Riley

Appeal from a judgment for the defendants- and from an order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.

The defendant corporation is successor of the firm of Bixby & Howard, composed of Jotham Bixby, the defendant. Howard, and five others, who (excepting one) subscribed for and continued to be the holders of all the stock of the corporation. Howard was manager of the business of the firm before the incorporation, and continued to be such until about the twenty-third day of January, 1897. This suit was-brought to recover the value of the balance of the hay undelivered, represented by a warehouse receipt, which is as follows :—

This receipt, it is found, was for the balance of the hay undelivered, represented by a receipt in similar form issued in the year 1895, which had been pledged to the Merchants’ National Bank of Los Angeles as collateral security for the-sum of two thousand dollars; and for which the new certificate was substituted. The latter was assigned for value to the defendant W. L. Riley, December 27, 1897, and by him to the plaintiff. Portions of the hay represented by the receipt, aggregating 1,399 bales, were delivered to the defendant W. L. Riley and indorsed on…