Cregg v. Merchants Trust Co.

143 N.E. 339, 248 Mass. 524, 1924 Mass. LEXIS 973
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedApril 12, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 143 N.E. 339 (Cregg v. Merchants Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cregg v. Merchants Trust Co., 143 N.E. 339, 248 Mass. 524, 1924 Mass. LEXIS 973 (Mass. 1924).

Opinion

Pierce, J.

This is an action of contract, brought by the plaintiff as trustee in bankruptcy of the estate of Daniel F. McCarthy, Jr., to recover the sum of $3,000 which the trustee alleges was paid as a preference to the defendant by the said McCarthy while he was insolvent, in violation of the bankruptcy act.

[526]*526It is not in dispute that McCarthy was adjudged an involuntary bankrupt on May 8, 1916; that the plaintiff was duly elected and now is trustee of said bankrupt; that the petition, filed on April 18,1916, showed his liabilities to be $7,666.90 and his assets $650. It is also not in dispute that the evidence warranted a finding that the defendant bank on a demand note, indorsed by Maurice J. Curran and William H. Donovan, on the sole responsibility of the indorsers, loaned the said McCarthy $5,000 in 1910, to start a business; that,in February, 1914, the amount due on this note was reduced to $1,700, and that in accordance with a new policy of the bank the demand note was changed to a time note, payable in three months, was indorsed by the same indorsers, and the loan raised to $3,000; that the evidence warranted a finding that the time note of $3,000 was not paid in whole or in part when due, but was renewed, in reliance on the sole responsibility of the same indorsers, every three months until April 1, 1916, the date of the alleged payment; that the defendant bank by the payment of the note on April 1, 1916, or by the set-off of certain deposits made by McCarthy in March, 1916, in the manner hereinafter described, received one hundred cents on the dollar of its debt, with the effect that all other creditors of the same class could receive as a final dividend no more than six cents on the dollar.

The facts in relation to the deposits and to the payment of the $3,000 note which are alleged by the trustee to have given a preferential advantage to the defendant, as shown by the bill of exceptions, in substance are that the bankrupt’s deposit in the bank where he carried his account averaged in January, 1916, about $150 a week; that his only deposits in February, 1916, were on February 9, $109 and on February 16, $72.50; that on February 29, 1916, there was a destructive fire in the store of the bankrupt, which originated in another part of the building; that the store was closed until about the last week in March, 1916; that while the store was closed the fire loss was adjusted; that the store of the bankrupt was located on the opposite side of the street in the same block as a branch of the defendant bank and the [527]*527treasurer of the defendant knew of the fire and that the store was closed.

The reported facts further show that, after the fire, no deposits were made in the McCarthy, Jr., account; that on March 7, 1916, a check for the full amount of the bankrupt’s account was transferred in the defendant bank to the name of Daniel F. McCarthy, agent, and in this account all subsequent deposits were made; that the fire insurance money, paid by draft payable to the bankrupt, was indorsed by him and deposited in this account, and all money received from the sale of merchandise was deposited in this account; that the check by which the account was withdrawn and then transferred to the account of Daniel F. McCarthy, agent, overdrew by $8.74 the bankrupt’s account, and this overdraft continued unpaid until the adjudication in bankruptcy of McCarthy, Jr., although notice had been immediately sent the bankrupt to make good the overdraft; that the deposits in the Daniel F. McCarthy, agent, account were thereafter as follows: on March 13, 1916, $2,781.09; on March 13, 1916, $6 or $8;-on March 15, 1916, $1,023.69; and thereafter other sums on other days until on April 1,1916, the day on which the note in question was paid, the McCarthy, agent, account amounted to $7,537.20. The defendant contended and the trial judge ruled that the preference, if any, occurred when the deposits in the agent account on March 7, 13 and 15 amounted to $3,000.

There was evidence which warranted a finding that the indorster Curran was at all material times a director of the defendant bank and a member of the executive committee, whose duty it was to pass on loans and renewals thereof; and as such member he passed upon the renewal of the said note of $3,000 a week or two previous to January 1, 1916. There was also evidence, which does not appear to have been excepted to, that Curran at all material times had knowledge that McCarthy, Jr., in 1910 gave anote of $6,500, with the indorsement of Maurice J. Curran and William H. Donovan to the Puritan Trust Company; that said note was not paid in whole or in part when the deposits were made in the agent account in March, 1916, or when the note [528]*528of the bankrupt was paid by check on such account on April 1, 1916.

Regarding the payment of the note by check, it appears by the evidence of the teller of the defendant bank that two weeks before the due date of the note he sent notice to McCarthy, Jr., of the time when the note would mature; and that on April 1, 1916, the due date of the note, he received a check in payment of the note; that this check was drawn on the account of Daniel F. McCarthy, agent, on deposit in the defendant bank at the time, and that he delivered the note with the indorsements thereon to the persons making payment thereof; that on March 23, 1916, there was a draft on the bankrupt for $351.79; that this draft was not paid, although the bankrupt was notified by the defendant of it; and that the defendant bank placed the draft in the hands of an attorney, for action. There was further evidence that the bankrupt was never asked by the defendant or its agents of his financial condition, and that he would have told them of such condition had he been asked; and also, the testimony of the treasurer that he never had considered the bankrupt apart from his indorsers good for a loan of $3,000.

The bill of exceptions does not state that it contains all the material facts or evidence of facts. At the close of the testimony for the plaintiff, the defendant moved for a directed verdict and assigned as reasons therefor, in substance, with other grounds now waived, that the evidence did not warrant the jury in finding that the defendant “ knew,” ought reasonably to have believed ” or had reasonable cause to believe ” that McCarthy, the maker of the note which was paid the defendant, was insolvent at the time of the payment referred to in the plaintiff’s declaration.”

The motion was denied rightly. The evidence was abundant to prove, and it is not now disputed, that the application of the March deposits to the note and the payment by check on such deposits on April 1,1916, enabled the defendant to obtain a greater percentage of his debt than other creditors, within four months of the filing of the petition’’ in bankruptcy. Manifestly this deposit and pay[529]*529ment of the note were a transfer within the meaning of § 60 a, of the bankruptcy act (U. S. Comp. Sts. § 9644). It is not disputed that McCarthy was insolvent when the transfer was made.

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Related

Wasserman v. Hollidge
166 N.E. 843 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1929)
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249 Mass. 401 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 N.E. 339, 248 Mass. 524, 1924 Mass. LEXIS 973, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cregg-v-merchants-trust-co-mass-1924.