Steinbraker v. Crouse

• Decision Date: 15 January 1936
• Docket Number: 46.
• Parties: STEINBRAKER v. CROUSE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

182 A. 448

169 Md. 453

STEINBRAKER v. CROUSE.

No. 46.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

January 15, 1936

Appeal from Circuit Court, Charles County; Walter J. Mitchell Judge.

Bill by Harry Steinbraker against Lorenzo D. Crouse. Decree for defendant, and plaintiff appeals.

Affirmed.

Argued before BOND, C.J., and URNER, OFFUTT, PARKE, SLOAN, SHEHAN and JOHNSON, JJ.

Hilary W. Gans and Joseph T. Brennan, both of Baltimore (Brown & Brune, of Baltimore, on the brief), for appellant.

Joseph A. Wilmer and John F. Mudd, both of La Plata (F. DeSales Mudd, of La Plata, and Ida Taxin Fox, of Washington, D. C on the brief), for appellee.

SLOAN Judge.

Harry Steinbraker, plaintiff and appellant, on December 22, 1934 filed his bill of complaint in the circuit court for Charles county, wherein he alleged that, by deed of assignment dated December 3, 1934, from the Potomac Realty Company, Limited, a body corporate of the state of Delaware (amended by agreement at the hearing to read "State of California"), recorded in Charles county, he had acquired "all the right, title, and interest of the said the Potomac Realty Company, Ltd., in and to all lead, copper, brass and other metal of whatever nature owned by it, or to which it has title in and around the hundred and sixty-nine (169) vessels, which said vessels were formerly owned by the Western Marine & Salvage Company, the said vessels being located in Mallow's Bay, near Sandy Point, in Charles county, Maryland"; that "a certain Lorenzo D. Crouse (appellee), his agents, servants and employees, disregarding the interests of" the plaintiff "in and to the lead, copper, brass and other materials contained in said vessels, * * * have entered upon and seized said vessels and are at present engaged in shipping and selling such metals to parties unknown to" the plaintiff; and that as a result of "such depredations" the "value and interest" of the plaintiff's "holding in said vessels and metal is being permanently injured." The bill prayed an injunction and an order passed as prayed.

The defendant answered denying that "the said Harry Steinbraker ever acquired any right, title or interest in and to the lead, copper, brass and other materials" mentioned in the bill of complaint and admitted that "he, his agents, servants and employees, have heretofore entered upon the sunken hulls of certain vessels mentioned in the bill and engaged in the removal, shipment and sale of certain materials salvaged therefrom, but deny that in so doing they committed any trespass, or disregarded any right, title or interest of the plaintiff for the reason that the materials taken by them were a part of the abandoned wreckage of certain ships that had therefore been dismantled, sunk and abandoned by the Western Marine & Salvage Company." Although the appellee, Lorenzo D. Crouse, was the only person named as defendant, this suit is really directed against numerous residents of Charles county, variously estimated by witnesses at from fifty to seventy-five, who had been engaged in the same business, on the same wreckage as the defendant. Testimony was taken in open court and the case submitted on bill, answer, and evidence, and at the conclusion and after an opinion, of which this is virtually an adoption, a decree was passed dissolving the injunction and dismissing the bill, from which the plaintiff appeals.

According to the evidence, the Western Marine & Salvage Company, a Delaware corporation, on June 30, 1923, bought from one George D. Perry, of the city of San Francisco, Cal., 232 vessels, according to name, which had been the property of the government of the United States, the purpose of the purchase being to salvage, dismantle, and remove all portions of the vessels which might be marketable and then destroy the remains. One hundred and sixty-nine of the vessels so bought were floated to the Potomac river and anchored in Mallow's Bay, an indenture of the Potomac river opposite and almost surrounded by a farm known as Sandy Point in Charles county, in navigable, public waters.

By deed dated April 21, 1924, one Henry Koester conveyed to the Western Marine & Salvage Company the Sandy Point farm containing 566 1/4 acres. The Western Marine & Salvage Company then began its salvage operations after installing on the Sandy Point farm such machinery and equipment as was necessary to the operation. The method and scope of the operation was to remove all machinery, boilers, pipes, and engines, and to strip the vessels of all metal easily removable; the vessels were then towed into Mallow's Bay, where they were burned to the water's edge and then pulled as near to the shore as possible and the salvaging of metal continued until the spring of 1931. The Western Marine & Salvage Company stated in a letter to its attorney, Mr. E. Cortlandt Parker, of Washington, who represented it in its negotiations with the Potomac Realty Company and Steinbraker, that it had ceased operations in salvaging in May, 1932, but the evidence is that it had ceased operations the year before and only had watchmen at Sandy Point until the machinery and equipment on the shore was removed by the purchaser, and there is evidence that the public and the residents in the neighborhood began the removal of metal from the burned and sunken hulls without interference while the watchmen were there.

After the hulls were burned, the company continued its salvaging operations until in March, 1931, when, to all appearances, it abandoned the project, leaving a watchman in charge of the personal property on the Sandy Point farm, and he remained there until the summer of 1932. The Western Marine & Salvage Company apparently was a temporary corporation, formed for the purpose of wrecking and salvaging all that it regarded as valuable and marketable of the 232 vessels purchased from the government through George D. Perry, one of the stockholders.

On the 24th day of July, 1925, the Western Marine & Salvage Company was granted a permit by the War Department of the government "to ground, burn and beach in Mallows Bay, Potomac River, about two hundred hulls." The details with respect to burning, removal, and the obstruction to navigation are all set out with such particularity that it would unnecessarily prolong this opinion to recite them. The time limit on this permit was December 31, 1928. The War Department, on January 3, 1931, granted another permit to the same company, wherein it was recited that application had been made "for authority to extend the area in Mallows Bay, Potomac river, now used for grounding, burning and beaching wooden hulls, two hundred (200) feet channelward." In that permit it was stated, "that if the structures or work herein authorized is not completed on or before the _______ day of December 31, 1931, this permit, if not previously revoked or specifically extended, shall cease and be null and void," and it appears from the evidence that no such permit or extension has since been granted, nor is there any evidence that an extension was since requested, and the evidence is that none was granted to any one since December 31, 1931.

The Western Marine & Salvage Company, by deed dated November 30 1932, conveyed the Sandy Point farm to the Potomac Realty Company, Limited, a corporation of the state of California, without including or mentioning the remains of the burned and sunken hulls. In the month of December, 1932, the Western Marine & Salvage Company was dissolved, as stated in the letter of the Potomac Realty Company, Limited, to Mr. Parker, of December 22, 1934, "chiefly for the reason that at that time, under conditions then prevailing, and due to heavy overhead for maintaining the office and a large force of men, it was deemed too expensive to continue salvaging operations, and for the further reason that the stockholders of said salvage company at that time desired its dissolution in order that they might ascertain what loss had actually been sustained by them as stockholders in that company. The stockholders did not at that time contemplate, nor have they at any time since then contemplated, abandoning these vessels, but as there were only three principals interested in this project who have been for many years and still are closely associated, they felt that if conditions again warranted any further salvaging they could do so in the nature of a joint venture without the formality of a corporate existence." In spite of the...