Cleveland Insurance v. Globe Insurance

98 U.S. 366, 25 L. Ed. 201, 1878 U.S. LEXIS 1393
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedMarch 18, 1879
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 98 U.S. 366 (Cleveland Insurance v. Globe Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cleveland Insurance v. Globe Insurance, 98 U.S. 366, 25 L. Ed. 201, 1878 U.S. LEXIS 1393 (1879).

Opinions

Mr. Chief Justice Waite

delivered the opinion of the court.

On the 2d of May, 1872, the Globe Insurance Company, of Cincinnati, filed a petition in the Dictrict Court of the United [367]*367States for the Northern District of Ohio, sitting in bankruptcy, against the Cleveland Insurance Company, asking to have the last-named company adjudged a bankrupt. To this petition the Cleveland Insurance Company in due time appeared and filed its answer, and on the 16th of October, 1874, after hearing in the District Court, a judgment was entered dismissing the petition. On the 16th of December, a bill of exceptions was signed by the district judge and filed in the cause, which contained a statement of all the evidence submitted upon the hearing, with the findings of the District Court thereon both as to the facts and the law. On the same day, the following writ of error, omitting the mere formal parts, was sued out of the Circuit Court: —

“ Because in the record and proceedings, and also in the rendition of judgment, in a certain matter which is in the said District Court in bankruptcy before you, wherein the Globe Insurance Company is petitioning creditor against the Cleveland Insurance Company, debtor, a manifest error hath happened, to the great damage of the said Globe Insurance Company, as by its complaint appears; and it being fit that the error, if any there hath been, should be duly corrected, and full and speedy justice done to the parties aforesaid in this behalf, you are hereby commanded, if judgment be therein given, that then, under your seal, distinctly and openly, you send the recoi’d and proceedings, with all things concerning the same, to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Sixth Circuit and Northern District of Ohio, together with this writ, so that you have the same at Cleveland, in said district, on the fifth day of January next, in the said Circuit Court to be then and there held, that the record and proceedings aforesaid being inspected, the said Circuit Court may cause further to be done therein to correct that error what of right and according to the law and custom of the United States should be done.”

On the next day, in obedience to the command of this writ, a transcript of the proceedings and judgment of the District Court, including the bill of exceptions, was sent to the Circuit Court, andón the 27th of November, 1876, the Cleveland Insurance Company appeared in the Circuit Court and moved to dismiss the writ, for the following reasons : —

[368]*368“ 1st, Because this being a petition in involuntary bankruptcy, where the bankrupt or debtor demanded no jury, but hearing was had to the court, the case is not removable into this court by writ of error, but by petition for review, or other proper process under the first clause of the second section of the Bankrupt Act.
“ 2d, Because the debt or damages claimed in the petition herein do not amount to more than $500; in fact, no debt or damages are claimed at all.
“ 3d, Because the writ of error herein was not sued out or taken within ten days after the entry of the decree or decision of the District Court herein, nor were the statutes regulating the granting of writs of error complied with within ten days after the entry of the decree or decision of the District Court.”

This motion was overruled, and on the 15th of June, 1876, the Circuit Court, after hearing, “ as well upon the transcript of the judgment and other proceedings between the parties in the District Court; . . . brought here by writ of error from this court to said District Court, as also upon the matters by the said Globe Insurance Company herein assigned for error,” entered its judgment as follows : —

“ Therefore, it is considered that the judgment aforesaid for the errors aforesaid be reversed, annulled, and altogether held for naught, and that the said Globe Insurance Company be restored to all things which it has lost by occasion of said judgment, and recover against the said Cleveland Insurance Company its costs in this behalf expended, taxed at $60.65.
“ And thereupon it is ordered that a special mandate be sent down to said District Court to carry this judgment into execution. And it is further ordered that this cause be remanded to the said District Court by writ of procedendo, commanding the judge of said court to proceed according to law to set aside its order dismissing the petition of the said Globe Insurance Company, and thereupon to adjudge the said Cleveland Insurance Company bankrupt, as prayed for in and by said petition of said Globe Insurance Company, and further to proceed in said matter in such manner according to the laws of the land as he shall see proper, the said writ of error to the contrary notwithstanding.”

[369]*369To reverse this judgment the present writ of error has been sued out of this court by the Cleveland Insurance Company, and the Globe Insurance Company now moves to dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction.

In Sandusky v. National Bank (23 Wall. 289) and Hill v. Thompson (94 U. S. 322) it was decided that the only remedy provided for the correction of errors in a proceeding in the District Court for an adjudication in bankruptcy was such as could be had under the supervisory jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, and as to that jurisdiction it is well settled that the action of the Circuit Court is final and not subject to review in this court. The correctness of these decisions is conceded, but the plaintiff in error claims that as the Circuit Court could only take jurisdiction under its supervisory power, and the case was actually taken to that court by writ of error, this court, under the rule laid down in Stickney v. Wilt (23 Wall. 150), must reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court, and remand the cause with instructions to grant the motion to dismiss the writ.

The section of the Revised Statutes which grants to the Circuit Court its supervisory jurisdiction is as follows: —

“ Sect. 4986. The Circuit Court for each district shall have a general superintendence and jurisdiction of all cases and questions arising in the District Court for such district when sitting as a court in bankruptcy; . . . and, except when special provision is otherwise made, may, upon bill, petition, or other proper process, of any party aggrieved, hear and determine the case as in a court of equity; and the powers and jurisdiction hereby granted may be exercised either by the court in term time or in vacation by the circuit justice or the circuit judge of the circuit.”

No particular form of proceeding is required in order to take the case to the Circuit Court for review under this jurisdiction. It is sufficient if some “ proper process ” for that purpose is employed; and in Insurance Company v. Comstock (16 Wall. 259), which, like this, was a suit in involuntary bankruptcy against an insurance company, this court held that a writ of error was “ proper process ” when the questions to be re-examined arose upon a bill of exceptions taken at a jury trial under [370]*370sect. 5026, Rev. Stat., to ascertain the alleged fact of bankruptcy.

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471 F.2d 178 (Second Circuit, 1973)
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Burke v. Globe Ins.
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Cleveland Insurance v. Globe Insurance
98 U.S. 366 (Supreme Court, 1879)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 U.S. 366, 25 L. Ed. 201, 1878 U.S. LEXIS 1393, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-insurance-v-globe-insurance-scotus-1879.