Isenberg v. Huntingdon Millwork & Lumber Co.

Citations

• 62 Pa. Super. 491
• 1916 Pa. Super. LEXIS 458

Syllabus

<p>Trusts and trustees — Parol trust — Trust in shares of corporate stoch — Fraud—Evidence—Equity.</p> <p>A trust in shares of corporate stock may be created by parol.</p> <p>Where the certificate of stock of a number of shares of a corporation is in the name of a decedent, but really held in his name in trust for another person, the administrator of the decedent commits a fraud if he attempts to use 'the certificate in violation of the trust, and a court of equity will not aid him in such an attempt.</p> <p>Where a decedent leaves among his papers a certificate of five shares of stock of a corporation standing in his own name, and his administrator files a bill in equity to compel the corporation to recognize the ownership of the decedent in the certificate and pay the estate a share of the corporate profits, the bill will be dismissed, where two witnesses testify that although the certificate was in the name of the decedent, he merely held the legal title to the shares as a trustee for one of the witnesses, who was the real owner.</p> <p>In such a ease where the witness who was the real owner is called by the plaintiff and gives his testimony as to the actual ownership of the stock while under examination in chief, his competency as a witness and the competency of his testimony cannot thereafter be questioned by the plaintiff; nor can the competency of the other witness be questioned if it appears that although he was a stockholder of the corporation at the time of the transaction by which the trust was created he subsequently after the bill was filed parted in good faith, with his ownership.</p>