Continental & Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Chicago Title & Trust Co.

199 F. 704, 118 C.C.A. 142, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1752
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided June 24, 1912·No. No. 1,894·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

SEAMAN, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The appellant bank is successor in interest and liability to the Federal Trust & Savings Bank, original defendant named in the bill filed by appellee, as trustee in bankruptcy, to recover the amount of alleged unlawful preferences obtained from the bankrupt, Earl H. Prince; and this appeal is from a decree which approves the master’s report therein and awards such recovery upon two transactions, namely: One of $575.79, as a balance of certain deposits made by the bankrupt under special arrangement with the bank, between February 10th and 14th, appropriated by the bank immediately prior to the bankruptcy proceedings, and the other amounting to $4,250 for so-called “margin certificates” theretofore issued by the bank for special deposits made by the bankrupt, which were obtained and appropriated by the bank on February 15th, the day on which the proceedings. in bankruptcy were instituted. Both amounts were applied by the bank as credits upon pre-existing indebtedness of the bankrupt under promissory notes. The circumstances attending these transactions, together with the facts from which the nature of each must be ascertained, are not only settled by the master’s findings of fact, but are undisputed.

[1] While objection is urged to inferences of fact found by the master as to the mutual intention of the parties in the outcome — ■ in substance to benefit the bank out of such assets to the exclusion of other creditors — as unwarranted by evidence, we believe no doubt is entertainable of the intention to give and obtain a preference over other creditors, with mutual knowledge of the bankrupt’s insolvency, if, in other respects, the transactions (one or both) were violations of the Bankruptcy Act. The issue in each instance, therefore, is one of law, whether the amounts thus obtained and applied constituted' unlawful preferences, with the solution of each resting on established facts as to the relation existing between the bankrupt and the bank in the matters so applied.

Counsel for the appellant contends for reversal mainly, if not entirely, on this proposition in substance: That the various deposits by the bankrupt, out of which these appropriations arose, were made and carried in the common relation of debtor and creditor, and were thus subject to the right of set-off provided by section 68 of the Bankruptcy Act — as upheld and defined by the Supreme Court in N. Y. County Bank v. Massey, 192 U. S. 138, 141, 24 Sup. Ct. 199, 48 L. Ed. 380, and by this court in Re George M. Hill Co., 130 Fed. 315, 64 C. C. A. 561, 66 L. R. A. 68, so that both method and fact of appropriation by the bank become immaterial, either amount being enforceable in such relation, as against the trustee in bankruptcy.

[2] The citations referred to rest on the general and well-settled doctrine of the relation created between banker and depositor, when [709]*709deposits are made upon general account in the ordinary course peculiar to banking business; and in the absence of proof that the deposit was otherwise intended and received, it may rightly be presumed that such was the nature of the transaction. On the other hand, it is equally well settled that deposits may be made and accepted for specified purposes, not within the general rule, whereby “the bank becomes bailee of the depositor” (Marine Bank v. Fulton Bank, 2 Wall. 252, 256, 17 L. Ed. 785; Scammon v. Kimball, Assignee, 92 U. S. 362, 370, 23 L. Ed. 483), or trustee of the fund, with title thereto remaining in the depositor until the purpose of deposit is discharged; and the relation thereby established is not that of debtor and creditor, although it was not intended that the identical money so deposited was to be held for the payment. It is the fund, not the particular money deposited, which becomes the subject-matter of the bailment or trust (Woodhouse v. Crandall, 197 Ill. 104, 64 N. E. 292, 5 L. R. A. 385, and notes; Shopert v. Indiana Nat. Bank, 41 Ind. App. 515, 83 N. E. 515), as illustrated in Bank of Brodhead v. Smith, Trustee, 199 Fed. 704, decided by this court in an opinion filed April 23, 1912. The tenability, therefore, of the foregoing contention, hinges upon the inquiry whether the transactions in controversy arose out of general or special deposits under one or the other above-mentioned rules.

[3] 1. The first item of $575.79, charged as an unlawful preference, was a balance of deposit account standing in favor of the bankrupt and appropriated by the bank, February 14th, one day prior to the bankruptcy proceedings. Prince, the bankrupt, had long been engaged in business as dealer on the Chicago Board of Trade, and up to February 10th had an active general banking account with the Federal Trust & Savings Bank; also was indebted to the bank upon promissory notes in excess of $30,000. On February 10th, the bank “called” these loans and applied thereon $3,095 of the balance in favor of Prince in his bank account, leaving $3.25 as a balance of deposit account. Thereupon it was proposed and agreed on the part of the bank, if Prince “would thereafter make deposits to cover the same, it would pay certain salary and pay roll checks of employés of Prince and checks issued to the Board of Trade Clearing House.” Pursuant to this agreement deposits were made by Prince, February 10th, 11th, and 14th, aggregating $3,079, but entered on the books of the bank February 14th. Checks made by Prince for the stipulated purposes were paid by the bank aggregating $2,506.46. On February 14th — at a conference and arrangement for closing out the entire business of the bankrupt, as hereinafter mentioned — the balance of the deposit account then standing in his favor, $575.79, was charged off by the bank and applied upon his indebtedness to the bank. Irrespective of the master’s findings, that the arrangement of February 10th was “calculated to keep Prince going,” was “primarily in the interest of the bank,” and intended for its benefit to the exclusion of other creditors, we are of opinion that the deposits left and made thereunder constituted special deposits, well within the above-mentioned rule, whereby title to the un[710]*710expended fund remained in the bankrupt, so that the bank was without right, either to apply the residue upon his pre-existing indebtedness, or for allowance thereof against the trustee by way of set-off. Libby v. Hopkins, 104 U. S. 303, 306, 26 L. Ed. 769; Western Tie Co. v. Brown, 196 U. S..502, 507, 25 Sup. Ct. 339, 49 L. Ed. 571; Bank of Brodhead v. Smith, Trustee, supra.

[4] 2. The other charge of preference — in obtaining “margin certificates” for the aggregate sum o'f $4,250, on the day the petition in bankruptcy was filed, which were then credited upon the pre-existing indebtedness of the'bankrupt to the bank — involves like inquiry as to the nature of the certificate and deposit thereby certified, and consideration as well of the circumstances under which they were acquired by the bank. For both phases of the inquiry the facts in evidence are 'recited in the preceding statement for the purposes of this opinion, and the details do not require repetition, but the crucial facts may be'briefly stated.

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Continental & Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 199 F. 704, 118 C.C.A. 142, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1752 (7th Cir. 1912).

199 F. 704 (Continental & Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Chicago Title & Trust Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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