Santa Marina Co. v. Canadian Bank of Commerce

This is a suit in equity, instituted for the purpose of securing a decree to the effect that a certain fund, which, it is alleged, is in the possession of the defendant, is held by defendant for the use and benefit of plaintiff. The facts as presented in the pleadings are involved in considerable complexity of detail, but I think may be stated fairly with brevity.

Previous to 1913, one Hooper was for some years a trusted employe of the Mercantile Trust Company, and was also* the secretary and a trusted employe of the plaintiff corporation. Plaintiff had no other business than the ownership and control of two pieces of improved real estate in the city of San Francisco. One had situate upon it ap eight-story office building, from which the income was very large, amounting to several thousand dollars each month; and the other a small store building, rented for a sum approximating $350 per month. The rents from these buildings were collected by two certain real estate firms, who, after deducting their commissions, would draw their checks in favor of plaintiff company, and these checks, in due course, would be delivered to Hooper, the secretary thereof. His sole function in this…