence, however, showed that plaintiff did not have such sum of money; that J., though without stock, continued his relations with the company after the transfer as before; that plaintiff, as treasurer, and his successor, paid J. monthly dividends on the stock for six years, until suit was brought; and that plaintiff, with J.'s consent, transferred the stock to another, who transferred it to J.'s wife. Held, that the stock had been assigned to plaintiff in trust for J.

Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; D. D. Fisher, Judge.

Action by William E. Moran against Lizzie Moran, John Moran, and the Moran Bolt & Nut Manufacturing Company to establish title to certain shares of stock in such corporation, and to recover dividends accrued thereon. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Hiram J. Grover, for appellant. D. P. Dyer, for respondents.

BLACK, C. J.

This is a suit in equity, brought by William E. Moran to establish title to 10 shares of stock in the Moran Bolt & Nut Manufacturing Company, a corporation organized under the laws of this state, and to recover judgment for the dividends which had accrued thereon. The defendants are Lizzie Moran, John Moran, and the Moran Bolt & Nut Manufacturing Company. The corporation was organized in September, 1881, with a capital stock of 60 shares of $1,000 each. The 60 shares were taken and owned by six brothers and sisters, namely, Michael, John, Susan, Lizzie, and William Moran, and Jennie Gorman, each having 10 shares. At that time, and long prior thereto, they all resided in the same house. The men carried on the bolt and nut business, and the women managed the household affairs. The material averments of the petition are that William purchased the 10 shares owned by John, and paid John a valuable consideration for them, and that they were duly transferred upon the books of the company; that the defendants caused plaintiff to be confined in an asylum from 1887 to 1891 as an insane person, and during that time fraudulently caused the 10 shares to be transferred to Lizzie, and in like manner caused her to transfer them to Elizabeth Moran, the wife of defendant John Moran. The defendants admit the assignment of the shares from John to William in December, 1881, but they say the transfer was made without consideration, and for the purpose of placing them out of and beyond the reach of the creditors of John, who was financially embarrassed; that William, with the consent of John, assigned the shares to Lizzie on the 18th December, 1885, to be by her held for John, and she transferred them over to Elizabeth Moran, the wife of John, in 1889. The contest is really between the two brothers William and John. It stands admitted on all hands that John assigned these 10 shares to William on the 20th December, 1881, and the first, and, indeed, the real, question in the case is one of fact, and that is whether William purchased the shares, or simply took them to be held for the use and benefit of his brother John. The evidence discloses the following facts: The sheriff levied an execution in favor of a Mr. Johnson and against John Moran on the ten shares. Johnson became the purchaser of three of them at the execution sale. He commenced a suit against the corporation to compel it to transfer the three shares to him. John and William were parties defendant to that suit. It came on for trial in 1883. William and John and John Gorman ...

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