120 Pa. 278 | Pa. | 1888
Opinion,
The form of action in this case is trover. The plaintiff claimed to recover the value of eight railroad bonds given for $1,000 each, sixty shares of the preferred stock of the Catawissa Railroad Co., and ten shares in the Fire Association of Philadelphia, having an aggregate value as is alleged of $18,000. To entitle the plaintiff to recover, it was necessary that she should show a wrongful taking of these securities, a wrongful appropriation of them, or a wrongful detention of them from the owner.
The plaintiff was a witness in support of her claim, and gave an account of the manner in which her securities came into the hands of the defendant, and the business relations existing between them. He had failed in business, and been adjudged a bankrupt. He was anxious to get into business again, and applied to Mrs. Borland as a friend. He told her he needed a friend to help him, and that if she would let him have some of
Mrs. Borland claims that there is a balance shown to be due her of some $2,000, while the defendant insists that some $8,000 are due to him. It is not important at this time to determine which of them is right. It is enough for the purposes of this case if the relation between the parties is that of debtor and creditor. It seems very clear from the whole of the evidence on the part of the plaintiff that the defendant was put in possession of the securities that appear in the statements of account, by the plaintiff, for the express purpose of assisting him to start in business, or to be converted into money for her own use. The use of them by the defendant in some proper business way was the very purpose for which they were placed in his hands. He could not be helped to get upon his feet by the mere custody of those securities. They were put in his hands to be used. Mrs. Borland says, “ he was to use them; we were to get the interest.” It is no doubt true that he promised to replace the securities, so that Mrs. Borland’s investments should continue substantially as they were; but, like any other promise to pay for or to replace borrowed articles, it created only a debt to be enforced by an action on the contract. There was no evidence which the court could submit
The judgment is affirmed.