Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville

Citations

• 173 U.S. 131
• 19 S. Ct. 360
• 43 L. Ed. 640
• 1899 U.S. LEXIS 1426

Syllabus

<p>As the controversy in this case involved the question on what basis dividends in insolvency should have been declared, and therein the enforcement of the trust in accordance with law, this, court has jurisdiction of it in equity.</p> <p>Less than two years having elapsed from the payment of the first dividend to the filing of this bill, and the other creditors of the bank not having been harmed by the delay, no presumption of laches is raised, nor can an estoppel properly be held to have arisen.</p> <p>A secured creditor of an insolvent national bank may prove and receive dividends upon the face of his claim as it stood at the time of the declaration of insolvency, without crediting either his collaterals, or collections made therefrom after such declaration, subject always to the proviso that dividends must cease when, from them and from collaterals realized, the claim has been paid in full.</p>