110 Ala. 493 | Ala. | 1895
Two points only are insisted on by appellants’ counsel. They are : First, that the officers of a corporation debtor are not proper parties defendant to a bill filed under section 3545 .of the Code for the discovery of assets of the corporation subject to the payment of debts; and,second, that when an officer is made defendant, along with the corporation, for the purposes of discovery only, and dies, the cause cannot be revived against his personal representatives. The first point is, in our opinion, without merit. The second is, we think, well taken.
And as to the first :• The statute does not undertake to provide for or prescribe the practice and rules of pload-iug to be observed upon or in respect of the bill and proceedings it authorizes. To the contrary'the sole purpose of the act, at least so far as it is applicable to the cases now before us, is to authorize the filing and prosecution of a bill for discovery on the facts set forth in the statute in itself, co create a new case in which such bill may be maintained, leaving to the general principles of equity practice and pleading the settlement of all questions which may arise as to parties and the like. Confessedly, upon these principles the officers of a corporation are not only proper but necessary parties since to them alone are the facts sought to be discovered known, and to compel a disclosure by them it is essential they should be before the court.
But we know of no principle upon which the personal
The decrees below are reversed. The bills are dismissed as to said administrators, and the causes are remanded.
Reversed, rendered in part and remanded.