United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Oppenheimer v. Harriman Nat'l Bank & Trust Co., 301 U.S. 206 (1937)

Oppenheimer v. Harriman National Bank & Trust Co.

No. 588

Argued March 11, 12, 1937

Decided April 26, 1937*

301 U.S. 206

Syllabus

1. A fraudulent sale of its own stock by a national bank may be rescinded by the defrauded purchaser. U.S.C. Title 12, §§ 24 (Seventh), 56, 59, and 83, do not prevent. P. 301 U. S. 211.

2. Where, through misrepresentation by its officers, a national bank makes a fraudulent sale of its own stock belonging to an undisclosed

Page 301 U. S. 207

principal, it is liable to the purchaser just as though it had acted for itself. P. 301 U. S. 212.

3. The liability of a national bank to a purchaser who was defrauded in a fraudulent sale by the bank of its own stock is covered by the phrase "contracts, debts and engagements" for which stockholders are individually responsible (U.S.C. Title 12, § 64), and the proceeds of assessments against stockholders, as assets of the receivership, may be charged with such liability. P. 301 U. S. 212.

4. A claim against a national bank by a stockholder who rescinded, on account of fraud, a sale to him by the bank of its own stock, the stockholder having paid the comptroller's assessment levied on him after the bank's insolvency, held entitled to rank on a parity with the claims of other unsecured creditors in the receivership estate. P. 301 U. S. 213.

85 F.2d 582 reversed.

Writs of certiorari, 300 U.S. 647, to review a judgment reversing a judgment of the District Court in a suit against the bank to recover the purchase price of shares of the bank's stock, the sale of which to the plaintiff was alleged to have been induced by fraud.