Chetwood v. California National Bank

Citations

• 113 Cal. 649
• 45 P. 854

Syllabus

<p>Insolvent National Bank—Agent Appointed Under Act oe Congress —Receiver—Official Position.—An agent of an insolvent national bank, appointed by the stockholders, and commissioned by the'eomptroller under the act of Congress to succeed the receiver in the performance of his duties, stands in place of the receiver, and is, in fact, a receiver under a varied form of appointment and under a different name, and is at least a quasi public officer of the United States.</p> <p>Id.—Regularity of Appointment of Agent de Facto—Collateral Attack.—Where one who is defacto the agent of an insolvent bank presents his commission from the comptroller reciting his appointment, and the regularity of the proceedings attending it, the question of the regularity of his appointment cannot be collaterally assailed.</p> <p>Id.—Action by Shareholder—Power of Control—Right of Agent to Receive Final Recovery.—A shareholder of an insolvent national hank who sues the directors in behalf of the corporation to recover damages for moneys alleged to have been lost to the bank by reason of their mismanagement of its affairs, is entitled to conduct, manage, and control the litigation until a final determination thereof; but the appointed agent of the bank is charged with the explicit duty of receiving the assets and distributing them ratably, and is entitled, when the litigation has come to an end, with moneys in the hands of the plaintiff stockholder, under a judgment rendered in his favor in behalf of the corporation, to invoke the aid of the court to order the payment of those moneys to him for the purposes of his trust.</p> <p>Id.—End of Litigation—Joint Action of Tort against Three Directors—Satisfaction and Retraxit as to Two—Release of Third. In a joint acti'on of tórt by a shareholder against three directors, the litigation is ended when moneys are collected from two of them in full satisfaction of a judgment against them, and a retraxit and dismissal of the action is made as to them, opera