Bank of Commerce v. Elliott

85 N.W. 417, 109 Wis. 648, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 317
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 85 N.W. 417 (Bank of Commerce v. Elliott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bank of Commerce v. Elliott, 85 N.W. 417, 109 Wis. 648, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 317 (Wis. 1901).

Opinion

Maeshall, J.

It is claimed that the trial court erred, (1) in refusing to make the trustee in bankruptcy a party to the main action; (2) in refusing to award plaintiff a special judgment in such action; (3) in dismissing the actions or either of them; (4) in granting costs to defendant Elliott in the main action; (5) in granting full costs, or costs as taxed, to defendant Elliott and the garnishee defendant in the two garnishee actions; (6) in refusing to review the taxation of costs in each case; (l)'in refusing to vacate the judgments and grant rehearings. So far as necessary or deemed advisable we will consider each of such propositions.

1. Counsel insists that because sec. lib of the bankruptcy act provides that in a proceeding under it the federal court may order the trustee to enter his appearance and defend any pending suit against the bankrupt, and the trustee in the matter of Elliott's bankruptcy was so ordered, the circuit court having the garnishee actions in question in charge was bound to give effect to such order by granting the mo[655]*655tion. to make Mm a party to such actions. That subject was before this court and was fully considered in National D. Co. v. Seidel, 103 Vis. 489. Ve there held, and now affirm, that the federal statute, however mandatory its terms, does not control the practice in state courts and was not intended to do so. If an order be made under it commanding a trustee to intervene in the state court in an action to which the bankrupt is a party, the -former performs his full duty when he makes a proper application to such court tó be let in to such action. In disposing of such application the statutes of the state, and the rules and practice of its court,' must necessarily govern, the same as when any other party invokes the court’s jurisdiction.

Testing the ruling of the court, refusing to make the trustee in bankruptcy a party to the garnishee actions, by state laws and judicial policy, we fail to see why the trustee had any interest in the action that required his presence therein for his due protection, or why the entire controversy in such action, as to the plaintiff, was not susceptible of a complete determination without the trustee being brought in. Therefore, sec. 2610, Stats. 1898, did not require the trial court to grant the motion, b.ut left it free to exercise its discretion in respect thereto. If we say plaintiff acquired a right, by the commencement of the garnishee action, to hold the garnishee liable for some part of its indebtedness to Elliott, and that such right, by operation of law, was displaced by the right of the trustee in bankruptcy so as to bring the latter within the scope of sec. 2801, then it would follow that the action of the trial court could not be disturbed unless it clearly appeared that there was an abuse of judicial discretion. Granting or refusing a motion under that section is, by its terms, addressed to the sound discretion of the court. In any event, since, as will be hereafter seen, there was no controversy between the trustee and appellant as to who should have the benefit of the liability of [656]*656the garnishee to Elliott, appellant was not prejudiced by the denial of the motion to make the trustee a party and cannot be heard to complain of such denial on this appeal. Sec. 2829.

Ngain, regardless of the rights of the trustee under sec. 2801, Stats. 1898, appellant has no standing here to recover on the assignment of error under discussion, because the privilege was one to be asserted by the trustee. He did not appear’in the court below and ask to be made a party, as we understand the record, nor is he a party to the appeal. If it were otherwise, the question as to the trustee could not be reviewed except by an appeal m his behalf, from the order refusing to make him a party. The appeal from the judgment does not bring up such a question. The trustee not being a party to the action, proceedings in his behalf to make him such would be special. National D. Co. v. Seidel, 103 Wis. 489.

2. Whether the court erred in refusing to give appellant judgment in form against Elliott obviously depends upon whether, after the discharge in bankruptcy and the entry of the plea by Elliott in bar of further prosecution of the main suit as to him, appellant had a cause of action in any sense upon which a judgment could be rendered. It is conceded that if a defendant is discharged in bankruptcy from a debt, pending proceedings to enforce it, he is entitled to plead such circumstance in bar of further proceedings for a personal judgment, if the plaintiff does not voluntarily discontinue the action, and to recover on such plea. But it is said that if an action is wholly m rem, or partly in rem and partly mpersonam, its status as an action to reach the res is not disturbed by a discharge of the defendant in bankruptcy, if the plaintiff’s interest therein be preserved by the bankrupt act. The authorities seem to be uniform to that effect. Roberts v. Wood, 38 Wis. 60; Bates v. Tappan, 99 Mass. 376; Bowman v. Harding, 56 Me. 559; Leighton v. Kelsey, 57 Me. [657]*65785; Ingraham v. Phillips, 1 Day, 117; Jones v. Lellyett, 39 Ga. 64; Pierce v. Wilcox, 40 Ind. 70; Stoddard v. Locke, 43 Vt. 574; May v. Courtnay, 47 Ala. 185; Kittredge v. Warren, 14 N. H. 509; Munson v. B., H. & E. R. Co. 120 Mass. 81. In Bowman v. Harding, it was insisted on behalf of tbe discharged party that he was, by the express terms of the bankrupt act, released from all his debts, and that no such discharged debt could, by implication, be considered to have sufficient life to form the basis of a judgment even in form against him. The court thought otherwise, reasoning that the language of the bankrupt act, preserving a lien incident to a debt, by implication preserved the debt notwithstanding its discharge, so far as necessary to make the lien effective. Treating of the same subject, in Leighton v. Kelsey, supra, the court said, in substance, the provisions of the bankrupt act are not to be construed so as to preclude the rendition of such a judgment as is necessary to enable a lien claimant, whose interest in property is preserved to him by the act, to perfect and realize upon it. In Bates v. Tappan this language was used:

“The provisions for a full discharge . . . must be construed, as they well may be, so as not to prevent the enforcement of a lien, which the statute itself permits, by any requisite proceedings therefor which do not involve a judgment in yersonam. A lien by attachment can be enforced in no other way than by the qualified judgment which was rendered in the superior court, and it must therefore be affirmed.”

The present bankrupt act has the same features as the act of 1867 which were the foundation of the adjudications cited. It provides that “ all levies, judgments, attachments, or other liens, obtained through legal proceedings against a person who is insolvent, at any time within, four months prior'to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against him, shall be deemed null and void in case he is ad judged a bankrupt,” etc. Sec. 67, subd. f. The language as clearly, by [658]*658implication, preserves all liens claimed in legal proceedings,' of sufficient age to be outside the four-months limit, as it expressly annuls those within such limit.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Associated Bank N.A. v. Jack W. Collier
2014 WI 62 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2014)
Charolais Breeding Ranches, Ltd. v. Wiegel
285 N.W.2d 720 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1979)
In re Physicians & Dentists Investment Corp.
258 F. Supp. 793 (D. South Carolina, 1966)
Elliott v. Regan
79 N.W.2d 657 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1956)
Charnesky v. Urban
14 N.W.2d 161 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1944)
Klineschmidt v. Schmidt
60 F.2d 770 (Seventh Circuit, 1932)
Fidelity Union Casualty Co. v. Hanson
44 S.W.2d 985 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1932)
Bracewell v. Hughes
242 N.W. 66 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1931)
Cadwalader v. Commissioner
15 B.T.A. 1 (Board of Tax Appeals, 1929)
Reining v. Nevison
213 N.W. 609 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1927)
Carroll v. Hannon
136 A. 212 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1927)
Tune v. Vaughan
281 S.W. 906 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1926)
Anderson v. Billingsly
189 N.W. 986 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1922)
Tormey v. Miller
160 P. 858 (California Court of Appeal, 1916)
First National Bank of Broadway v. Cootes
81 S.E. 844 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1914)
Drew v. Ft. Payne Co.
65 So. 71 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1914)
British & American Mortgage Co. v. Stuart
210 F. 425 (Fifth Circuit, 1914)
Pope v. Title Guaranty & Surety Co.
140 N.W. 348 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1913)
In re Ransford
194 F. 658 (Sixth Circuit, 1912)
Bacon v. George
92 N.E. 721 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 N.W. 417, 109 Wis. 648, 1901 Wisc. LEXIS 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bank-of-commerce-v-elliott-wis-1901.