Howell v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co.
New York Supreme Court
MOTION to continue an injunction restraining the payment of a dividend. The plaintiffs, claiming to be the owners of bonds and common stock of the Chicago, and Northwestern Railway Company, ask an injunction against the defendants, to restrain them from paying a stock dividend declared by them on the preferred and common stock. The dividend was to be paid to each class of stockholders, in the same kind of stock as that held by them.
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MOTION to continue an injunction restraining the payment of a dividend. The plaintiffs, claiming to be the owners of bonds and common stock of the Chicago, and Northwestern Railway Company, ask an injunction against the defendants, to restrain them from paying a stock dividend declared by them on the preferred and common stock. The dividend was to be paid to each class of stockholders, in the same kind of stock as that held by them. The plaintiffs claim that the company has no authority to make stock dividends, and if they have, that the distribution is unequal in giving preferred stock to…
1Opinion of the CourtIngraham, J.
However objectionable the issue of stock dividends may appear to be, as bearing upon the value of the • stock, such considerations are more properly to be addressed to the board of directors than to the court on such a motion as the present. Under ordinary circumstances, where the company has earned a dividend, and they desire at the same time to retain the moneys so earned, for the purposes of the company, either in making improvements on the road or for the payment of its debts, it would be no violation of law to retain such moneys and in lieu thereof to issue to the stockholders a…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Cumberland Coal & Iron Co. v. Hoffman Steam Coal Co.New York Supreme Court · 1859
- Dart v. Farmers' BankNew York Supreme Court · 1858
3Cited by19 opinions
- Williams v. Green Bay & Western RailroadSupreme Court of the United States · 1946
- Williams v. . Western Union Telegraph Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1883
- Kimball v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
- Mayer v. Oxidation Products Co., Inc.New Jersey Court of Chancery · 1932
- In re RappleyeAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1899
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