Baird

This action was brought by the receiver of an insolvent North Dakota state bank to recover the sum of one thousand dollars on a stockholder’s liability created by the statute of that state. Judgment was given for the defendant, and plaintiff appeals. The determinative question presented relates to the legal effect of, and the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain, the trial court’s finding that defendant was not at any time the owner of the stock.

Briefly stated, the essential facts are as follows: On January 16, 1919, while the defendant McLean was serving as an officer in the army in France his brother-in-law, named Rother, who was president of said bank, placed ten shares of the bank’s stock, for his own convenience, in McLean’s name on the books of the bank. McLean knew nothing about the matter until October, 1924. At that time he was living in California, and he received a letter from Rother, stating what he had done, and adding that if McLean would permit the balance of his account which he had been carrying with the bank to remain there, he, Rother, would continue to let the stock remain in McLean’s name. McLean replied immediately, stating - that he had established a…