Lynch v. Blake (Haw. 1978)

Decided: 1978-05-10. Opinion

Source note (2026-10-18):

• Links on this page to https://static.case.law/haw/59/cases/0189-01.json are an (unofficial Caselaw Access Project copy, retrieved before 2026-10-18; host disallows automated access); no official or otherwise permitted full-text copy was located on 2026-10-18.

Facts

An assignment/trust for corporate creditors and stockholders concerned a twelve-percent interest and later sale proceeds; parties disputed personal jurisdiction, creditor priority and the trustee’s distribution obligations. Opinion

Holding and disposition

A general assignment for creditors creates an express trust with legal title in the assignee. Unless trust terms or law provide otherwise, creditors share pro rata; the record did not justify full priority for two favored creditors. Service on the trustee did not automatically confer personal jurisdiction over the corporation or beneficiaries, and consolidation for trial did not cure separate jurisdiction/service defects. The court did have jurisdiction over the trust res through service on its trustee. But the record lacked a hearing supporting the ordered twelve-percent gross-sale-proceeds amount or resolving alleged fiduciary breach; those issues required remand and identification/allocation among actual beneficiaries. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded. Opinion

Reasoning and practical scope

Full reported opinion verified, including jurisdiction, distribution priority, trust res and remand. It concerned the statutes applicable to the 1971 proceedings and is not a modern uniform ABC statute or a universal free-and-clear sales decree. Current law review did not identify a general Hawaii enacted uniform ABC regime; no claim of exhaustive citator coverage. Opinion; HRS 0001–0001; Judiciary

Verification and treatment

The full opinion body was checked. The source is a full reported-opinion reproduction in the Harvard Caselaw Access Project, not a headnote or official court-hosted original. Targeted primary treatment/current-statute checks are described, without representing an exhaustive later-history or still-good-law certification. Original body and SHA-256 are retained in the Hawaii evidence register.

Applies in

hawaii · personal-property-execution-sales-by-state

Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-18. Consult qualified local counsel about an actual dispute.