v.
FINLAYSON
Lead Opinion
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
In July, 1895, at the suit of William H. Strauss, the Carolina Building and Loan Association, located at Wilmington, in the State of North Carolina, and doing business in that State, and in the States of South Carolina and Georgia, in the Superior Court of New Hanover County, was declared insolvent, and its affairs ordered to’ be wound up. For this purpose the present plaintiffs were duly appointed, by said Court, as the receivers of said building and loan association, and they have accepted, qualified, and entered upon the discharge of the duties of such office of receivers. The defendant, Henry W. Finlayson, in the year 1891 became a stockholder by having issued to- him thirty shares of loan stock, and upon these shares as abasis; he borrowed $3,000 of such building and loan association, and to secure such loan he assigned his thirty shares of the said stock to said building and loan association, and also> executed a mortgage on- real property located in Cheraw, in the State of South Carolina, to said building and loan association, as an additional security for said loan. One Lawrence FI. Fesperman also became the holder of seven shares in said building and loan association, in the year 1891, and in the year 1892, he borrowed $700, executing an assignment of his stock and a mortgage of a house and lot in Che-raw, S. C., to the building and loan association, but on the 4th February, 1893, the aforesaid Finlayson purchased from the said Fesperman the land SO' mortgaged, and his seven shares of said stock, together with all his rights and interests therein and thereto, and assumed the obligations of the said Fesperman, as set out in the act incorporating the building and loan association, and in its by-laws. Finlayson con [*109] tirmed the payments on his own thirty shares of stock and the seven shares purchased from Fesperman, until the 5th day of March, 1895; but nothing was done between 5th March, 1895, and July, 1895, touching Finlayson’s failure to pay, although the three months were out on 5 th June, 1895. The plaintiffs, as receivers, were directed by the Superior Court of New Hanover, in North Carolina, to' settle -with the borrowers of the bankrupt building and loan association and according to the complaint herein: “The Court in said cause further ordered and decreed that the receivers, these plaintiffs, in ascertaining the value or amount of stock of the respective stockholders, should credit each stockholder with all that he had paid on his stock, whether held as borrowing or non-borrowing shares, including all payments of dues, fines, and all amounts under whatever name paid; and that in addition thereto1, he should be credited with an average interest of six per cent, thereon, and that the aggregate so ascertained should constitute the value of his stock or claim against the association as of the date of July 24th, 1895; and that upon this aggregate so ascertained, he should be permitted to participate pro rata in the dividends declared from time to time. That the Court in said cause further directed these receivers, in settling with the members of the association, who have borrowed upon their stock, and either given their bond and mortgage or the said stock as collateral therefor, to charge them with the áctual amount they have borrowed, with interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum to the 24th day of July, 1895, and to credit thereon a percentage of the value of their stock, after ascertaining the value in the manner hereinbefore alleged as such stock would be entitled to receive as its pro rata dividend in the distribution of the assets of the association; and that upon the payment of the balance found to be due, with interest upon such balance from the 24th day of July, 1895, to the date of payment, such interest to' be at six per cent., to release and cancel the bonds and mortgages of the member so1 paying and settling his indebtedness to the association. Upon these [*110] orders, the defendant, Finlayson, paid on his indebtedness for $3,000 borrowed by himself and for $700 borrowed by Fesperman assumed by defendant, the sum of $1,200. After such payments made in the year 1897, he refused to pay any more, alleging that the $3,700 which he and Fesperman had borrowed had already been paid in full. Thereceivers then brought this suit to enforce against Finlayson what they conceived he owed. It should be stated just here that the suit of Strauss against the said building and loan association had, as ancillary to» that in the State of North Carolina, been brought in the county of Richland, in the State of South Carolina, wherein Judge Witherspoon, on the 4th September, 1895, appointed the plaintiffs as receivers, and directed them to file copies of the orders made in the original suit in North Carolina, in the Court of South Carolina, for the information of the Court and all persons interested in said cause.” The answer of the defendant denied that the suit of Strauss against the Carolina Interstate Building and Loan Association was brought on behalf of all the shareholders of said association; denied that the plaintiffs, as receivers, were empowered to deduct thirty per cent, from the payments made by this defendant because of losses made by the association; denied that the contract of the association with the defendant was a North Carolina contract, so» to speak, but on the contrary was a contract to» be construed as contracted for performance in the State of South Carolina, alleged that the contract was usurious, and also alleged that the indebtedness of the defendant had been fully paid. Judge Ernest Gary, who heard the action upon the pleadings, and an agreed statement of facts, decided that the contract of defendant with Carolina Interstate &c. Association was usurious under the laws of both the States of North and South Carolina; that the plaintiffs had no right to deduct thirty per cent, from the aggregated payments of defendant for and on account of losses of the association, for the reason that defendant is not bound by the decree in North Carolina, and was not before that Court.
[*111] The plaintiffs appeal from the decree of Judge Gary on the following grounds, namely: “I. His Honor erred in not holding that the contracts of the defendant.with the Carolina Interstate Building and Loan Association, of Wilmington, N. C.. were North Carolina contracts, and should be enforced under the laws of that State, as construed by its Supreme Court. II. That he erred, after it was admitted that Finlayson was a stockholder in said association, and that the losses upon stock had been found by the North Carolina Court to be thirty per cent., in not making said Finlayson responsible for his share of said losses. III. He erred in holding that because the defendant, Finlayson, was not personally served with process in the Strauss case, that he was not bound thereby, under the decisions of the Supreme Court in said case, to the same settlement that all members of said association were held to be bound to' make, and in not deciding the case under the law as stated by said Supreme Court. IV. Lie erred in holding that the Courts of North Carolina, in equitably winding up the affairs of an insolvent corporation, created by and under the laws of North Carolina, cannot decree an equitable adjustment and settlement, which will be binding upon all the corporators, unless all of said corporators were individually served with process and made parties to the suit. V. While .each corporator must be sued, and process served upon him, before he can be made to settle his indebtedness to the association, he erred in hold-' ing that in such suit, this defendant was not bound, as to the legality and construction of his contract, by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the State of the contract, and of the jurisdiction to which he voluntarily subjected himself, by becoming a corporator in said association and in borrowing money therefrom. VI. He erred in holding that the settlement directed by the Courts of North Carolina, which the receivers ask to be enforced against defendant, is usurious. VII. He erred in sustaining the plea of usury against the officers of the Court, who are endeavoring, to enforce a settlement with defendant, which had been directed by said [*112] Court, and which said defendant had refused to' make. VIII. He erred in holding that the original contracts entered into by the defendant, Finlayson, and by Fesperman, his grantor, were usurious under the laws of either North or South Carolina, or that any usurious claim is made in the complaint against defendant. IN. He erred in holding that Finlayson could plead usury against the Fesperman bond and mortgage, and that usury could be pleaded by defendant against these plaintiffs. X. He erred in directing the referee to compute the amount due on bond and mortgage set forth in complaint,’under section 1390 of Revised Statutes of South Carolina, and in holding that the claim set up in complaint by plaintiffs against defendant was obnoxious to said section of Revised Statutes. XI. He erred in not granting plaintiffs’ judgment of foreclosure for the amount asked in complaint, including ten per cent, as attorney’s fees.”
As to the fourth exception, we have already held that the Courts of North Carolina could by their judgment conclude Finlayson as a corporator, so far as the assets of the insolvent corporation are concerned; could also wind up its affairs, so as to conclude him, but we still hold that outside of the jurisdiction of the Courts of the State of North Carolina, in order to reach Finlayson or his property, new suits must be brought in this jurisdiction.
As to the fifth exception, we hold that the Circuit Judge was in error in not holding directly that the liability of Finlayson must be fixed as arising under a contract made by him to be enforced in the State of North Carolina.
As to the seventh exception. Under the views we have hereinbefore expressed, it will not be. necessary to pass upon this exception.
As to the eighth exception, we have already announced our conclusion that the contracts of Finlayson and his assignee, Fesperman,- were usurious both under the laws of the State of North Carolina, as construed by the Supreme Court [*115] of that State. It would certainly be usurious under the laws of this State.
[*116]
It follows that, in my opinion, the decree of his Honor, Judge Gary, should be modified, and our judgment should read that: “It is the judgment of this Court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be modified in these particulars herein required, and that the action be remanded to the Circuit Court, so .that the special master, Mr. Shipp, ma)*' pass upon the issues referred to him, as modified by the judgment of this Court.” But the majority of the Court seem to entertain views at variance with those herein expressed by me.
Therefore, it is the judgment of this Court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed, but I dissent from such judgment.
Dissent
[*117]
For these reasons 1 am unable to concur with Mr. Justice Pope in the views which he has taken of the several points hereinabove considered, and, on the contrary, I think the judgment of the Circuit Court should be affirmed.