Neff v. Barber
| Decision Date | 15 May 1917 |
| Citation | 165 Wis. 503,162 N.W. 667 |
| Parties | NEFF v. BARBER ET AL. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Circuit Court, Langlade County; A. H. Reid, Judge.
Action by Edgar Neff against Henry Barber and others. From a judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
Action in equity brought by plaintiff as a stockholder and creditor of the defendant the Antigo Gas Company in its behalf. The complaint charges, in substance, that certain named defendants as officers of the Antigo Gas Company fraudulently conspired to wreck the company in order that they might acquire the franchise and property thereof at a price much less than its real value; that in pursuance of such conspiracy they so mismanaged the company that it was compelled to borrow large sums of money; that they blocked an advantageous sale of the plant to another company; that it defaulted in the payment of interest on its bonds; that upon a foreclosure of the trust deed securing the bonds it went into the hands of a receiver who was one of the defendants charged with the conspiracy; that he mismanaged it while receiver; and that its property was sold to said named defendants at foreclosure sale at much less than its real value. Judgment in favor of the Antigo Gas Company for the benefit of its stockholders and creditors situated similarly to the plaintiff is demanded in the sum of $50,000.
The court, against plaintiff's objection, tried the case without a jury, and found that there was no conspiracy and no mismanagement; that the Antigo Gas Compny was never sufficiently financed; that it was compelled to carry on expensive litigation owing partly to factional fights from within and partly to large damage suits brought against it by outsiders; that neither the company, its stockholders, or creditors ever sustained any loss on account of any wrongful acts on the part of the defendants charged with the conspiracy or mismanagement, or of any of them. On the contrary, it found that said named defendants managed the company for its best interests, that at times some of them came to its aid with their own individual money, and that they paid the fair value of the company's property at the foreclosure sale. From a judgment dismissing the complaint upon the merits, with costs, the plaintiff appealed.Kittell & Burke, of Green Bay, and McMahon & McMahon, of Milwaukee (P. H. Martin, of Green Bay, of counsel), for appellant.
Goodrick & Goodrick, of Antigo, for respondents...
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...Isaac v. Marcus, 258 N.Y. 257, 179 N.E. 487 (1932); Morton v. Morton Realty Co., 41 Idaho 729, 241 P. 1014 (1925); Neff v. Barber, 165 Wis. 503, 162 N.W. 667 (1917); Robinson v. Smith, & Paige Ch. 222, 231, 233 (N.Y.1832); 4 W. Cook, Corporations § 734 (8th ed. 1923); S. Thompson & J. Thomp......
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DePinto v. Provident Security Life Insurance Company
...Seventh Amendment was not involved and no federal case bearing upon the right to trial by jury was cited. Appellees cite Neff v. Barber, 165 Wis. 503, 162 N.W. 667, for the same proposition as Steinway. But, like Steinway, Neff was concerned only with the right to a jury trial in state 18 I......
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...mare in an equity suit to impress a lien on the mare for keeping. The demand for a jury trial was denied. In Neff v. Barber (1917), 165 Wis. 503, 506, 162 N.W. 667, the court said in an action in equity all the issues, whether legal or equitable, are triable by the court but it does not app......
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Marshall & Ilsley Bank v. Schuerbrock
...verdict from the jury. This practice is so well established that we shall do no more than to refer to some of the cases. Neff v. Barber, 165 Wis. 503, 162 N. W. 667;Callanan v. Judd, 23 Wis. 343. However, such verdicts are merely advisory and are not conclusive upon the court. The court may......