Dickinson Industrial Site, Inc. v. Cowan

309 U.S. 382, 60 S. Ct. 595, 84 L. Ed. 819, 1940 U.S. LEXIS 1167
Supreme Court of the United States·Decided April 8, 1940·No. 386·Published·Cited by 122 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Douglas

delivered the opinion of the Court.

A plan of reorganization of petitioner under § 77B of the Bankruptcy Act (48 Stat. 912) was confirmed on Feb *383 ruary 23, 1938. Respondents are members of a bondholders’ committed who sought an allowance in those proceedings. On October 26, 1938, they were awarded $2,000 for services rendered, $20,000 having been asked. On November 25, 1938, they petitioned the Circuit Court of Appeals for leave to appeal from that order. The appeal was allowed. Petitioner moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the Court of Appeals had no jurisdiction to allow it, the argument being that respondents had an appeal as of right which could only be taken by filing a notice of appeal in the District Court. The Circuit Court of Appeals denied petitioner’s motion to dismiss and modified the order by increasing the allowance to $10,000. 104 F. 2d 771. We granted certiorari because of a conflict of that ruling with London v. O’Dougherty, 102 F. 2d 524, which held that appeals from compensation orders involving $500 or more could be had as a matter of right under the Chandler Act (52 Stat. 840).

First. The Circuit- Court of Appeals held that the provisions of the Chandler Act, which became effective on September 22, 1938 (§7), were applicable to this appeal. We think that follows from § 6 (b) of the Act which states that “Except as otherwise provided in this amend-atory Act, the provisions of this amendatory Act shall govern proceedings so far as practicable in cases pending when it takes effect; . . .” Where, as here, appeal is taken after the effective date of the Act, it is clearly “practicable” to apply the new appeal provisions. Contrary to respondents’ contention, § 276 (c) (2) is not applicable to appeals. It provides that the provisions of Ch. X (the successor to § 77B) shall apply to pending proceedings “to the extent that the judge shall deem their application practicable” where the petition in such proceedings was approved more than three months before the effective date of the amendatory Act. But that relates solely to proceedings in the district court. The *384 “judge” referred to in that section means a “judge of a court of bankruptcy.” § 1 (20). Such court does not include the Circuit Court of Appeals. § 1 (10). Hence the application .of the new appeal provisions to this type of case is not dependént on a determination of practicability by the district judge under § 276 (c) (2).

Second. Petitioner’s argument that the appeal in this case could be taken as a matter of .right requires an analysis of § 24 and § 250 of the Chandler Act. Sec. 24 provides in part:

“a. The Circuit Courts of Appeals of the United States and- the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in vacation, in chambers, and during their respective terms, as now or as they may be hereafter held, are hereby invested with appellate jurisdiction from the several courts of bankruptcy in their respective jurisdictions in proceedings in bankruptcy, either interlocutory or final, and in controversies arising in proceedings, in bankruptcy, to review, affirm, revise, or reverse, both in matters of law and in matters of fact: Provided, however, That the jurisdiction upon appeal from a judgment on a verdict rendered by a jury, shall extend to matters of Jaw only: Provided further, That when any order, decree, or judgment involves less than $500, an appeal therefrom may be taken only upon allowance of the appellate court.
“b. Such appellate jurisdiction shall be exerdised by appeal and in the form and manner of an appeal.”

Sec. 250 provides:

“Appeals may be taken in matters of law or fact front orders making or refusing to make allowances of compensation or reimbursement, and may, in the manner and within the time provided for appeals by this Act, be taken to and allowed by the circuit court of appeals independently of other appeals in the proceeding, and shall be summarily heard upon the original'papers;”

*385 Petitioner contends that Congress by § 24 created a single test — the amount of the order appealed from — for determining whether leave to appeal was necessary and that the words “allowed by” in § 250 refer to appeals from orders of allowances of less than $500.

Our view, however, is that appeals from all orders making or refusing to make allowances of compensation or reimbursement under Ch. X of the Chandler Act may be had only at the discretion of the Circuit Court of Appeals.

Under § 77B (c) (9) it was provided that “appeals from orders fixing such allowances may be taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals independently of other appeals in the proceeding and shall be heard summarily.” And it was held by this Court in Shulman v. Wilson-Sheridan Hotel Co., 301 U. S. 172, that those appeals could not be had as a matter of right but only in the discretion of the appellate court as provided in former § 24 (b). That was the way the matter stood when § 250 was drafted. The history of that section 1 shows that it was derived from § 77B (c) (9). But, significantly, the words “and allowed by” were added — words not present in § 77B (c) (9). The result plainly was (1) to carry over into the new.act the rule of Shulman v. Wilson-Sheridan Hotel Co., supra, and (2) to set apart in a separate section the provisions for appeals from that type of order so as to make those appeals no longer dependent on § 24, which had become, a storm center for the revisionists. 2 If the House did not intend the latter result, then the addition of the words “and allowed by” were wholly needless, as under the House revision of § 24 appeals from compensa *386 tion orders would have been discretionary.with the appellate court. 3

*387 Hence under the House Bill as it reached the Senate, it seems clear that no such appeals could be had as a matter of right. In the Senate the present § 24 was substituted for the House provision; but the present § 250 was not altered in any respect material here. It is clear from the Senate hearings and Committee Report that the Senate was interested only in the elimination from § 24 of the old distinctions between “controversies arising in bankruptcy proceedings” and “proceedings” in bankruptcy. 4 There was not the slightest intimation of any *388 dissatisfaction with the rule of Shulman v. Wilson-Sheridan Hotel Co., supra, or with § 250 as it passed the House. To be sure, the Senate Committee Report is somewhat ambiguous. 5 But it.

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Dickinson Industrial Site, Inc. v. Cowan, 309 U.S. 382, 60 S. Ct. 595, 84 L. Ed. 819, 1940 U.S. LEXIS 1167 (1940).

309 U.S. 382 (Dickinson Industrial Site, Inc. v. Cowan) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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