Shiel v. Patrick

• Decision Date: 27 February 1894
• Docket Number: 74.
• Citation: 59 F. 992
• Parties: SHIEL v. PATRICK.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

59 F. 992

SHIEL v. PATRICK.

No. 74.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

February 27, 1894

Martin J. Keogh, for plaintiff in error.

Geo. W Wickersham, for defendant in error.

Before WALLACE and SHIPMAN, Circuit Judges.

WALLACE Circuit Judge.

This is a writ of error by the plaintiff in the court below to review an order vacating a writ of attachment issued by the supreme court of the state of New York prior to the removal of the suit. It is conceded that the order was practically a final decision of the action, because, by vacating the attachment which was the only process by which the suit was commenced the court lost jurisdiction, the defendant having appeared only for the special purpose of moving to vacate the writ. The decision of the circuit judge proceeded upon the ground that the action, being one for equitable relief, was not one in which the state court was authorized to issue an attachment. It is entirely clear that the action is one for equitable relief. The cause of action disclosed in the affidavits upon which the attachment was obtained is in brief as follows: The plaintiff is the owner of certain shares of stock in a corporation which has been wound up and dissolved by a decree of an English chancery court; that, while the corporation was a going concern, the defendant, conspiring with another person, defrauded the corporation out of certain sums of money, and thereby caused it to become insolvent that, in consequence of the acts of the defendant, the shares of stock owned by the plaintiff and the other shareholders in the corporation are much less valuable than they would have been otherwise, and the plaintiff brings the action for himself and all other shareholders who may choose to come in to recover the amount of the moneys of the corporation thus wrongfully diverted from it by the defendant. The affidavits do not disclose when the plaintiff acquired his shares of stock, nor how many shares he owns, and, so far as appears all the wrongs complained of were committed by the defendant before the plaintiff had any interest in the affairs of the corporation. Irrespective of the question whether the facts alleged constitute a cause of action in favor of the plaintiff of any sort, at best they show that he is entitled to a certain share of a trust fund, which is to be realized and distributed by a trustee. The assets of a dissolved corporation constitute a trust fund...