Brenner v. Brenner

85 F. Supp. 348, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2453
District Court, E.D. Missouri·Decided August 25, 1949·No. No. 269·Published

Opinion

HARPER, District Judge.

Plaintiff seeks recovery of possession of the real estate described in the petition and; for the reasonable rental value thereof from the 15th day of April, 1944. The facts-disclose that Edward Brenner died intestate-on November 22, 1938, seized in fee of the real estate in question. Plaintiff was one of' the heirs of Edward Brenner, owning am undivided one-eighth interest in the real estate.

On February 16, 1940, Fred B. Prewitt,, one of the heirs of Edward Brenner, other than the plaintiff, filed a partition suit in. the Circuit Court of Linn County, Missouri,, seeking to partition the real estate in controversy. The real estate was subject to & deed of trust given by Edward Brenner in. his lifetime to the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis, Missouri.

On May 31, 1941, plaintiff filed his petition under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy-Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 203, in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern Dis[349] trict of Missouri, Northern Division, seeking composition and extension of time to pay debts, which petition was approved by the District Court on June 4, 1941.

On June 23, 1941, an interlocutory decree was entered by the Circuit Court of Linn County in the partition suit directing the sheriff to sell the property. On June 26, 1941, Prewitt, the plaintiff in the partition suit, filed a motion with the District Court requesting the court to approve and to allow the order of partition and sale by the Circuit Court of Linn County, which motion was denied by the District Court on August 9, 1941.

On September 30, 1941, the plaintiff filed under Section 75, sub-section (s) of the Bankruptcy Act, his amended petition, stating further that he had been unable to obtain the acceptance of the majority of his creditors affected by said composition, and praying to be adjudged by the court a bankrupt within the purview of said Act.

On October 3, 1941, the District Court adjudicated plaintiff a bankrupt on his petition under sub-section (s) of Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act and referred the matter to the Conciliation Commissioner, Charles K. Hart.

On June 1, 1942, the order of sale under the partition suit previously entered by the Circuit Court of Linn County, Missouri, on June 23, 1941, was renewed. On July 8, 1942, the real estate was sold by the sheriff of Linn County, Missouri, pursuant to the order of sale in the partition suit, and the report of sale was duly filed with the Circuit Court. The defendant, Marcedes Brenner, was the purchaser of this property at this sale. The defendant, Henry Brenner, as an heir of Edward Brenner, was the owner of an undivided one-eighth interest in the property. Henry Brenner is the husband of Marcedes Brenner, purchaser of the property at said sale.

On January 8, 1944, an order was made by the Conciliation Commissioner, setting aside exemptions under Sections 608 and 1324, Revised Statutes of Missouri for the year 1939, Mo.R.S.A., and the order further stayed all judicial or official proceedings for three years.

The plaintiff actively participated in the partition suit to the extent of appealing after the final order was made by the court and contested the ejectment suit brought by the defendant Marcedes Brenner, after the real estate was purchased by said defendant. As a result of said ejectment suit the plaintiff was evicted from the real estate in April, 1944.

Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act was passed by Congress to give relief to debtors who were farmers. To take advantage of this section of the Bankruptcy Act the petitioner must be a farmer. There is no question but what the plaintiff in this-case meets that requirement of the Act. The plaintiff owned only a one-eighth interest in the real estate in question, but the Act itself, in Section 75, sub. (s) (4) states that “the provisions of this title shall beheld to apply also to partnerships, common,, entirety, joint, community ownerships * #»

This matter has been passed upon by the Supreme Court in the case of Mangus v. Miller, 317 U.S. 178, 63 S.Ct. 182, 87 L.Ed. 169. The court said, 317 U.S. loc. cit. 184,. 63 S.Ct. loc. cit. 185: “ * * * one joint tenant is authorized to file his petition under § 75 and subject his interest to the jurisdiction of the 'bankruptcy court just as-he may under § 70 of the general Bankruptcy Act [11 U.S.C.A. § 110].”

The fact th-at the plaintiff contested this matter in the State courts has been held by the Supreme Court to be of no consequence. Kalb v. Feuerstein, 308 U.S. 433,. 60 S.Ct. 343, 84 L.Ed. 370. The court said in that case, 308 U.S. loc. cit. 439, 60 S.Ct. loc. cit. 346: “The States cannot, in the exercise of control over local laws and practice, vest State courts with power to violate the supreme law of the land. The Constitution grants Congress exclusive power to-regulate bankruptcy and under this power Congress can limit the jurisdiction which courts, State or Federal, can exercise over the person and property of a debtor who-duly invokes the bankruptcy law. If Congress has vested in the bankruptcy courts-exclusive jurisdiction over farmer-debtors and their property, and has by its Act with[350] drawn from all other courts all power under any circumstances to maintain and enforce foreclosure proceedings against them, its Act is the supreme law of the land which all courts — State and Federal — must observe.” In the Kalb case, the Wisconsin courts had permitted a foreclosure of land during pendency of a bankruptcy petition filed by a farmer-debtor, but the Supreme Court held under the facts in that case that the foreclosure was void.

There is some question in this case as to whether or not because of the minority interest of the plaintiff it was necessary that the other parties interested in the land be joined in the action. Buss v. Prudential Insurance Company, 126 F.2d 960, 961, an 8th Circuit Court of Appeals case, deals with this question at length. But in the case at bar there is no reason to concern ourselves with this problem because of the facts in the case.

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Brenner v. Brenner, 85 F. Supp. 348, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2453 (E.D. Mo. 1949).

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Related

Mangus v. Miller
317 U.S. 178 (Supreme Court, 1942)
Kalb v. Feuerstein
308 U.S. 433 (Supreme Court, 1940)
Buss v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America
126 F.2d 960 (Eighth Circuit, 1942)
Hardt v. Kirkpatrick
91 F.2d 875 (Ninth Circuit, 1937)
Paradise Land & Livestock Co. v. Federal Land Bank
118 F.2d 215 (Tenth Circuit, 1941)
Skinner v. Dingwell
134 F.2d 391 (Eighth Circuit, 1943)