Bamberg v. Stern

1 N.Y. City Ct. Rep. 342
CourtNew York Marine Court
DecidedNovember 9, 1877
StatusPublished

This text of 1 N.Y. City Ct. Rep. 342 (Bamberg v. Stern) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Marine Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bamberg v. Stern, 1 N.Y. City Ct. Rep. 342 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1877).

Opinion

McAdam, J.

The defendant applies to the court for a perpetual stay of execution herein, upon the ground that the cause of action and judgment have been discharged under proceedings for composition in bankruptcy.

No informality in the composition proceedings is alleged, and no defect pointed out, except an error in regard to the amount of the plaintiff’s claim. This is not fatal in the absence of proof that it was fraudulently made (Beebe v. Pyle, 1 Abb. N. C. 412 ; Small v. Graves, 7 Barb. 576; Stanton v. Ellis, 12 N. Y. 575 ; 7 Robt. 233).

Under the circumstances disclosed in the papers, the application is made in time, and the remedy by motion for a perpetual stay is regular (Monroe v. Upton, 50 N. Y. 595, which is in affirmance of point decided in Baker v. Taylor, 1 Cow. 165 ; Palmer v. Hutchins, 1 Id. 42 ; 3 N. Y. 216 ; 38 Id. 253 ; 59 Id. 240 ; 8 Cow. 96 ; 6 Hill, 246, 254). Upon the merits, however, I have concluded to dispose of the motion adversely to the defendant, upon the ground of fraud in contracting the debt; and this notwithstanding the fact that the supreme court of New Hampshire (16 Nat. Bank. Reg. 205) held that provable debts, although created by fraud, are discharged by a composition in bankruptcy. The court, in that case, based its decision upon the theory that the: statute authorizing the composition does not exempt from its operation any class of debts, and that by the adoption of the resolution for the composition, and its approval by the court, and the payment of the amount proposed, the claims of all whose names, residences, and the.amount of whose debts appear in the statement (whether fraudulently con-[344]*344traded or otherwise) are absolutely discharged, and all right of action thereon forever barred.

That no other discharge is necessary. That the record of the adoption of the resolution, and the evidence of payment of the specified percentage, are all that is required to extinguish the bankrupt’s debts (citing n re Bechet, 12 Nat. Bank. Reg. 201; In re Trafton, 14 Id. 508).

I concur in the above decision, except as to debts fraudulently contracted, and as to such debts I hold and decide that the composition is inoperative, unless the creditor assents to it in some way, whereby he legally waives the fraud and becomes a mere contract creditor. As I have disagreed with the conclusion reached by the supreme court, upon the main point decided in the case cited (16 Nat. Bank. Reg. 205), my reasons for such dissent are properly called for, and necessarily depend upon the construction to be placed upon the acts under consideration.

* The statutes of the United States bearing upon this question are :

1. “ An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States,” approved March 2, 1867 (U. S. Laws of 1867, c. 176; 14 Stat. at L. pp. 517, 541).

2. The revised statutes of the United States, approved June 22, 1874 (§§ 4972, 5132).

3. “ An act to amend and supplement an act, entitled an act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States,” approved March 2, 1867, and for other purposes, approved June 22, 1874 (U. S. Laws of 1874, c. 390; 18 Stat. at L. p. 178).

Section 17 of the law last cited, entitled “An act to amend and supplement” the act of 1867, contains the provisions for composition with creditors, which it provides are to be added to section 43 of the act supplemented.

[345]*345' Section 43 of the said act is section 5103 of the revised statutes.

The plaintiffs herein never joined in nor consented to the composition in any form, and have accepted no benefit under it.

The claim made by the defendant, that the plaintiffs’ debt is barred by a composition to which they were not actual (if constructive) parties, and did not consent, is based on the last provision of the fourth paragraph of section 17. It is as follows :

“Theprovisions of a composition, accepted by such •resolution, in pursuance of this section, shall be binding on all creditors whose names and addresses, and the amounts of the debts due to whom, and shown in the statement of the debtor produced at the meeting at which the resolution shall have been passed, but shall not affect or prejudice the rights of any other creditors.”

This provision I hold must be construed with the following, which is contained in section 5117 of the U. S. revised statutes (Act of 1867, § 33 ; 14 Stat. at L. 533):

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Bluebook (online)
1 N.Y. City Ct. Rep. 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bamberg-v-stern-nymarct-1877.