American Mine Equipment Co. v. Illinois Coal Corp.

31 F.2d 507, 1929 U.S. App. LEXIS 3483
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 4, 1929
DocketNos. 4056, 4078
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 31 F.2d 507 (American Mine Equipment Co. v. Illinois Coal Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Mine Equipment Co. v. Illinois Coal Corp., 31 F.2d 507, 1929 U.S. App. LEXIS 3483 (7th Cir. 1929).

Opinion

ALSCHULER, Circuit Judge

(after making foregoing statement of facts). The error alleged in decreeing the sale to be made without redemption will be first considered.

The Illinois statutes make provision for redemption from sale of real estate which is “sold by virtue of an execution, judgment, or decree of foreclosure of mortgage, or enforcement of mechanic’s lien, or vendor’s lien, or for the payment of money,” by any defendant, his assigns, or persons interested through the defendant, within twelve months from the sale; and by judgment creditors within three months next thereafter. Pars. 16, 18 and 20, c. 77, Cahill’s Ill. Stats.

Statutes providing for redemption from judicial sales constitute a rule of property in their respective states, and are binding upon courts of chancery as well as law, and will be given effect in the federal courts. Brine v. Insurance Co., 96 U. S. 627, 24 L. Ed. 858.

The pertinent inquiry in each ease is whether, under the particular facts disclosed, it falls within the scope and intent of the statute. Farnsworth v. Strasler, 12 111. '482.. Considerations of advantage or .disadvantage to the defendant or his creditors do not of themselves determine whether redemption is [511]*511properly denied, although possibly throwing light on the conduct and motives of a defendant in ascertaining whether or not he has so acted as to leave him his right of redemption.

Eor appellant it is contended that the entire proceeding was in its essence a foreclosure of the mortgages and an enforcement of the mechanic’s liens, and that in any event the sale was “for the payment of money,” and that therefore the statutory right of redemption attaches.

We do not believe that the filing of the foreclosure bills, and their consolidation with the original action, of necessity constituted this sale one under a “decree of foreclosure of mortgage” within the purview of the redemption statute. When • the forelosure bills were filed they were accompanied by appellant’s consent that those actions be consolidated with the original action, and that the receivership be extended to the foreclosure bills as well; and when appellant definitely consented that the property might be sold by" the receiver free of the mortgage and other liens, and that thereupon the mortgage and other liens attach only to the proceeds, in our judgment it amounted to a waiver or conveyance of the right of redemption as effectually as if one holding an equity in mortgaged property deeded it to a third person with power to sell it and make title to the purchaser, and satisfy the mortgage out of the proceeds. Surely this is so if, as was here the ease, the mortgagee consents to this arrangement; for thereby he waives the lien of his mortgage on the property itself, making it impossible for him thereafter to foreclose, and substitutes therefor a claim upon the proceeds, in respect to which no statutory redemption is provided.

Had the original bill proceeded to decree and sale without the filing of the mortgage foreclosure bills, there would be little or no doubt that this conversion of the trust property into divisible form for distribution among the beneficiaries of the trust would not have left a right of redemption in the appellant, the creator of the trust. *

We cannot regard the sale as made under a “decree of foreclosure of mortgage,” nor, for the same reasons, as one “for enforce-' ment of mechanic’s lien.” Does it fall within the statutory classification of a sale “for the payment of money,” and thus subject to redemption?

Eor reasons amplified. in the discussion which follows, we think not. While every judicial sale, the proceeds of which are in some form to be paid out, is in a sense a sale for the payment of money, if such inelusiveness were given the redemption statute it would cover. practically all sales under decrees, such as partitions, administration of trusts, suits for winding up corporations, and the like, to none of which does the right of redemption attach. As will be shown, we regard this sale as one for the conversion of trust property to facilitate its distribution among those entitled to share in it, and not “for the payment of money” within the purview of the redemption statute.

The history of this litigation, as appears from the statement of facts, easts clarifying light on what we regard as controlling inquiries, viz., whether the property sold constituted a trust fund which the court might, through sale, convert and distribute free of redemption, involving the question whether by its conduct appellant conveyed or surrendered whatever right of redemption it may have had.

The original proceeding was one of which chancery had no jurisdiction whatever, except with the cooperation and consent of the appellant. While the bill was in a sense a “creditors’ bill,” it was, in essence, far more than that. The ordinary creditors’ bill is brought by one who, having an unsatisfied judgment, seeks in equity to discover assets to satisfy it. In general, it is brought by a judgment creditor, and does not lie on behalf of one whose claim has not been reduced to judgment.

In Pusey & Jones Co. v. Hanssen, 261 U. S. 491, 43 S. Ct. 454, 67 L. Ed. 763, it was said that no receiver can be appointed at the suit.of a simple contract creditor, and that even the statute of a state could not confer upon federal courts of chancery such power.

When, therefore, a simple contract creditor files on behalf of himself and all other creditors a so-called protective bill or creditors’ bill, asking for the appointment of a receiver and for a general administration of all the affairs of the corporation, and of the marshaling of all its assets; and that all the property of the corporation be constituted a trust fund for the benefit of all the creditors; and to such bill for full administration of the corporate assets, the corporation itself voluntarily enters appearance and distinctly consents to the court’s jurisdiction, and, admitting the allegations, consents to the granting of all the relief which the bill seeks— in our judgment such a proceeding, and the status of the property coming into the receiver’s hands thereunder, is substantially different from one where the property is brought in through the original equity power [512]*512of the court, whether with or without the defendant’s consent.

In quite similar- cireumstanfees the Supreme Court said, in United States v. Butterworth-Judson Corp., 269 U. S. 504, 46 S. Ct. 179, 70 L. Ed. 380:

“Respondent’s answer admitting the allegations of the complaint and its consent to the court’s order constituted a necessary step in the proceedings for the appointment qf receivers. * * * go-, with the consent and co-operation of the insolvent debtor, the possession and control of all its property were handed over to be administered by the court through the receivers for the benefit of those whom the court found entitled to it. Porter v. Sabin, 149 U. S. 473, 479 [13 S. Ct. 1008, 37 L. Ed. 815]. ‘ To induce the action taken by the court, the complaint represented that, if respondent’s property was not dealt with as a trust fund for the payment of creditors, they would suffer great loss.

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Bluebook (online)
31 F.2d 507, 1929 U.S. App. LEXIS 3483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-mine-equipment-co-v-illinois-coal-corp-ca7-1929.