64 Mo. App. 71 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1895
Plaintiff sues defendant, a corporation, for the alleged conversion of five shares of its capital stock. After a trial before a justice the case was appealed by the defendant to the circuit court, where, a jury being waived, it was submitted to the judge for determination upon an agreed state of facts, setting forth: First, The corporate capacity of defendant. Second, That the sheriff of the city of St. Louis on the twentieth day of February, 1893, in pursuance of a levy of a ft. fa. in his hands in favor of J. Hugo Grrimm and against John C. Meyers, sold “all the right, title, claim, and interest of said John-C. Meyers in and to five shares of the capital stock” of the defendant corporation, which stock stood upon the books of defendant in the name of one August Yenz. Third, That at such sale the plaintiff, being the highest and best bidder, became the purchaser, and received from the sheriff on the nest day a bill of sale purporting to sell and convey “all the right, title, claim, and interest of said John C.
Upon the foregoing agreed state of facts the trial judge found for the defendant and gave judgment accordingly, from which this appeal was taken.
An agreed state of facts stands in lieu of a special verdict, finding the facts as set forth in the agreed statement. The judgment is a mere conclusion of law precisely as if the jury had found a verdict in that form, and must of necessity be for the defendant unless the plaintiff, upon whom the onus rests, has shown a right to recover upon the facts agreed upon. Ozark Plateau Land Co. v. Hays, 105 Mo. loc. cit. 153; Missouri Land Co. v. Combs, 53 Mo. App. 298; Burris v. Shrewsbury Park Improvement Company, 55 Mo. App. 381.
In the case at bar the only evidence relied upon by plaintiff to establish title in himself to the five shares of stock in controversy is that he became the purchaser of the interest of one John C. Meyers in said shares at an execution sale, and received a bill of sale conveying the