Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hutchinson_v._Otis,_Wilcox_%26_Company/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2020-07-14 01:46:14
Document Index: 710946207

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 25', '§ 67', '§ 2', '§ 25', '§ 25', '§ 24']

Hutchinson v. Otis, Wilcox & Company/Opinion of the Court - Wikisource, the free online library
Hutchinson v. Otis, Wilcox & Company/Opinion of the Court
< Hutchinson v. Otis, Wilcox & Company
Hutchinson v. Otis, Wilcox & Company
834782Hutchinson v. Otis, Wilcox & Company — Opinion of the Court
Argued: May 4, 1903. --- Decided: June 1, 1903
This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of appeals affirming, on appeal, a decree of the district court, which allowed a proof of a claim in bankruptcy by the appellee. 53 C. C. A. 419, 115 Fed. 937. The appeal to this court was allowed by a justice of this court under the bankruptcy act, § 25b, 1 [30 Stat. at L. 553, chap. 541, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 3432], and rule 36, 2, on grounds to be explained, and now is before us on a motion to dismiss or affirm. The facts, shortly stated, are as follows: Otis, Wilcox, & Co., having an admitted claim for $4,421.64, sued the bankrupts in New York and Illinois, and attached debts due to them, by trustee process. This was within four months before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, and therefore was ineffectual as against the appellant by § 67 of the act. But Otis, Wilcox, & Co., supposing that they had valid attachments, took judgments by default, and collected their debt from the parties trusteed, agreeing to save the latter harmless from liability to others. Satisfaction was entered of record in each suit. Subsequently the trustee in bankruptcy demanded payment of these debtors of the bankrupt, and, as they had no defense, Otis, Wilcox, & Co. paid over to the trustee the full amount of the respective debts. Otis, Wilcox, & Co. filed a claim in bankruptcy, and were allowed to prove their claim.
A petition was filed by Otis, Wilcox, & Co., asserting a lien on the proceeds of a seat in the New York Stock Exchange, which formerly belonged to the bankrupts. This lien had not been insisted on by Otis, Wilcox, & Co., because of their impression that they had been paid effectually. No one having changed his position on the faith of their waiver, the district court allowed the lien. The circuit court of appeals held that this portion of the decree of the district court was not subject to an appeal to the circuit court of appeals. The argument chiefly relied upon by the appellant is that this is an intervening petition to reach a fund in court, and is not a proceeding in bankruptcy. Under the circumstances of this case it seems to us that the petition was incident to the claim (Cu- nningham v. German Ins. Bank, 41 C. C. A. 609, 101 Fed. 977, 4 Am. Bankr. Rep. 192), and was a bankruptcy proceeding under § 2, cl. 7, within the meaning of § 25, regulating appeals in bankruptcy proceedings, and that the decree upon it was not 'a judgment allowing or rejecting a debt or claim of five hundred dollars or over,' within § 25a, 3, and was not an independent ground of appeal. See Re Whitener, 44 C. C. A. 434, 105 Fed. 180, 186; Re Worcester County, 42 C. C. A. 637, 102 Fed. 808, 813; Re Rouse, H. & Co. 33 C. C. A. 356, 63 U.S. App. 570, 91 Fed. 96; Re York, 4 Nat. Bankr. Reg. 479, 483, Fed. Cas. No. 18,139. If the question should be held to come up as incident to the appeal on the proof (Cunningham v. German Ins. Bank, 41 C. C. A. 609, 101 Fed. 977, 4 Am. Bankr. Rep. 192), we see no error in the decree of the district court. It allowed Otis, Wilcox, & Co. to correct a mistake expressly made the ground of their waiver, no new rights having intervened. We deal somewhat summarily with this point, because the merits were brought before the circuit court of appeals by a petition for revision under § 24b, and were disposed of very satisfactorily, so far as appears on that petition. We find no error in the decree.
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