Central Trust Co. v. George Lueders & Co.

221 F. 829, 137 C.C.A. 387, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1374
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 2, 1915
DocketNo. 2539
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 221 F. 829 (Central Trust Co. v. George Lueders & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Trust Co. v. George Lueders & Co., 221 F. 829, 137 C.C.A. 387, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1374 (6th Cir. 1915).

Opinion

KNAPPEN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from the order of the District Court allowing the claims of the appellees against the bankrupt estate as prior lien claims upon the property and effects of the bankrupt, by virtue of section 2487 of the Kentucky Statutes. The statute is printed in the margin of this opinion.1

The grounds of attack upon the order are (1) that the statute invoked is unconstitutional and in conflict with the Bankruptcy Act; (2) that the statute does not relate to manufacturing establishments other than those similar to rolling mills and foundries; and (3) that the bankrupt did not own or operate a manufacturing establishment.

j'1-3] 1. The asserted ground of unconstitutionality is that the statute unreasonably discriminates in favor of those who furnish materials and supplies to manufacturing establishments, as against those furnishing money or machinery to the same establishments, as well as those furnishing materials and supplies to establishments not engaged in manufacturing, and discriminates against manufacturing establishments in favor of other establishments. We think this contention without merit.

The rule is well settled that the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment does not take from the states the power to classify the subjects of legislation, but leaves to the Fegislatures a wide field of discretion in that regard, avoiding such classification only when unreasonable and arbitrary, and that a legislative classification is presumed to be reasonable unless it is apparent that there was and could be. no reasonable basis therefor. Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Cas Co., 220 U. S. 61, 73-78, 31 Sup. Ct. 337, 55 L. Ed. 369, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 160, and cases there cited; Jeffrey Mfg. Co. v. Blagg, 235 U. [832]*832S. 571, 577, 35 Sup. Ct. 167, 59 L. Ed. We see nothing arbitrary or unreasonable in preferring materialmen, whose supplies enter into the marketed product, over sellers of machinery, upon which liens for the purchase price may well be reserved, or over those loaning money, who not infrequently are in position to exact personal security or indorsement, nor in either of the other respects complained of. We cite in the margin several decisions of the Supreme Court which we think amply sustain the validity of this statute against the criticisms urged.2 The statute in no way conflicts with the Bankruptcy Act. Section ,64b of the act provides that:

“The debts to have priority, except as herein provided, and to be paid in full out of bankrupt estates, and the order of payment shall be: * * * (5) debts owing to any person who by the laws of the states or the United States is entitled to priority.”

It was expressly held by this court in the Bennett Case that this section of the Bankruptcy Act adopts the Kentucky statute in question, and makes it the applicable federal law in determining priorities. 153 Fed. at page 674, 82 C. C. A. 531.

[4] 2. The proposition that the statute relates to manufacturing establishments only of the class of rolling mills and foundries, invokes the doctrine of ejusdem generis. We think this question should be regarded as foreclosed against appellant’s contention by the repeated decisions of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky and of this court, extending over a period of several years. In Winter v. Howell’s Assignee (1900) 109 Ky. 163, 58 S. W. 591, the statute was applied to the case of one whose business was the sale of mixed paints and the manufacture of a cut-off for a cistern. In Graham v. Magann Fawke Lumber Co., 118 Ky. 192, 80 S. W. 799, 4 Ann. Cas. 1026, and in Bogard v. Tyler, 119 Ky. 637, 55 S. W. 709, it was held that a sawmill was a manufacturing establishment within the meaning of this, statute. In Hall & Son v. Guthrie’s Sons (Ky.) 103 S. W. 721. a flouring mill was held to be a manufacturing establishment within the same statute. In the case of In re Bennett, 153 Fed. 673, 82 C. C. A. 531, the priority provided by the statute was applied by this court in the case of a manufacturer of barrels in favor of the seller of heading and staves; and in Re Starks-Ullman Saddlery Co. (1909) 171 Fed. 834, 96 C. C. A. 506, the statute was held by this court to apply to the manufacture of harnesses, bridles, and other horse leather goods. True, in the Bennett Case the application of the statute was not directly discussed; but in the later case of Starks-Ullman Saddlery Co. it was said of the claims involved in the Bennett Case that they “were indisputably for materials and supplies furnished for the ‘carrying on’ of an indisputable manufacturing business.” 171 Fed. a.t page 835, 96 C. C. A. at [833]*833page 507. It is true that in none of the cases cited was the doctrine of ejusdem generis referred to; but that rule is merely an aid in determining legislative intent, and each of the decisions referred to necessarily involved the finding of legislative intent as including the establish'.ieuts held respectively to be included within the “manufacturing establishments” of the statute, and so is necessarily inconsistent with the construction here urged. That the reason here assigned for finding a different legislative intent was not mentioned in the opinions referred to would not, in view of the language and history of the statute, justify us in reaching a different conclusion. The fact that since the disposition of this case below the Legislature of Kentucky has amended the statute by the omission of manufacturing establishments does not, in our opinion, affect the question of legislative intent in the passage of this act 30 years or more previous to such amendment.

[5J 3. The remaining question, viz., whether the bankrupt’s business was that of manufacturing, presents greater difficulties. The subject was elaborately discussed below by Judge Cochran, in an opinion reported as In re Rheinstrom & Sons Co., 207 Fed. 119. The purpose of the bankrupt's business, as stated in its articles of incorporation, is “buying, selling, dealing, preserving, and packing fruits, vegetables, fruil products, and similar articles, in the state of Ohio and elsewhere.’' Its actual business was confined to putting up and selling what are popularly known on the market as “Maraschino cherries,” but which were not actually such.

According to the record here, the real Maraschino cherry is grown in Dalmatia, Austria.3 The cherries used by the bankrupt were large, white-meated, free stone cherries, grown in Greece or Italy; they were packed with the stems on, bleached by a sulphuring process, and finally placed in casks, where they were immersed in a solution of brine and sulphurous acid, to prevent fermentation and spoiling while in transit. The treatment up to this point was done by the foreign grower. The bankrupt purchased the cherries in the condition stated. At the bankrupt's establishment the casks were emptied, the cherries washed in various changes of water to effectually remove the brine and acid. They were then stemmed by hand, then pitted by machinery, then washed again in various changes of water to remove any trace of brine or acid which might have penetrated the meat of the cherry. The washings consumed about 24 hours, their object being to restore the cherries as nearly as possible to their condition before packing in the brine and acid solution.

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Bluebook (online)
221 F. 829, 137 C.C.A. 387, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1374, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-trust-co-v-george-lueders-co-ca6-1915.