Campbell v. Alleghany Corporation

75 F.2d 947, 1935 U.S. App. LEXIS 3110
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMarch 2, 1935
Docket3831, 3845
StatusPublished
Cited by65 cases

This text of 75 F.2d 947 (Campbell v. Alleghany Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. Alleghany Corporation, 75 F.2d 947, 1935 U.S. App. LEXIS 3110 (4th Cir. 1935).

Opinion

PARKER, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order confirming a plan of reorganization of a debt- or corporation under section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act (Act of June 7, 1934, c. 424, 48 Stat. 912, 11 USCA § 207). On November 28, 1934, the corporation, which for some time had been unable to pay its debts as they matured, filed its petition for relief under section 77B in the court below, and on the same day the petition was approved by the District Judge. On December 1st it submitted its plan of reorganization affecting the rights of certain bondholders, and on December 7th, pursuant to order of court, gave notice to all stockholders, bondholders, and other creditors that it was asking the court to approve the plan, sending copy of the plan with the notice. The holders of 77 per cent, of the bonds affected by the plan accepted it in writing, although the acceptance of most of these was before the petition was filed and that of a considerable number before the passage of the act of June 7th. On December 29th, after full hearing, the court approved and confirmed the plan, finding that it was fair and equitable, that it did not discriminate unfairly in favor of any class of creditors or stockholders, that it was feasible, and that it had been accepted in accordance with subdivision (e), § 77B, of the act (11 USCA § 207 (e).

This appeal is brought by one Thomas Campbell, the owner of bonds of the par value of $26,000 of the issue of $24,532,000 affected by the plan of reorganization. He objected to the plan in the court below on various grounds; but on this appeal he raises no question as to the findings of the court with respect thereto, except as to the sufficiency of the written acceptances by the bondholders of the plan of reorganization. He contends: (1) That the corporation has not secured the consent to the plan of two-thirds of the bondholders affected, in that the written acceptances filed with the court were given, as he contends, to a plan of corporate refinancing as distinguished from a plan of reorganization under section 77B; and (2) that section 77B violates the provisions and guaranties of the Constitution of the United States.

On the first question, it appears that, on March 15, 1934, the corporation sent out to the holders of its twenty-year collateral trust convertible 5 per cent, bonds, due April 1, 1950, which are the bonds affected by the plan of reorganization, a letter proposing a plan for refinancing the interest thereon during the ensuing five year period. Without going into the details of this plan, it is sufficient to say that it provided for the issuance of certain “prior preferred convertible stock” of the corporation in lieu of the interest coupons which would mature during the period, and gave to the holders of bonds the option to convert them into common stock of the corporation if they so desired. Accompanying the letter which proposed this plan of refinancing was a “letter of transmittal” to be signed by the holders of bonds, in accepting the plan, and to accompany a deposit of bonds with the company for the purpose of carrying it out. This letter of transmittal authorized and directed the corporation “to do or cause to ,be done all things necessary or appropriate fully to carry out said plan.” It also authorized and directed the corporation “to hold said bonds and to deal therewith as set forth in said Plan” and “fully to carry out the provisions of said Plan and *950 to do or cause to be done all things necessary or appropriate in so doing.”

By November 28, 1934, $17,821,000 of the total of $24,532,000 of the bonds, or 72 per cent, thereof, had been deposited with the corporation accompanied by letters of transmittal accepting the plan proposed and authorizing the corporation to do all things necessary or appropriate to carry out its provisions. Of this $17,821,-000, the sum of $4,528,000 had been deposited prior to June 7, 1934, the effective date of the Corporate Reorganization Act, and the remainder subsequent to that date. On November 28th, the directors of the corporation adopted a resolution declaring that, in view of the passage of the Corporate Reorganization Act, it was their judgment that sufficient bonds had been deposited under the plan, that the plan be declared operative subject to any ratifications that might be required under applicable federal legislation and to final confirmation by the United States District Court, and that the corporation forthwith file in that court a petition for reorganization pursuant to the plan. On the same day, a petition under section 77B was filed in the court below; and on December 1st a proposed plan of reorganization was filed with the court which was in all respects the plan proposed in the letter of March 15, 1934.

The court fixed December 28, 1934, as the date for the hearing to consider the plan of reorganization and ordered notice given to bondholders, creditors, and stockholders of the corporation. This notice was given; and a letter to bondholders from the corporation advised them that it had filed petition for the purpose of having the readjustment plan proposed in the letter of March 15th approved by the court as the plan of reorganization under federal law relating to corporate reorganizations. None of the bondholders who had deposited bonds or filed written acceptance of the plan attempted to reclaim the bonds or withdraw the acceptance given; but, on the contrary, additional bonds were deposited and additional acceptances were filed by. bondholders, so that at the time of the hearing the total amount of the bonds deposited was $18,992,000, or in excess of 77 per cent, of the bonds affected by the plan.

There can be no question, we think, but that this was a sufficient acceptance of the plan of reorganization to meet the requirements of subdivision (e). of section 77B. Not only does it appear that the identical plan submitted' to the court was accepted in writing by creditors holding more than two-thirds in amount of the bonds to be affected by the reorganization, but it also appears that in accepting it they authorized the corporation to do all things necessary or appropriate to carry it out. One of the things appropriate to accomplish this purpose was the filing of a petition for reorganization under section 77B; and the fact that this statute had not been passed at the time that some of the acceptances were given does not render action under it any the less appropriate. Furthermore, the fact that the bondholders who had accepted the plan in writing prior to the passage of the act did not attempt to withdraw their acceptance, when advised of the filing of the petition by the corporation and of its intention to use the acceptance in proceedings under the act, shows that they not only accepted the plan but also acquiesced in their acceptance being used for the purposes of a reorganization under the statute.

It is argued that the re.financing plan submitted in the letter of March 15th is different from the plan of reorganization sought under the statute in that the former, is voluntary and does not bind nonassenting bondholders, whereas the latter can be enforced against such nonassenting bondholders if accepted by the necessary two-thirds and approved and confirmed by the court. This, however, is not a difference in the plan but in the means of securing its adoption; and the very purpose of the statute was to provide means by which plans of reorganization approved by the court as fair and equitable might not be blocked by the, opposition of nonassenting minorities.

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Bluebook (online)
75 F.2d 947, 1935 U.S. App. LEXIS 3110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-alleghany-corporation-ca4-1935.