74 So. 113 | Miss. | 1916
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellant, A. Orlansky, filed an original bill in the chancery court of Leflore county against W. T. Johnson and certain other parties who were, or had been, directors and officers of the Bank of Leflore, and also against R. V. Pollard, receiver of said bank. Defendants filed demurrers to the original bill, which demurrers were sustained and an amended bill was then filed. Before the filing of this amended bill the complainant had petitioned the receiver of the bank to file this suit himself, and the receiver had declined to do so, giving his reasons therefor. Permission was then obtained from the chancellor to make the said receiver a party defendant to this suit. The gravamen of the amended bill is as follows: The complainant was a stockholder in the bank at the time of its failure and filed the bill on behalf of himself and other stockholders who desired to join with bim in the suit. The amended petition further alleged that the bank of Leflore was a bank organised under the laws of the state of Mississippi, incorporated in 1902, and domiciled at G-reenwood. It then names the directors elected in 1910 and the officers then elected by the directors. That complainant purchased his stock in February, 1910. At that time one Robert Wilson was cashier of the bank, but in January, 1912, Robert Wilson resigned, and G. L. Ray was elected cashier. At this same meeting in 1912 W. A. Swift and H. L. Walton, two of the defend
The complainant asked that the receiver in. his answer. show the condition of the bank on the date of the purchase of the stock of the complainant in the bank and show whether or not the officers and directors had perpetrated a fraud upon the complainant and the other stockholders and show how the bank was conducted and carried on from time to time. Along this line the bill, in short, asks that the receiver in his answer give an entire history of all of the transactions of the bank from the date of its incorporation to the date of its failure. The prayer 'for relief, after asking for all of the information from the receiver that he could "obtain from an audit of the bank books by an expert accountant through its entire history, then prays that on final hearing complainant be awarded a personal decree against all of the officers and directors of the bank for the amount of the stock owned by him and other stockholders, parties to this suit, which was rendered worthless by reason of the insolvency of the bank by neglect; fraud, and unlawful action of the -officers and directors (no other stockholders joined in the suit). It then stated the usual prayer for general relief. Th? letter of the receiver in which he declines to bring this suit and the letter from Messrs. Gwin & Mounger, both of which letters are made exhibits to the bill, show that
We think the action of the court below was correct in sustaining the demurrers of the appellees. The letter of the receiver and of his attorneys show that these appel-lees made a settlement with the receiver by virtue of a decree of the chancery court of Leflore county. There was no appeal from the decree authorizing this settlement to be made. It was withiri the jurisdiction of the court to authorize this settlement, and it is therefore a valid and binding one, and these appellees by accepting and making that settlement have been discharged from all liabilities to the bank or its stockholders or other creditors.
That this settlement was made was shown by the exhibits to the amended bill, and was not denied or controverted in said bill; consequently we must accept as true the contents of the exhibits. House v. Gumble, 78 Miss. 259, 29 So. 71; McNeill v. Lee, 79 Miss. 455, 30 So. 821; Weir v. Jones, 84 Miss. 610, 37 So. 128; McKinney v. Adams, 95 Miss. 832, 50 So. 474.
The gravamen of the bill is that the officers and directors and cashier of the bank were guilty of negligence and
The case will be affirmed on direct appeal, reversed on cross-appeal, and remanded.
Affirmed on direct appeal, reversed on cross-appeal, and remanded.