Berberich's Estate

Citations

• 257 Pa. 181
• 101 A. 461
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 704

Syllabus

<p>Pledgor and pledgee — Pledge of stock — Sale without notice— Conversion — Bights of pledgee — Bights of pledgor — Attorney and client — Estoppel—Equitable doctrines.</p> <p>1. One of the conditions of a pledge requires that before any sale be made of the pledged property, to answer for any default-of the pledgor, the pledgee shall give notice to the pledgor, or someone standing in interest with him, in order that opportunity may be afforded him to continue the pledge if he may desire. Upon continued default, the pledgee may sell, but even then only upon notice that sale will be made, so that opportunity be again afEorded the pledgor to protect himself and his property if he can, by redemption or otherwise. -</p> <p>2. Where a stock broker agrees to carry stocks upon margins, an agreement is implied that such stock shall not be sold in case there is danger of the exhaustion of the margin, until additional margins shall have been applied for and a reasonable time afforded for furnishing the same, and a sale of the stock without notice to the owner is a breach of the broker’s contract.</p> <p>3. An‘attorney for an administratrix without express authority to bind the administratrix, or the estate she represents, has no implied authority arising out of the relation in which he stands to authorize a broker to sell stocks pledged by the administratrix’s decedent, without notice to the administratrix.</p> <p>4. A firm of stock brokers with whom certain stocks had been pledged as security for loans to the owner demanded additional margin of the owner; before the entire amount demanded had been supplied the owner died and thereafter the brokerage firm sold from time to time the stocks which had been pledged with them; no notice was given of the contemplated action to any party interested in the estate, but after certain sales had been made the brokers notified decedent’s widow of what they had done and continued to make further sales; shortly after the appointment of deced