Bowen

Judgment went for the defendants in an action prosecuted by the plaintiff to recover damages for and on account of an alleged conversion of a crop of prunes. From this judgment the plaintiff appeals.

On the twenty-seventh day of October, 1926, the Shasta Orchard and Farm Company, Inc., hereinafter referred to as the “Orchard Company”, was the owner of a certain farm in the county of Shasta, comprising about 600 acres. The Orchard Company was a corporation owned by the family of Harry S. Bates. Harry S. Bates was the president and managing agent. His son, Merrill Bates, was the secretary. His wife, Gladys Bates, was the third member of the corporation.

On or about the date mentioned the Orchard Company effected a loan with the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, hereinafter referred to as the “Insurance Company”, by which the Insurance Company advanced to the Orchard Company the sum of $70,000. A note and trust deed were executed by the Orchard Company to secure the repayment of said sum, together with interest thereon at the rate of seven per cent per annum.

It appears that the indebtedness of the Orchard Company was somewhere in the neighborhood of $132,000; that the…