Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/297/160/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 20:32:42+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 297 › Meyer v. Kenmore Granville Hotel Co.
1. An order of the District Court denying a petition which prays dismissal of a proceeding to reorganize a corporation under § 77B of the Bankruptcy Act, and incidentally for the recall of an injunction restraining creditors in that proceeding, is not appealable to the Circuit Court of Appeals as of right, but only by leave of that court. Bankruptcy Act, §§ 77B(k), 24, and 25. P. 297 U. S. 162.
2. An order of the District Court confirming a plan of reorganization under § 77B of the Bankruptcy Act is not appealable to the Circuit Court of Appeals as of right, but only by leave of that court. P. 297 U. S. 165.
77 F.2d 1004, 78 F. 2d 1018, affirmed.
Certiorari, 296 U.S. 565, to review orders of the Circuit Court of Appeals dismissing two appeals, and an order denying a petition to appeal, from orders of the District Court in reorganization proceedings under § 77B of the Bankruptcy Act.
Certiorari was granted in these cases as companion cases to St. Louis Can Co. v. General American Life Insurance Co., 77 F.2d 598, in which certiorari was granted on the same day, to resolve questions as to the mode of appeal from certain orders entered by a District Court in the course of a reorganization proceeding under § 77B of the Bankruptcy Act, 48 Stat. 912, 11 U.S.C. 207. The writ in St. Louis Can Co. v. General American Life Insurance Co. was later dismissed by this Court on stipulation of the parties, 296 U.S. 660.
dismissed for want of good faith and of jurisdiction in the District Court, and that the injunction be dissolved. The District Court entered an order March 20, 1935, denying the petition. From this order it allowed an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which dismissed the appeal without opinion. 77 F.2d 1004. The correctness of this ruling is presented in No. 375.
Meanwhile, the District Court proceeded with hearings, in which petitioner took no part, on a proposed plan of reorganization. The plan, after certain modifications, was ultimately approved by 94 percent of the bondholders of one class and 95 percent of another, and, with further changes directed by the court, was confirmed by order entered May 20, 1935. The Court of Appeals dismissed without opinion petitioner's appeal from this order, allowed by the District Court. 78 F.2d 1018. And it denied petitioner's application for leave to appeal from the same order, on the ground that petitioner, who alone sought leave to appeal, had not objected to the plan in the bankruptcy court, and so was not in a position to challenge the plan on her own behalf or on that of bondholders who had objected. The correctness of these rulings of the Court of Appeals is presented in No. 376.
1. The question in No. 375 is whether the order of the District Court denying the application to dismiss the proceeding brought under § 77B and to dissolve the injunction generally restraining creditors is, for purposes of appeal, the equivalent of "a judgment adjudging or refusing to adjudge the defendant a bankrupt," which, by § 25a of the Bankruptcy Act, 44 Stat. 665; 48 Stat. 926, 11 U.S.C. § 48(a), is appealable as of right to the Court of Appeals.
"the date of the order approving the petition or answer under this section shall be taken to be the date of adjudication, and such order shall have the same consequences and effect as an order of adjudication."
adjudge the defendant a bankrupt. By § 24a and § 24b, appeals in "proceedings" in bankruptcy, as distinguished from appeals in "controversies arising in bankruptcy," may be taken only on leave granted in the discretion of the appellate court, except that, in the cases enumerated in § 25a, including, in clause (1), "a judgment adjudging or refusing to adjudge the defendant a bankrupt," an appeal may be taken as of right.
proceedings does not stand on any different footing, and was rightly dismissed because taken without leave of the appellate court. Humphry v. Bankers Mortgage Co., 79 F.2d 345; Vitagraph, Inc. v. St. Louis Properties Corp., 77 F.2d 590; St. Louis Can Co. v. General American Life Insurance Co., supra; Credit Alliance Corp. v. Atlantic Pacific & Gulf Refining Co., 77 F.2d 595, and see Wilkerson v. Cooch, 78 F. 2d 311.
That part of petitioner's application to the District Court which asked that the injunction restraining creditors be set aside does not present a "controversy arising in bankruptcy," as distinguished from a "proceeding" in bankruptcy. The relief from the restraining order which petitioner sought was but incidental to her assault on the order approving the petition, and raised no issue capable of litigation independently of the proceeding in the bankruptcy court. It related only to the due administration of the pending proceeding, and so was a "proceeding" in bankruptcy, in which the allowance of an appeal is discretionary. See Taylor v. Voss, supra; Harrison v. Chamberlin, supra.
the plan of reorganization, when confirmed, under the direction of the court, authorizes the court to make appropriate orders to that end, and provides that, "upon the termination of the proceedings, a final decree shall be entered," which "shall discharge the debtor from its debts and liabilities." Discharge is effected not by confirmation of the plan, but by the final decree.
Confirmation of a plan of reorganization is but a step in the administration of the debtor's estate, and, for reasons already stated, is an order in a proceeding in bankruptcy, rather than a controversy arising in bankruptcy proceedings, and appeal lies only in the discretion of the appellate court. See Campbell v. Alleghany Corporation, 75 F.2d 947, 955.
3. In the exercise of the discretion conferred upon it by § 24b, the court below denied the application for leave to appeal from the order of the District Court confirming the plan of reorganization. Petitioner, who alone asked leave to appeal, made no objection to the plan. Her criticisms of the plan are not of a character to invite the exercise of the discretion of the court to examine them for the first time on appeal.
"All other provisions of this title, except such as are inconsistent with the provisions of this section, shall apply to proceedings instituted under this section, whether or not an order to liquidate the estate has been entered. For the purposes of such application, provisions relating to 'bankrupts' shall be deemed to relate also to 'debtors;' 'bankruptcy proceedings,' or 'proceedings in bankruptcy' shall be deemed to include proceedings under this section; the date of the order approving the petition or answer under this section shall be taken to be the date of adjudication, and such order shall have the same consequences and effect as an order of adjudication."
"(a) The Supreme Court of the United States, the circuit courts of appeal of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and the supreme courts of the Territories, in vacation, in chambers and during their respective terms, are invested with appellate jurisdiction of controversies arising in bankruptcy proceedings from the courts of bankruptcy from which they have appellate jurisdiction in other cases."
"(b) The several circuit courts of appeal and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shall have jurisdiction in equity, either interlocutory or final, to superintend and revise in matter of law (and in matter of law and fact the matters specified in § 48 of this title) the proceedings of the several inferior courts of bankruptcy within their jurisdiction. Such power shall be exercised by appeal and in the form and manner of an appeal, except in the cases mentioned in said § 48 of this title to be allowed in the discretion of the appellate court."
"Appeals, as in equity cases, may be taken in bankruptcy proceedings from the courts of bankruptcy to the circuit courts of appeal of the United States and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and to the supreme courts of the Territories in the following cases, to-wit: (1) from a judgment adjudging or refusing to adjudge the defendant a bankrupt; (2) from a judgment granting or denying a discharge, and (3) from a judgment allowing or rejecting a debt or claim of $500 or over."

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