Crawford v. Burke

by Henry Billings Brown

United States Supreme Court

195 U.S. 176

Crawford  v.  Burke

 Argued: April 25, 26, 1901. --- Decided: November 7, 1904

This was an action in trover instituted September 10, 1897, in the circuit court of Cook county, Illinois, by Burke against Crawford & Valentine, plaintiffs in error, to recover damages for the wilful and fraudulent conversion of certain reversionary interests of the plaintiff in 550 shares of Metropolitan Traction stock.

There were ten counts in the declaration. In each of the first five counts it was alleged that the defendant firm of Crawford & Valentine were stock brokers and dealers in investment securities; that plaintiff employed the defendants as his brokers and agents to buy, hold, and carry stocks for him, subject to his order; that defenants had in their possession, or under their control, certain shares of the capital stock of the Metropolitan Traction Company, which they were holding as a pledge and security for the amount due them from the plaintiff on said stock; that defendants wrongfully, wilfully, and fraudulently, and without his knowledge or consent, sold said shares of stock, and wilfully and fraudulently, and with intent to cheat and defraud the plaintiff, converted plaintiff's reversionary interest in said stock to their use, whereby it was wholly lost.

In each of the last five counts it was alleged that after defendants had wrongfully and fraudulently, and without plaintiff's knowledge or consent, sold the plaintiff's stock, and converted the proceeds of such sales to their own use, they falsely and fraudulently represented to him that they still had the stock on hand and were carrying it for him; that their correspondents in Philadelphia, where the stock had been bought, were calling upon them for further demands or margins, and that it therefore became necessary to call upon the plaintiff to make further payments on the stock in order to comply with their correspondents' demands and to be secured against loss. It was averred in each of said counts that such representations were false and fraudulent, and by means thereof defendants obtained from the plaintiff the aggregate sum of $10,800.

To this declaration defendants pleaded not guilty, upon which issue was joined January 4, 1900, and on May 12, 1900, a jury trial was waived in writing. The case rested without action until January 3, 1901, when defendants filed their separate pleas of puis darrein continuance, setting up that on April 5, 1900, the defendants had received their discharge in bankruptcy, in the district court for the northern district of Illinois, and that plaintiff's claims were provable and not excepted from the operation of such discharge. The plaintiff replied, denying that his claim was provable, and averred that the same was excepted from such operation.

Notwithstanding the plea of puis darrein continuance, the plaintiff introduced evidence and proved the allegations in his declaration, and the amount of damages he had sustained. Defendants were found guilty upon all the counts, and judgment entered against them.

The case was taken to the appellate court, where, it appearing that one of the justices had taken part in the trial of the case below, and that the two remaining justices were unable to agree upon the case, the judgment of the circuit court was affirmed. The judgment of the appellate court was also affirmed by the supreme court of Illinois (201 Ill. 581, 66 N. E. 833), to review which judgment this writ of error was sued out.

Messrs. George Packard, Charles E. Vroman, and Harrison Musgrave for plaintiffs error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 179-181 intentionally omitted]

Mr. John E. Burke in propria persona for defendant in error.

Statement by Mr. Justice Brown:

[Argument of Counsel from pages 181-185 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court:

Notes