Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Arenz

61 F.2d 607, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4351
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 7, 1932
DocketNo. 6865
StatusPublished

This text of 61 F.2d 607 (Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Arenz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fidelity & Deposit Co. v. Arenz, 61 F.2d 607, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4351 (9th Cir. 1932).

Opinion

WILBUR, Circuit Judge.

The Fidelity & Deposit Company of Maryland, engaged in "the business, among other things, of furnishing surety bonds to contractors, objected to the discharge in' bankruptcy of George C. Arenz, a contractor, for whom it had executed a surety bond for the sum of $71,306.25 on May 15> 1929, for the performance of a contract with the state of Oregon for the improvement of highways. This objection was based upon the ground that the bankrupt procured the execution of said surety bond by certain written false statements concerning his financial standing made by him to the appellant to induce, and which did induce, the execution thereof; and that the appellant was compelled to pay, and did pay, a judgment of $1(),000 in an action brought upon said bond by the Oregon City Sand & Gravel Company. The bankrupt demurred to the sufficiency of the objections, thus admitting the truth of the allegations. The demurrer was sustained, and the discharge granted, from which order the surety company takes this appeal. The question thus presented is whether or not under these circumstances the bankrupt “obtained money or property on credit, or obtained an extension or renewal of credit” within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act regulating discharge. 11 USCA § 32 (b), (3), chapter 406, § 6, 44 Stat. 663. The appellee relies upon a decision of Judge Rudkin in Re Tanner, 192 F. 572, 574, decided November 4, 1911, in the District Court of the Western District of Washington. This decision was to the effect that the word “property” used in the above cited section before the amendment of 1910 was so restricted by the context that while the word “property” in its comprehensive sense included such a bond, as used in the Bankruptcy Act relating to “discharge” it did not. Judge Rudkin stated his conclusion as follows: “The term, however, is not always used in this comprehensive sense in constitutional and statutory provisions, and it is manifest that it was not so used here. By the insertion of the words ‘money or* before the word ‘property* in the amendment of 1910, Congress manifestly doubted whether the term ‘property* as used in the amendment of 1903 was comprehensive enough to include money; and, if it did not include money, most assuredly it did not include a contract or obligation such as this.”

The Supreme Court, in 1914, in Gleason v. Thaw, 236 U. S. 558, 35 S. Ct. 287, 288, 59 L. Ed. 717, had occasion to consider the meaning of the word “property” as used in the section of the Bankruptcy Act now under consideration. Speaking through Justice MoReynolds the court said:

“The accurate delimitation of the concept ‘property* would afford a theme especially apposite for amplificative philosophic disquisition; but the bankrupt law is a prosy thing intended for ready application to the everyday affairs of practical business, and when construing its terms we are constrained by their usual acceptation in that field of endeavor.' The word ‘property,’ without restriction, occurs more than seventy times in the act. Not once does it plainly refer to professional services, and except in very few instances, to include them within its intendment would produce a patent absurdity. * * *

“Congress, we think, never intended that property in the paragraph under consideration should include professional services. At most it denotes something subject to ownership, transfer or exclusive possession and enjoyment, which may be brought with[609]*609in the dominion and control of a court through some recognized process. This is certainly the full extent of the word’s meaning as employed in ordinary speech and business, and the same significance attaches to it in many carefully prepared writings. The constitutions of many states provide that all property shall be taxed, but it has never been supposed that this applies to professional services.”

This view of the Supreme Court tends to support the conclusion of Judge Rudkin that a surety bond is not property within the meaning of the section of the Bankruptcy Act under consideration. A substitution of the words “surety bond” for “professional services” in the foregoing quotation illustrates the aptness of the quotation to the case at bar.

Judge Neterer, sitting in the same court as Judge Rudkin, in September, 1926, in Re Ford (D. C.) 14 F.(2d) 848, followed the decision of Judge Rudkin above quoted as to the meaning of the word “property” as used in 11 USGA § 32 (b) (3), supra, of the Bankruptcy Act. He also decided that the obtaining of sueh a surety bond was not an obtaining of an extension or renewal of credit within the moaning of that section as amended in May, 1926 (44 Stat. 663, § 6).

The appellant claims that Judge Rudkin in Re Tanner, supra, overlooked the fact that the Supreme Court, as early as May, 1903, had held that the word “property” as used in the Bankruptcy Act relating to preferential transfers included “money.” Pirie v. Chicago Title & Trust Co., 182 U. S. 438, 21 S. Ct. 906, 45 L. Ed. 1171. The District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, in June, 1907, decided that the term “property” used in section 32 (b) (3) of the Bankruptcy Act, supra, did not include “money.” In re Pfaffinger, 154 F. 528. However, this decision was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Sixth Circuit January 16, 1908. In re Louisville Nat. Banking Co., 158 F. 403. Thus, before 1910 it had been held by the Circuit Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Fourth (Samet v. Fanners’ & Merchants’ Nat. Bank, 247 F. 669) Circuits that the word “property” as used in section 32 (1>) (3) included “money,” but Congress evidently concluded to settle all doubt upon the matter by adding the word “money” to the word “property.” If this legislative history is at all significant in the interpretation of the present law, it would at least seem to indicate that Congress was of opinion that the word “property” used in the amendment of 3903 (chapter 487, § 4 (b), (3), 32 Stat. 797) was not used in its all-inclusive sense, just as Judge Rudkin held.

In view of the rule that the Bankruptcy Act concerning discharge is to be liberally construed in favor of the debtor [In re Jacobs (C. C. A.) 241 F. 620; Feder v. Goetz (C. C. A.) 264 F. 619; In re Reisler (C. C. A.) 278 F. 618; In re Braus (C. C. A.) 248 F. 55; In re Cooper (C. C. A.) 26 F.(2d) 585; In re Lee (D. C.) 51 F.(2d) 394], we concur in the conclusions reached by Judges Rudkin and Neterer in the cases above cited. It should he said, however, that the Court of Appeals of Now York has held that where the fraudulent procurement of a surety bond is followed by the payment of money on the bond, that the money thus paid is obtained by false pretenses within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act. In re Dunfee, 219 N. Y. 188, 114 N. E. 52. With reference to the meaning of section 17 (2) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 USCA § 35 (2), which provided that “liabilities for obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations” are not released by the discharge in bankruptcy, the Court of Appeals of New York in Re Dunfee, supra, in a carefully considered opinion, speaking "through Justice Cuddebaok, said: “Obtaining the bond by false representations and paying the obligee the amount of the loss should be regarded as all one transaction, which amounted to obtaining money by false representations within the Bankrupt Law.

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Related

Pirie v. Chicago Title & Trust Co.
182 U.S. 438 (Supreme Court, 1901)
Gleason v. Thaw
236 U.S. 558 (Supreme Court, 1915)
Levy v. Industrial Finance Corp.
276 U.S. 281 (Supreme Court, 1928)
Royal Indemnity Co. v. Cooper
26 F.2d 585 (Fourth Circuit, 1928)
In Re Ford
14 F.2d 848 (W.D. Washington, 1926)
In Re the Examination of Dunfee
114 N.E. 52 (New York Court of Appeals, 1916)
Garr v. . Martin
20 N.Y. 306 (New York Court of Appeals, 1859)
Gaddy v. Witt
142 S.W. 926 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1911)
Commonwealth v. Harkins
128 Mass. 79 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1880)
In re Lee
51 F.2d 394 (N.D. Georgia, 1931)
In re Pfaffinger
154 F. 528 (W.D. Kentucky, 1907)
In re Louisville Nat. Banking Co.
158 F. 403 (Sixth Circuit, 1908)
In re Tanner
192 F. 572 (E.D. Washington, 1911)
In re Jacobs
241 F. 620 (Sixth Circuit, 1917)
In re Braus
248 F. 55 (Second Circuit, 1917)
Feder v. Goetz
264 F. 619 (Second Circuit, 1920)
In re Reisler
278 F. 618 (Second Circuit, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
61 F.2d 607, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fidelity-deposit-co-v-arenz-ca9-1932.