Beach v. Macon Grocery Co.

125 F. 513, 60 C.C.A. 557, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4188
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided October 17, 1903·No. No. 1,267·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

SHELBY, Circuit Judge.

This litigation was begun by the creditors of Asa N. Beach filing a petition in involuntary bankruptcy and an ancillary bill in the District Court against him, praying the appointment of a receiver to take charge of his property. It was alleged that Julia M. Dixon claimed to be the owner and was in possession of a large part of the property, but that her claim was fraudulent and unfounded, and that the property was in fact owned by Asa N. Beach. An ex parte order was made appointing a receiver as prayed for. Answers were filed by Beach and Miss Dixon denying the averments of the bill, and motions were made seeking the discharge of the receiver. These motions were denied by the court. On the application of the receiver, and against the objections of Miss Dixon, the receiver was ordered to sell part of the property, which he did, and the sale was confirmed. Beach and Miss Dixon joined in a petition to superintend and revise these orders. Their petition was granted by this court, and the several orders of the District Court were reversed. In the sale by the receiver Miss Dixon had bought the property which was claimed by her, and regained possession of it. This court directed that where parts of the property claimed by her had been sold by the receiver and purchased and paid for in cash by her,' the receiver should be directed to return to her the money so paid by her, and that she be allowed to retain possession of the property as original claimant in adverse possession, and not as, purchaser at the sale. On the question of the costs and expenses of the receivership the court made an order taxing the Macon Grocery Company, Inman Smith & Co., and J. Regenstein, the petitioners who instituted the proceedings in bankruptcy and filed the ancillary bill, “with the costs in this court, and with the costs of the proceedings on the ancillary bill to appoint a receiver, and with the costs of the receivership, including the com[514]*514pensation of the receiver and his expenses, to be ascertained and allowed by direction of the District Court.” Beach v. Macon Grocery Company, 116 Fed. 143, 53 C. C. A. 463.

The mandate of this court having gone to the District Court, questions were raised as to the construction of the order made by this court. The property seized by the receiver consisted in part of 15 mules, 1 horse, 2 mares, 2 colts, and some cattle and hogs. The receiver took this property, or nearly all of it, from the possession of Miss' Dixon on a farm in the country, and carried it into the town, where it was kept at a cost of “$13 or $14 a day.” It was agreed that the expenses of the keeping of this stock and feeding it while so in the possession of the receiver amounted in the aggregate to $325. Construing the order and mandate of this court, the learned judge of the District Court adjudged that the petitioners and complainants in the bankruptcy court should pay to the defendants in the court below “the amounts heretofore allowed and paid out by the receiver, out of the funds in his hands, for costs of the receivership, embracing the receiver’s compensation and the receiver’s own expenses.” But the learned judge added “that the same does not embrace or apply to the expenses of the receivership in the necessary preservation and keeping of the estate and property in his hands, which last it is ordered and adjudged is a proper charge against the fund, and shall be deducted from the amount which is to be refunded.” Beach and Miss Dixon, defendants in the court below, filed the petition that is now before the court seeking to revise this order. In addition to reciting the facts relating to the order sought to be revised, reference is made to the record in the first case (116 Fed. 143, 53 C. C. A. 463), and the record in that case is made a part of the petition.

The District Court held, as we have stated, that the expenses of the receivership in the necessary preservation and keeping of the estate and property in his hands should be deducted from the amount which the receiver was to refund to the defendants. Construing that order by the record in the case, it means that the receiver should retain $325, the amount paid out for keeping the stock which had been taken from the defendants’ farm by the receiver and kept by him, as he states in his report, at a cost of $13 or $14 a day. It will be observed that the order of this court was not confined to the compensation of the receiver and the costs of the receivership. It includes also “his expenses.” As no particular expense or expenses are enumerated, the order necessarily includes all of the expenses of the receivership. That it was not intended that any part of the money paid into court by Miss Dixon to obtain possession of her property should be retained by the receiver on any pretext is clearly shown, we think, by the. third paragraph of the order. It is there said that the receiver should be directed to return to her the money so paid by her, and that she be allowed to retain possession of her property she had bought at the receiver’s sale' as original claimant in adverse possession, and not as purchaser at the sale. It is not ordered that the receiver be directed to return the money, less any expenses or costs of the receivership, or less any charges or disbursements. The plain direction is that her monej should be returned to her. We think, therefore, that a [515]*515proper construction of the order and mandate of the court, considering both sections 3 and 6 of the order, does not permit the receiver to retain the $325 expenses paid by him in taking care of the stock.

It is a principle of general application that, if the appointment of a receiver is erroneous or void, and the adverse party does not acquiesce in it, but continues to contest it to a successful termination, any compensation which may have accrued to the receiver in the meantime, and his expenses incurred in the administration of the estate, should be taxed to the parties who applied to have the appointment made. On the other hand, if the appointment of the receiver is sustained, and the applicant obtains the relief sought by him in the pending suit, the items of expenses growing out of the receivership are proper charges against the unsuccessful defendants, and are chargeable and payable from his property in the possession of the court. We do not understand that the learned counsel for the respondents controverts these general rules. His position is that, the expenditure in question, having been made to preserve the property, is not an expense of the receivership within the meaning of the mandate, and that under the circumstances of this case the $325 paid to feed and care for the stock is not “an expense of the receivership.” Authorities are quoted to sustain this contention. Excerpts from three cases are quoted. On examination of the cases we think that they do not sustain the contention.

The point decided in Cassidy v. Harrelson, 1 Colo. App. 458, 29 Pac. 525, is but an affirmance of the general principle that, “a receiver having been appointed by the court on application of the interveners in a cause wherein they were not entitled to intervene, the costs incident to the appointment were properly chargeable against them”; that is, against the unsuccessful parties. The court did say, as quoted by counsel, in the course of the opinion:

“It is probably true that there are many items of expense which would be incurred in the care and custody of the cattle, in the shape of ordinary expenses incident to the running of the herd, which could not legitimately be taken as a part of the costs of the receivership.

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Beach v. Macon Grocery Co., 125 F. 513, 60 C.C.A. 557, 1903 U.S. App. LEXIS 4188 (5th Cir. 1903).

125 F. 513 (Beach v. Macon Grocery Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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