Plucker v. Teller

Citations

• 174 Pa. 529
• 34 A. 208
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 920

Syllabus

<p>Bailment — Sale of pledged property — Trust and trustee — Notice.</p> <p>Where property is pledged for the payment of a debt, the pledgee is, within certain limits, a trustee who is bound to act for the pledgor’s interest as well as his own, but the interests of the pledgor and pledgee are not identical; and where their interests may require different action, the pledgee is justified in taking care of his interests after having put the • other party on his guard by notice to him that he must look out for himself.</p> <p>A mortgage was pledged to secure a debt. A default having occurred in a payment on it, the pledgee, at the pledgor’s request, foreclosed it, and the mortgaged premises were put up for sale by the sheriff. The pledgee gave explicit notice to the pledgor that he would only act for himself, and would not bid up the property for any more than enough to protect his claim, and that if the pledgor desired to bid anything above that amount it would be necessary for him to be present at the sale himself. Held, (1) that the notice relieved the pledgee from any trust in case he purchased; (2) that the pledgee in purchasing bought for himself and in his own right; (3) that the pledgor was not entitled to any share of the profits realized by the pledgee on a resale of the property; (4) that the burden of proof was upon the pledgee to show the circumstances that entitled him to buy clear of any trust for the pledgor; (5) that even if the jury should decide in the pledgor’s favor in a suit to recover the profits, the pledgee was entitled to credit for commissions paid by him to' a real estate broker for selling the property, although he was a member of the firm of brokers himself.</p>