20 Abb. N. Cas. 313 | City of New York Municipal Court | 1887
The trial judge erred in holding that the defendant was not individually liable for the services rendered upon his accounting as receiver. The rule is that a person employed by a trustee, receiver, general assignee, executor or administrator in matters pertaining to the execution of the trust, must look to the person employing him, individually, for his compensation, as the contract does not bind the estate he represents. The title to the trust property vests in these different officials, and they must account for it to the persons ultimately entitled to distribution.
They are individually liable because they have no responsible principal behind them for whom they may contract and against whom the creditor may enforce his demand (Davis v. Stover, 16 Abb. Pr. N. S. 225; Ferrin v. Myrick, 41 N. Y. 315; Mygatt v. Wilcox, 45 Id. 306; Bowman v. Tallman, 2 Robt. 385; Willcox v. Smith, 26 Barb. 316; Schmittler v. Simon, 101 N. Y. 554; Moran v. Risley, 1 City Court R. 229; Singer & G. Co. v. Hardy, 2 Id. 223).
The defendant must pay the plaintiff’s bill and charge it
The plaintiff evidently did not intend to render his services gratuitously and must have a claim against someone. Mr. Crosby, who retained the plaintiff, as the attorney and known agent of the defendant, was not personally liable for the bill, not having assumed its payment personally, and the remedy is against the defendant, for whose benefit the work was done (Bonynge v. Field, 81 N. Y. 159; Bonynge v. Waterbury, 12 Hun, 534; Sheridan v. Genet, Id. 660).
In People v. Universal Life Ins. Co. (30 Hun, 142), it appeared that the receiver of an insolvent life insurance company, after his appointment, occupied and used premises theretofore occupied and used by the company, and the court (at p. 143) said : The liability sought to be enforced “ is for the receiver’s own tenancy. It is against him as assignee of the lease and not for a debt owing by the company. . . . The liability of the receiver appears to be the ordinary common law liability of the assignee of a lessee.”
This decision is in keeping with the rule maintaining the individual liability of receivers for obligations voluntarily assumed.
The plaintiff made out a prima facie case. Indeed, the defendant (so far as the record discloses) found no fault with