24 Colo. App. 438 | Colo. Ct. App. | 1913
The controversy which occasioned this lawsuit grew out of the withdrawal from the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (hereinafter referred to as the Amalgamated Society), or a branch of that organization that was operating in Denver, of a very large number of its members. Prior to this withdrawal, the branch or society had deposited a considerable sum of money with the appellant, The Central Savings Bank & Trust Company (hereinafter referred to as the bank), this deposit having been made for the purpose, on the part of the Amalgamated Society or branch, of establishing a checking account with the said bank. The' officers who orig
Ordinarily an action to qniet title to personal property will not lie.
“The subject-matter o£ equitable jurisdiction to quiet title or remove a cloud is generally held to be confined to land, including the surface of the ground, and everything that is on it and under it, and not to extend to persciial property.” — 32 Cyc., 1308; Fudickar v. East River Co., 109 Calif., 29; 41 Pac., 1024; Red Diamond Clothing Co. v. Steidemann, 120 Mo. App., 525, 97 S. W., 220; State ex rel. v. Wood, 155 Mo., 425, 56 S. W., 474, 48 L. R. A., 596; 6 Am. & Eng. Enc. of Law (2nd Ed.), 150.
There are exceptions to this rule, and this court, in Eagan v. Mahoney, just handed down, {ante, 285) recognizes these exceptions. But the comparatively few cases wherein the right to maintain an action to quiet title to personal property has been upheld, such as Magnusen v. Clithero, 101 Wis., 501, 77 N. W., 882, and N. Y. & N. W. R. R. Co. v. Schuyler, 17 N. Y., 592, have every one presented some exceptional circumstance or condition which made it apparent that the plaintiff had no sufficient or ade-. quate legal remedy at law. Such is not the case here, so far, at least, as the hank-is concerned. There was nothing to prevent the plaintiffs from drawing a check on the hank and presenting it for payment. If the bank refused to .pay, then it had a clear remedy at law in which all the difficulties, we believe, presented in this case could have
If it be said that our conclusions already announced may oblige the appellees to bring another action against the bank, our answer is that this is a result for which alone the appellees are responsible. If they have improperly secured a decree from a court of equity against the bank, that decree must be reversed, even though it should lead to the misfortune of further litigation. But the trial court having found the title of the fund to be in the appellees, and that the bank’s co-defendants are in no wise entitled to interfere with it in any manner, and we having upheld the findings and decree of the trial court to this extent, we are unwilling to believe that the bank, from mere caprice or a litigious spirit, will decline to recognize the rights of appellees to the fund. So long as there was a dispute as to the title to the fund, the bank was well within its right in declining to honor checks on the same until that dispute had been finally settled, especially as it does not appear that the appellees offered to indemnify the bank against any loss which might be occasioned to it by the honoring of thein checks. In its answer the bank alleges that, “it simply wishes the court’s decision as to who is entitled to check and draw upon the fund and money in this defendant’s hands.” This allegation, we are bound to believe, was made honestly, and now that the question as to the title to the fund has been finally determined, there ought, it seems, to be no room for further controversy. The amount of the money in the bank; the circumstances under which it was deposited; the interest which the appellees are entitled to receive upon it, and all such matters, are admitted by the bank, leaving for' determination, so far as the bank is concerned, the sole questions of the title
The judgment of the trial court, in so far as it affects the bank, will be reversed, and in so far as it affects the bank’s co-defendants, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed. All the costs will be taxed to the bank’s co-defendants. The judgment of the trial court is modified, and the case remanded for further proceedings in conformity with the views herein expressed. ■
Modified and Affirmed.