Wonson v. Fenno
| Decision Date | 11 September 1880 |
| Citation | 129 Mass. 405 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | C. H. Wonson v. Norman F. Fenno & others |
Suffolk.
Decree affirmed.
J. C Lane, for the plaintiff.
W. W Carruth & F. A. Dearborn, for the defendant Homer.
This is a bill in equity; and it appears by the report of the single justice of this court, before whom the case was heard, that the plaintiff bought of Fenno & Homer, on July 10, 1878 one hundred shares of the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland Railroad Company, and paid to them $ 487.50 for the same, and a power of attorney for the transfer of these shares was duly executed to the plaintiff. It also appears that on July 6, 8 and 9, Fenno & Homer sold in like manner to other parties fourteen hundred shares of this stock, and that certificates for those shares were issued to the purchasers by the company between July 12 and August 13 following. On July 11, there were nine hundred shares standing in the name of Fenno & Homer on the books of the company, and other shares were afterwards transferred to them or to Fenno as trustee; and it was expressly found that the plaintiff could have obtained a certificate from the company for his one hundred shares at any time between July 11 and August 13; but he made no application for a certificate until February 1879, at which time no shares were standing in the name of Fenno & Homer.
Soon after July 10, Fenno & Homer dissolved partnership, a settlement was had, and Fenno subsequently left the Commonwealth, being a defaulter; but Homer had no knowledge of the sale of shares to the plaintiff until after the bill was filed, though the money was paid to Fenno by the plaintiff before the dissolution of the firm. Nor did Homer know that the stock account had been overdrawn, but he settled with Fenno upon such information as he had. Nor does it appear that any of this stock came into his hands upon the settlement, or that the firm or either of its members had any interest in the stock after August 13.
The bill was originally brought against Fenno & Homer and the railroad company, and prayed for specific performance of the contract, on the ground that they fraudulently caused the stock which the plaintiff had purchased to be transferred, in order to prevent its coming into the hands of the plaintiff. The bill also prayed for general relief. No service was had upon Fenno, who, it was alleged, had fled from the Commonwealth. An amendment was afterwards filed, by which the persons to whom Fenno & Homer had sold stock on July 6, 8 and 9, and the assignee in bankruptcy of Fenno, were made parties. All the parties defendant filed answers, and the case was heard upon...
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