Nat. Exchange Bank of Hartford v. Wilder
| Decision Date | 30 September 1885 |
| Citation | 34 Minn. 149 |
| Parties | NATIONAL EXCHANGE BANK OF HARTFORD and others <I>vs.</I> ELI T. WILDER. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
In September, 1884, the Minnesota Elevator Company made an assignment to the respondent Wilder for the benefit of its creditors. The assignee, upon taking possession of the property of the Elevator Company, found in its warehouses about 15,779 bushels of wheat, all of which, excepting about 679 bushels, he sold for the sum of $9,029.29. After such sale the appellants, four national banks doing business in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and creditors of the insolvent company, with claims aggregating $64,000, filed their petition in the district court for Goodhue county, setting forth their claims and that they held the warehouse receipts of the Elevator Company for 93,000 bushels of wheat, and asking that the assignee be directed to pay over to them the said sum of $9,029.69 realized by him from the sale of wheat. The assignee answered, and the matter was tried without a jury before Crosby, J., who found the following to be the facts, viz.:
One C. H. Duryea was the secretary and treasurer of the Elevator Company, and executed and issued the warehouse receipts mentioned in the petition, and used the same by the authority of the Elevator Company. Ten of such warehouse receipts, for 52,500 bushels, were in the following form, (except as to date, amount, grade of wheat, and warehouse,) viz.:
The remainder of the warehouse receipts, for 42,500 bushels, were in the following form, (except as to date, amount, grade of wheat, and warehouse,) viz.:
At the time that these receipts were issued, and indorsed and delivered to the petitioners, Duryea had no wheat in store in the elevators or warehouses named, nor had he any therein stored prior or subsequent thereto. The warehouse receipts were issued, indorsed, and delivered to the petitioners as collateral security for money loaned on the security thereof, and in consideration thereof, by the petitioners to the Elevator Company, as alleged in the petition, of which money $64,000 with interest has not been repaid, and none of the warehouse receipts mentioned have been surrendered, nor has the Elevator Company ever delivered any wheat on the receipts, or in any manner settled the same or any part thereof, and the same are now in full force and effect.
The warehouse receipts are numbered, bear date, and call for wheat of the following grades and at the following warehouses, viz.:
No. 5. Sept. 15, 1883, 5,000 bu. No. 2 hard wheat in Fletcher warehouse.
No. 2. Sept. 15, 1883, 2,500 bu. No. 2 hard wheat in Eau Claire warehouse.
No. 18. Nov. 1, 1883, 5,000 bu. No. 1 hard wheat, in Fletcher warehouse.
No. 17. Nov. 1, 1883, 3,000 bu. No. 1 hard wheat, in Reed's Landing warehouse.
No. 21. Nov. 1, 1883, 4,000 bu. No. 1 hard wheat, in Kellogg & Miller's warehouse.
No. 22. Nov. 1, 1883, 8,000 bu. No. 1 hard wheat, in Minnesota City warehouse.
No. 86. Dec. 5, 1883, 12,000 bu. No. 1 wheat in Hammond elevator.
No. 87. Dec. 5, 1883, 3,000 bu. No. 1 wheat, in Pepin warehouse.
No. 84. Dec. 5, 1883, 2,000 bu. No. 1 wheat, in Keegan warehouse.
No. 85. Dec. 5, 1883, 1,000 bu. No. 1 wheat, in Jarrett warehouse.
No. 87. Dec. 5, 1883, 2,500 bu. No. 1 wheat, in Maiden Rock warehouse.
No. 116. March 25, 1884, 12,000 bu. No. 1 and No. 2 hard wheat, in Wabasha elevator.
No. 118. May 1, 1884, 35,000 bu. No. 1 wheat, (warehouse not stated in receipt.)
On Sept. 15, 1883, the Elevator Company did not have any No. 2 hard wheat in the Fletcher or Eau Claire warehouses, but did have about 840 bushels of No. 1 wheat in the Fletcher warehouse, and about 1875 bushels of No. 1 wheat in the Eau Claire warehouse, on account of which the wheat receipts No. 2 and No. 5 were issued.
On Nov. 1, 1883, the Elevator Company had no No. 1 hard wheat in either the Fletcher, Reed's Landing, Minnesota City or Kellogg & Miller's warehouses, but had about 8,500 bushels No. 1 wheat in the Fletcher warehouse, about 2,250 bushels No. 1 in the Reed's Landing warehouse, about 2,670 bushels No. 1 wheat in Kellogg & Miller's warehouse, and about 5,860 bushels No. 1 in Minnesota City warehouse, and warehouse receipts Nos. 17, 18, 21, and 22 were issued on account of such wheat.
On Dec. 5, 1883, the Elevator Company had more than 12,000 bushels of No. 1 wheat in the Pepin elevator, more than 2,000 bu. No. 1 in the Keegan warehouse, more than 2,500 bu. of No. 1 wheat in the Maiden Rock warehouse, and about 73 bushels No. 1 wheat in the Jarrett warehouse, on account of which wheat the receipts Nos. 84, 85, 86, and both receipts numbered 87, were issued.
On March 25, 1884, the Elevator Company had in store more than 12,000 bushels of No. 1 wheat in the Wabasha elevator, on account of which wheat the receipt No. 116 was issued.
On May 1, 1884, the Elevator Company had in store in the Wabasha warehouse about 23,147 bushels of No. 1 wheat and 21,480 bushels of wheat of a grade inferior to No. 1, and no more, on account of which wheat the receipt No. 118 was issued.
At the time of the issue of the warehouse receipts the Elevator Company had in store in said warehouses large quantities of wheat belonging to persons other than the company, and which was held for storage, only. Such wheat was mingled in a common mass with the wheat owned by the Elevator Company. The wheat represented by the Elevator Company receipts was not at any time severed or separated from the common mass, and the petitioners did not in any manner take actual possession of the wheat represented by their receipts. No other warehouse receipts than those mentioned in the petition are outstanding against the Elevator Company.
During all the time from Sept. 1, 1883, to the time of making its assignment, the Elevator Company was from time to time receiving and shipping wheat into and out of said warehouses in its ordinary course of business; and before the making of the assignment the greater portion of the wheat called for by petitioners' warehouse receipts, without the actual knowledge or express consent of the petitioners, was withdrawn from the warehouses and sold by the Elevator Company.
At the time of the assignment the assignee found in the warehouses mentioned in the petitioners' receipts, in all, about 15,779 bushels of wheat, the greater part of which was of a grade inferior to the grade mentioned in the receipts. The assignee has sold all of said wheat, excepting 679 bushels, for the sum of $9,029.29.
The court further finds that the wheat that was in the warehouses at the time of the assignment was substantially of the same kind and quality as that which was in the warehouses at the time the warehouse receipts were issued.
As a conclusion of law the court (following Fishback v. Van Dusen, 33 Minn. 111,) held that the petitioners were not entitled to the relief prayed for, and made an order denying their petition, from which order the petitioners appeal.
J. M. Gilman, for appellants.
W. C. Williston, for respondent.
The Minnesota Elevator Company, a corporation, owned and operated several warehouses, receiving grain from other parties for storage therein, and also buying wheat and storing it therein on its own account. At different times, from September 15, 1883, to May 1, 1884, the company obtained loans of money from certain banks, (the appellants,) and, having a large quantity of wheat of its own in store in its different warehouses, in order to secure the loans by way of pledge, it executed and delivered to the banks warehouse receipts for the same, designating therein (except, perhaps, in a single instance) the warehouses where such wheat was stored. These receipts ran directly to the banks or to the company's secretary and treasurer, who, serving as a mere conduit, transferred them to the banks by indorsement. The grade of the wheat, as described in some of the warehouse receipts, did not precisely correspond with the grade of wheat in store; as, for example, in some receipts it was described as "No. 1, hard," when, in fact, it was simply "No. 1." But inasmuch as the court finds as a fact that these receipts were intended to cover the wheat owned and held in store by the company at the time they were issued, we think that, at least between the parties, this variance or misdescription of grade is immaterial. At the times of issuing and delivering the receipts, the company had in store, in each of the warehouses named therein, large quantities of wheat, the property of other persons and not of the company, which was held for storage...
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Nat'l Exch. Bank of Hartford, Conn. v. Wilder
...34 Minn. 14924 N.W. 699NATIONAL EXCH. BANK OF HARTFORD, CONN.,vWILDER, ASSIGNEE, ETC.Supreme Court of Minnesota.Filed September 30, 1885 ... [24 N.W. 699]Appeal from an order of the district court, Goodhue county. J. M. Gilman, for appellant, National Exchange Bank.W. C. Williston, for respondent, E. T. Wilder. MITCHELL, J.The Minnesota Elevator Company, a corporation, owned and operated several warehouses, receiving grain from other parties for storage therein, and also buying wheat and storing it therein on its own account. At different times, from ... ...