254 Pa. 155 | Pa. | 1916
Opinion by
At the audit of the executor’s account in the estate of A. A. Sterling, deceased, Gilbert M. Plympton and Pierpont P. Davis, trading as Plympton, Gardiner & Company, presented a claim founded on a transaction with the decedent concerning the purchase of certain railroad bonds. The court below found as follows: “In 1903, Redmond, Kerr & Company, brokers and bankers, sold to A. A. Sterling, the decedent, $25,000.00 Mexican International Railroad Company 4 per cent, bonds, at 90% and interest......Lee Gazley, the agent of Redmond, Kerr & Company, testified that he sold the bonds to Sterling; that he did not ask him to put up any deposit or any margin at that time, as it was never necessary with Mr. Sterling, and that, of course, he never made a demand upon him. Other evidence shows that Sterling did not furnish any margin whatever, and none was asked for until March 24, 1908, and then by Plympton, Gardiner & Company, who took over the account from Redmond, Kerr & Company......During nearly the entire
In refusing the claim the court said: “At the audit these bonds Avere tendered to the executor and the payment of $24,988.19, with interest from September 30, 1913, was demanded by Plympton, Gardiner & Company. The executor repudiated the contract as soon as he learned of the conversion. The material facts in this case are precisely those in Sproul v. Sloan, 241 Pa. 284, and Darr, Administrator, v. Fidelity Title & Trust Co., Committee, 243 Pa. 591, with one important exception. In those cases the customer paid the brokers a margin upon the stock purchased; in this case, no money was paid and no collateral whatever was furnished by the customer (aside from the bonds in question). The sale of these bonds under the circumstances vested the ownership of them in Sterling, subject to the payment of the balance shown by the account to be due the brokers: Barbour v. Sproul, 239 Pa. 171. To secure this balance the brokers retained the bonds themselves and for any
Exceptions to the findings and conclusions were dismissed, and the adjudication was confirmed; Plympton, Gardiner & Company have appealed. Their chief contention is: “Mr. Sterling never having advanced any money, no title to any Mexican bonds ever vested in him,” and in support thereof they say, “The firm of Redmond, Kerr & Company bought or obtained the Mexican bonds for the purpose only of carrying out their contract with Mr. Sterling, whenever called upon to do so; these bonds were taken over by Plympton, Gardiner & Company, not
Tie assignments of error are overruled and tie decree is affirmed; appellants to pay tie costs.