79 F. 558 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Washington | 1897
From the evidence and admissions of the parties on the trial the facts of this case appear somewhat different from the allegations of the plaintiff’s complaint heretofore considered upon a demurrer. 77 Fed. 372. The true history of the case, brieily slated, is as follows: In 1892, the Columbia National Bank was in operation with a capital stock of $200,000. The shareholders voted to increase the capital to $500,000, and new stock was subscribed and paid for to the amount of $150,000. On account of the failure on the part of the shareholders to take the remaining one-half of the proposed new issue of stock, the matter hung fire until in the month of July, 1895, when the directors of the bank requested the comptroller of the currency to authorize and certify an increase of the capital stock to the amount which had been paid for. The comptroller of the currency did not take definite action by refusing to grant the certificate, but notified the officers of the bank that the increase of capital would be authorized aud certified, provided the shareholders would vote in favor of an increase to that amount. A meeting of the shareholders, called by the president and cashier of the bank, was held in September, 1895, and at said meeting a large majority of the stock, but not all of it, was represented, aud a resolution in favor of an increase of capital to the amount of $150,000 was carried. This action was reported to the comptroller of the currency, and on the 23d day of October, 1895, lie certified that the capital had been increased and paid up, aud ou Hie following day he declared the hank to be insolvent, and placed a bank examiner In charge of it. In the year 1892 the plaintiff subscribed for 23 shares of the proposed new stock, and made full payment therefor, and this action is to recover back the amount so paid. The plaintiff was not present at the meeting of the shareholders in September, 1895, although he was represented by one T. W. Bean, who assumed to act for him, and voted in his name under a proxy authorizing him to attend meetings of Hie shareholders, and represent the plaintiff’s stock. The plaintiff did not at any time subscribe for new stock after the proposal to make the increase $150,000 instead of $300,000. The books of the bank at all times showed that the proposed increase of capital remained uncertified. Although one of the grounds for my ruling on the demurrer to the complaint in this action has been eliminated by the evidence showing that the comptroller of the currency did not exhaust his power to determine whether or not an increase of the capital of the hank to the amount of $150,000 should be authorized by a definite refusal to grant the request of the board of directors, still enough of the plaintiff’s case has been.established upon the trial to entitle him to recover. The case is materially different from the cases of Delano v. Butler, 118 U. S. 634, 7 Sup. Ct. 39; Aspinwall v. Butler, 133 U. S. 590, 10 Sup. Ct. 417; and Bank v. Eaton, 141, U. S.