Hall & Kaul Co. v. Friday

158 F. 593, 87 C.C.A. 23, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4009
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedDecember 27, 1907
DocketNo. 27
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 158 F. 593 (Hall & Kaul Co. v. Friday) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall & Kaul Co. v. Friday, 158 F. 593, 87 C.C.A. 23, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4009 (3d Cir. 1907).

Opinion

GRAY, Circuit Judge.

This is a petition for review by the Hall & Kaul Company, a corporation of the state of Pennsylvania, asking that the order of the court below, adjudicating the Monongahela Construction Company, also a corporation of the state of Pennsylvania, to be a bankrupt, may be revised in matters of law under section 24 (b) of the bankruptcy act of 3898. Act July 1, 1898, c. 541, 30 Stat. 553 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3131],

The question is one of jurisdiction, and was presented to the court. [594]*594below, as it is presented here, upon an agreed statement of facts, •the material parts of which are as follows:

“A petition in involuntary bankruptcy having been filed in .the above entitled case against the said Monongahela Construction Company, by J. H. Friday et al., and answer thereto having been filed by Hall & Haul Company, of Ridgeway, Pa., judgment creditors, objecting to the petition in bankruptcy •of said company, for the following reasons: ,
“First. That neither the petitioners nor the form of petition are within the requirements of the bankruptcy act of 1898.
“Second. That the records do not show that said corporation has complied with the corporation laws of the state of Pennsylvania.
“Third. That as a corporation, the nature of the business In which it is ■engaged is not such as will give this court jurisdiction under said bankrupt act of 1898 or its supplements.
“Now, therefore, in order that the questions raised by the petition and answer may be properly determined by this court, the following facts are admitted and agreed upon by the parties hereto:
“1. That the Monongahela Construction Company succeeded the Hill Construction Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws -of the state of Pennsylvania, having been incorporated on the 23d day of May, 1905, and by resolution of the board of directors, the said Hill Con-struction Company changed its name to the Monongahela Construction Company, on the 19th day of February, 1906, but that the certificate of such change was not recorded in the county of Allegheny, state of Pennsylvania, where its .principal office is located, until February 9, 1907, —• days after the petition in this case was filed.
“2. That the purpose for which the said Hill Construction Company was • organized and created, as set forth in its charter, was as follows: ‘Corporation is formed for the purpose of constructing, erecting and repairing railroads, traction lines, duly incorporated, and streets, roads, buildings, structures, works or improvements of public or private use or utility.’
“3. That the business of the said Monongahela Construction Company has been making, constructing and erecting concrete arches, bridges, buildings, walls and other structure; also excavating, grading and ballasting of roadbeds and laying tracks for railroads. With the exception of the contract with the P. S. & N. R. R. for the making of roadbed and laying of track .from Detsch to Paine, Elk county, Pennsylvania, and the remodeling of a warehouse, in which concrete work is the chief' item, all the other contracts ’.at the time of the filing of the petition in this case, and the business in which the company has been engaged during the past year has been making and •constructing arches, walls, and abutments, bridges, buildings, etc., out of -concrete.
“4. That in carrying on its business it buys and combines together raw materials, such as cement, gravel and sand in the making of concrete, and supplies labor, machinery and appliances necessary for the proper carrying on ■of said business, of constructing and erecting concrete arches, piers, buildings and structures, and excavating therefor at such time and places, as its contracts call for. That it carries on no other manufacturing business ex-cept the above. The question whether this business is manufacturing or not is left to the determination of the court.
“5. That its principal place of business is in the city of Pittsburgh, county ■of Allegheny, and state of Pennsylvania, where its office is located. It has no -permanent shop or factory, but has a warehouse at Nineteenth street, South rSide.”

The third section of the act of February 5, 1903, c. 487, 32 Stat. 797 [U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 1025], amending the bankrupt act of 1898, provides:

“Any natural person,' except a wage earner, or a person engaged chiefly in farming or the tillage of the soil, any unincorporated company, and any cor-•jporation engaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, publishing, [595]*595mining or mercantile pursuits, owing debts to the amount of one thousand dollars or over, may be adjudged an involuntary bankrupt upon default or an impartial trial, and shall be subject to the provisions and entitled to the benefits of this act.”

The sole question raised by the counsel for the petitioners is, whether the court below erred in adjudicating, as a bankrupt, the Monongahela Construction Company, as being a “corporation engaged principally in manufacturing.” The court below decided that it was such a corporation, and that the motion of the execution creditors, for dismissal of the petition in bankruptcy, must be denied and an adjudication in bankruptcy made. The conclusion at which the learned judge of the court below arrived, is strongly supported in the opinion which accompanies it. He is also in agreement with the decisions of several of the district courts, and notably with that of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Iiighth Circuit, in the recent case of In re First National Bank of Belle Fourche et al., 152 Fed. 64, 81 C. C. A. 260. Notwithstanding the weight of such authorities, we must, as long as this section of the act remains unamended, in respect to the language here under consideration, and until the Supreme Court construes it otherwise, be governed by our own view of the proper interpretation of the act.

The words “manufacture” and “manufacturing” seem to us to have a well-ascertained and defined meaning. There is no confusion in the general concept conveyed by these words, as referring to the making of raw material or natural substances by hand, art or machinery, with more or less skill, into commodities for use. The leading lexicographers all agree as to this general signification. No special technical or legislative use of them, different from their general or popular use, has been suggested. It appears from the agreed statement of facts that the Monongahela Construction Company carried on no manufacturing business, unless the business of “making, constructing and erecting concrete arches, bridges, buildings, walls and other structures ; also excavating, grading and ballasting of road beds and laying tracks for railroads,” be such a business. The alleged bankrupt in this case, therefore, was a builder or constructor of concrete arches, bridges, buildings, walls and other structures. These were erected in situ, and when erected, were attached to and became part of the real estate. No one in ordinary parlance would ever think of saying that such a builder was a manufacturer of arches, houses, etc. It is only by a forced construction, founded on verbal refinements, that such a conclusion .can be arrived at.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
158 F. 593, 87 C.C.A. 23, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-kaul-co-v-friday-ca3-1907.