Duncan v. Southern Savings Bank

200 S.E. 561, 59 Ga. App. 228, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 479
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 3, 1938
Docket27018
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 200 S.E. 561 (Duncan v. Southern Savings Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duncan v. Southern Savings Bank, 200 S.E. 561, 59 Ga. App. 228, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 479 (Ga. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

MacIntyre, J.

Duncan, the plaintiff in error, failed to pay a sum of money borrowed from Southern Savings Bank, the defendant in error, and filed a petition for extension in the Federal court for the northern district of Georgia as provided in § 74 of the bankruptcy act, 11 U. S. C. A. § 202. Southern Savings Bank refused to agree to the extension, but Duncan secured a judgment of extension against Southern Savings Bank which forced it to abide by the extension. The extension order granted by the referee in bank[229]*229ruptcy contained this clause: “If the debtor fails to live up to the schedules as herein provided, plaintiff may declare the balance of the indebtedness due and bring suit thereon.” Duncan then failed to abide by the extension himself, and refused to make any payments. Southern Savings Bank sued Duncan in the State court on two counts: (1) For money had and received. (2) On the extension agreement obtained against it by Duncan. When the case came on for trial, Duncan had filed his petition in bankruptcy where the claim was listed, but refused to file a plea of bankruptcy in the municipal court of Atlanta. Southern Savings Bank introduced evidence of bankruptcy, the judgment of extension, and the receipt of the money by Duncan, but Duncan still refused to file a plea of bankruptcy. Duncan then moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that only the Federal court had jurisdiction to try any case arising out of an extension, and that the suit on the extension should have been filed in the Federal court. This motion was denied.

“If the bankrupt is discharged, the certificate of the discharge would be a bar to any further prosecution of the suit. If the application for discharge is denied, the stay is at an end, and the suit proceeds to judgment. The suit in the State court being for the collection of a debt from which a discharge would be a release, there can be no doubt that the law required that the stay asked for should have been granted until the determination of the application for discharge.” Hunter v. Lissner, 1 Ga. App. 1, 3 (58 S. E. 54). However, in a suit for a debt in the State court, the defendant is not entitled as of right to a stay or abatement after he was adjudicated a bankrupt. Rogers v. Abbott, 206 (Mass.) 270 (92 N. E. 472, 138 Am. St. R. 394). The State court could not know or take judicial notice of a discharge in bankruptcy unless it was brought before it in some appropriate manner. The State does not lose jurisdiction of a case until the discharge is appropriately before it. Hunter v. Lissner, supra; Riggs v. Kinney, 37 Ga. App. 307, 309 (140 S. E. 41); Boynton v. Bell, 121 U. S. 457 (7 Sup. Ct. 981, 30 L. ed. 985).

“Bankruptcy is purely a matter oE Federal cognizance, arid, in the administration of the affairs of a bankrupt as such, bankruptcy courts and State courts are not courts of concurrent jurisdiction; in such matters the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy courts is para[230]*230mount and exclusive, irrespective of whether its possession of the bankrupt’s property is constructive or actual, and this jurisdiction can not properly be avoided or surrendered, although the court may consent to the determination of rights in another court, and may accept a State-court judgment in a proceeding as a liquidation of the party’s claim.” 8 C. J. S. 443, § 29. “The filing of a debtor’s petition or answer seeking relief under this section shall subject the debtor and his property, wherever located, to the exclusive jurisdiction of the court in which the order approving the petition or answer as provided in subdivision (a) is filed, and this shall include property of the debtor in the possession of a trustee under a trust deed or a mortgage, or a receiver, custodian, or other, officer of any court in a pending cause, irrespective of the date . . of the institution of such proceedings: Provided, that it shall not affect any proceeding in any court in which a final decree has been entered. I11 proceedings under this section, except as otherwise provided therein, the jurisdiction and powers of the court, the title, powers, and duties of its officers and, subject to the approval of the court, their fees, the duties of the debtor, and the rights and liabilities of creditors, and of all persons with respect to the property of the debtor and the jurisdiction of appellate courts shall be the same as if a voluntary petition for adjudication had been filed and a decree of adjudication had been entered on the day when the debtor’s petition or answer was filed and any decree of adjudication thereafter entered shall have the same effect as if it had been enterd on that day.” 11 U. S. C. A. § 202 (m).

“Where a suit has been filed in a State court against one who is adjudicated a bankrupt, it is the better practice, pending the determination of his application for a discharge, to file in the State court a plea or motion suggesting the bankruptcy proceedings and asking a stay of the suit until the question of discharge has been finally determined in the bankruptcy court (Adams v. McClendon, 30 Ga. App. 559, 118 S. E. 497), and when the discharge is granted, then to plead it. But even if the suit is ‘not stayed and a judgment is entered before discharge, the discharge may be availed of as a bar to further remedies on the judgment.’ 1 Collier on Bankruptcy (13th ed.), 641. Such a bankrupt, after discharge, when the discharge is pleaded, ‘is entitled to a perpetual stay of the execution on the judgment, although he did not before the rendition [231]*231of the judgment ask for a stay of the proceedings in the State court. If the discharge of the bankrupt had been granted before the judgment was rendered, the ruling would be otherwise. Strickland v. Brown, 19 Ga. App. 73 (90 S. E. 1039)" Portwood v. Shafer, 33 Ga. App. 421 (126 S. E. 556). Thus, the defendant in error was proceeding at his peril in the State court, for if he obtained his judgment before the plaintiff in error obtained his discharge, and after such discharge^ the plaintiff in error received a perpetual stay of the execution on the judgment, the judgment of the defendant in error would thereby become impotent. On the other hand, the plaintiff in error was acting at his peril by proceeding in the bankruptcy court without pleading in the State court the pendency of the bankruptcy proceedings, and without asking for a stay of the proceedings in the State court until the question of “discharge55 or “no discharge55 had been decided; for if the discharge was granted before the judgment in the State court, he would be bound by such judgment; for as has been said by Judge Bell in Riggs v. Kinney, 37 Ga. App. 307, 309 (140 S. E. 41), “Bankruptcy, to be relied upon as a defense, must not only be pleaded, but must be pleaded at the proper time, else the defense will be held to be waived, where no legal reason is shown to account for the neglect. f There can scarcely be a doubt that bankruptcy as a defense may be waived; and no reason occurs to us why forbearing to present it at the proper time, and in a proper manner, should not be deemed a waiver.' Laramore v. McKinzie, 60 Ga. 532; Shumate v. Ryan, 127 Ga. 118, 119 (56 S. E. 103). Where a bankrupt, after discharge, suffers a judgment to go against him upon a debt properly provable in bankruptcy, he is bound by the judgment.55 11 U. S. C. A.

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Bluebook (online)
200 S.E. 561, 59 Ga. App. 228, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duncan-v-southern-savings-bank-gactapp-1938.