Lilley v. Sterling Oil & Refining Co.

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Dawson, J.:

This was an action for the alleged conversion of certain shares of stock issued by the defendant company and which it canceled and suppressed when the certificate was presented to it for transfer.

One Eugene Jackson, secretary of the defendant, the Sterling Oil & Refining Company, who had custody of its stock book, issued to himself, without compensation and without authority, 232,500 shares of its capital stock. The stock was of a character which could only be lawfully issued with the sanction of the state charter board (“Blue-sky” Law, Gen.…