40 N.J. Eq. 38 | New York Court of Chancery | 1885
The bill is filed by the executors of Dudley S. Gregory, deceased, late of Hudson county, in this state, stockholders of the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, a corporation of the States of New York and Pennsylvania, in behalf of themselves and all other stockholders who shall come in and seek relief by and contribute to the expense of the suit against
But again, if relief be granted in this case, the decree must order that the money recovered be paid over to the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Eailroad Company, to be administered by its boai’d of directors. Chester v. Halliard, 7 Stew. Eq. 341; S. C. on appeal, 9 Stew. Eq. 313. But that company is a foreign corporation, and it may not appear in this suit; and if the Erie company should be ordered to pay the money over to it, how can this court secure the distribution of it among the stockholders of the latter company, that company being out of the jurisdiction ?
The ground of complaint is that the Erie company has committed trespass on the property of the complainants’ company, in Pennsylvania, and has itself taken oil from it for its own benefit, or has, for its own benefit, given leave to others to do so, and that it has fraudulently obtained control of the complainants’ company by a fraudulent issue of stock to itself, and has thus protected itself against being called to account for the oil which it has unlawfully taken and converted to its own use. The cause of action did not arise in this state, but in Pennsylvania. The suit is, in fact, a suit for damages for trespasses done there. The complainants seek to distribute those damages, when recovered, among the stockholders of the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Eailroad Company, excluding the holder or holders of the