Court Opinion

ID: 9418863
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:41:32.920586+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:11.939269
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Roberts,
dissenting.
The opinion of Judge Sibley in the court below, 75 F. (2d) 380, seems to me conclusive upon the propositions that neither the common law, the contract with the Government, nor the bond furnished by the contractor, give materialmen or laborers any right of lien upon the fund or preference in distribution thereof. I also agree with his view that the indemnity contract between the contractor and the surety company (even if an assignment of a claim for retained percentages against the United States were valid, in view of R. S. § 3477), is too vague to amount to an assignment of the retained percentages; and that the surety is not entitled to subrogation either to the rights of the United States or of the materialmen and contractors. I think it clear that, in the circumstances, the amount paid by the United States into the fund in the hands of the trustee in bankruptcy is'general assets of the estate and that the surety company, as respects its claim for the amount paid under its bond, and the furnishers of material and labor, are general creditors entitled to no preference or priority over each other. I think the judgment should, therefore, be reversed.