Struthers v. Drexel

• Decision Date: 27 May 1887
• Citation: 122 U.S. 487,7 S.Ct. 1293,30 L.Ed. 1216
• Parties: STRUTHERS v. DREXEL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

122 U.S. 487

7 S.Ct. 1293

30 L.Ed. 1216

STRUTHERS v. DREXEL.

May 27, 1887.

Geo. Shiras, Jr., and Rasselas Brown, for plaintiff in error.

John Dalzell, for defendant in error.

MATTHEWS J.

This is an action of assumpsit brought by the defendant in error against the plaintiff in error and Thomas S. Blair, the latter not having been served with process. The declaration contained two special counts, as follows:

'For that whereas, heretofore, to-wit, on the fourth day of April, A. D. 1873, at New York, to-wit, in the Western district of Pennsylvania aforesaid, in consideration that the said plaintiff, at the special instance and request of the said defendant, would take and pay for, at the rate of $50 per share, four hundred (400) shares of the capital stock of the Blair Iron & Steel Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Pennsylvania, they, the said defendants, undertook, and then and there faithfully promised the said plaintiff, that if at the end of one year from said date he, the said plaintiff, should desire to sell the said shares at the said price by him paid for the same, they, the said defendants, would purchase the said shares of the said stock, to-wit, four hundred shares of the said Blair Iron & Steel Company, at the said price, towit, fifty dollars per share, and pay him, the said plaintiff, therefor at the said rate, together with interest at the rate of seven per centum per annum. And the said plaintiff avers that he, confiding in the said promises and undertaking of the said defendants, did afterwards, to-wit, on the day and year aforesaid, to-wit, at the district aforesaid, take and pay for four hundred (400) shares of said stock aforesaid, at the rate of $50 per share, amounting in all to a large sum, to-wit, the sum of twenty thousand dollars, ($20,000.)

'And the said plaintiff further avers that at divers times subsequently, to-wit, on the fourth day of April, A. D. 1874, and, to-wit, on the fourth day of April, A. D. 1875, in consideration that the said plaintiff, at the special instance and request of the said defendants, would waive his right of election to sell to the said defendants to said shares of the capital stock of the said Blair Iron & Steel Company, to-wit, four hundred (400) shares thereof, they, the said defendants, undertook, and then and there promised faithfully the said plaintiff, that, if at the end of one year from the said last-mentioned dates, respectively, to-wit, April 4, A. D. 1874, in the first instance, and April 4, A. D. 1875, lastly, he, the said plaintiff, should desire to sell the said hereinbefore mentioned shares at the said price by him paid for the same, they, the said defendants, would purchase the said shares of the said stock at the said price paid by him, the said plaintiff, therefor, to-wit, fifty dollars per share, and pay him, the said plaintiff, therefor at the said rate, together with interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. Yet the said defendants, not regarding their said promises and undertakings, although often requested so to do, and although the said stock was by the said plaintiff tendered to the said defendants, to-wit, on the day and year aforesaid, to-wit, at the district aforesaid, have not as yet paid to the said plaintiff the said sum of twenty thousand dollars, ($20,000,) but have hitherto wholly neglected and refused, and do still refuse and neglect, to-wit, at the Western district of Pennsylvania, to the damage of the plaintiff thirty thousand dollars.

'And the said plaintiff further complains of the said defendants for that whereas, heretofore, to-wit, on the fourth day of April, A. D. 1876, to-wit, at the Western district of Pennsylvania, the said defendants bargained for and bought of the said plaintiff, at the special instance and request of the said defendants, and the said plaintiff then and there sold to the said defendants, a large quantity of goods, to-wit, four hundred (400) shares of the capital stock of the Blair Iron & Steel Company, at the rate or price of $50 per share, with seven per cent. interest added from April 4, A. D. 1873, to be delivered by the said plaintiff to the said defendants, and to be paid for by the said defendants to the said plaini ff on the delivery thereof as aforesaid; and in consideration thereof, and that the plaintiff, at the like special instance and request of the said defendants, had then and there undertaken and faithfully promised the said defendants to deliver the said stock to the said defendants in the time and at the place aforesaid, they, the said defendants, undertook, and then and there faithfully promised the said plaintiff, to accept the said stock of and from him, the said plaintiff, and to pay for the same on the delivery to them, the said defendants, as aforesaid. And though the said plaintiff afterwards, to-wit, on the day and year aforesaid, to-wit, at the Western district of Penn-sylvania aforesaid, was ready and willing and then and there tendered and offered to deliver the said stock to the said defendants, and then and there requested the said defendants to accept the same, and to pay him therefor as aforesaid, yet the said defendants, not regarding their said promises and undertakings, but contriving and craftily and subtly intending to deceive and to defraud the said plaintiff in this behalf, did not nor would at the time when they were so requested as aforesaid, or at any time before or afterwards, accept the said stock, or any part thereof, of or from the said plaintiff, or pay him for the same as aforesaid, but then and there wholly neglected and refused so to do, to the damage of the plaintiff thirty thousand dollars.'

It also contained common counts, for goods bargained and sold, money had and received, and money laid out and expended for the use of the defendants.

To this declaration the plaintiff in error pleaded, as to all the counts, (1) that the consideration mentioned in the alleged agreements, referred to in the declaration, bearing date April 4, 1873, April 4, 1874, and March 22, 1875, was never paid, nor was any valid consideration paid or given, or agreed to be paid or given, therefor; (2) that the alleged agreements were usurious under the laws of New York, where they were made, being a mere device or contrivance for obtaining to the plaintiff more than the legal rate of interest for money advanced by way of loan to the Blair Iron and Steel Company; (3) that the plaintiff did not tender the 400 shares of stock referred to in the plaintiff's declaration, as therein alleged; (4) that the alleged agreements were void as against public policy, being in fraud of the other subscribers to the stock of the Blair Iron & Steel Company, as they secured to the plaintiff an advantage over other subscribers by a secret agreement; (5) that the agreement set out in the declaration was without consideration; (6) the statute of limitations of six years.

The cause was tried by a jury, and a verdict and judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $34,651.36, to reverse which this writ of error is prosecuted. The transcript of the record contains what purports to be the charge of the court in full, with a memorandum at the close, stating that defendants' counsel excepted to certain portions thereof; but, as it is not verified, or included in any proper bill of exceptions, we are not at liberty to treat it as a part of the record for any purpose. Several bills of exception were taken, during the progress of the trial, to rulings of the court, on which assignments of error are alleged, and which we will consider in their order.

1. From the first bill of exceptions it appears that upon the trial the plaintiff offered in evidence two papers, one dated April 4, 1873, and the other March 22, 1875, as follows:

'NEW YORK, April...