In re Ballantine

232 F. 271, 1916 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1653
District Court, N.D. New York·Decided May 6, 1916·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

RAY, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1] At the first meeting of' creditors the claimant, Harriet K. Ballantine, the wife of the bankrupt, presented a claim for money loaned by her to said Charles J. Ballantine, “as per the schedule hereto attached and made a part hereof, marked Schedule A, except the sum of three hundred eighty dollars and 00/ioo ($380), as per the annexed schedule hereto annexed and made a part hereof, marked Schedule B; that no part of said debt has been paid, nor has any note been received, or judgment rendered thereon; that there are no offsets or counterclaims to the same, and that deponent has not, nor has any person by his order, or to his knowledge or belief, for his use, had or received any manner of security for said debt whatever.”

Schedule A was as follows:

Charles J. Ballantine to Harriet K. Ballantine, Dr.
April 7, 1902. $2,280.70
July 1, 1902. 2,208.00
July 20, 1903. 507.25
Jan. 6, 1905... 2,149.21
Jan. 6, 1905. 405.90
$7,617.00
Interest to February 10, 1915. 5,302.48
$12,979.54

Schedule B was as follows:

$ 20.00 Oct. 17, 1912. Received on account.
20.00 Nov. 21, 1912. ..
. 20.00 Jan. 21, 1913. “ “
. 20.00 Jan. 28, 1913.
20'.00 Feb. 21, 1913. “ “ “ .
20.00 Mch. 19, 1913.
20.00 Apr. 18, 1913.
20.00 May 19, 1913. “ ' “ “ .
20.00 June 18, 1913.
, 20.00 Sept. 4, 1913. “ “ “ .
20.00 Sept. 4, 1913. “ “ “
20.00 Oct. 21, 1913. “ “ “ .
20.00 Nov. 26, 1913. “ “ “ .
20.00 Dec. 22, 1913. “ “
20.00 Feb. 20, 1914.
20.00 Apr. 22, 1914.
20.00 May 21, 1914. “ “ “
20.00 June 22, 1914. “ “ “ .
20.00 July 20, 1914. “ “ “ .
Total .1.$380.00

Certain creditors objected to the allowance of the claim on the ground that it appeared on its face it was barred by the statute of limitations and should not be allowed. Thereupon the claimant with[274] drew the claim and amended same, by inserting therein the words “said debt having been revived by an instrument in writing duly acknowledged by said bankrupt dated September 19, 1907, hereto annexed,” after the words “marked Schedule B,” and also by inserting the words “except as herein stated” after the words “no part of said debt has been paid,” and also by inserting after the words “counterclaims to the same” the words “except as above.”

The instrument in writing, duly acknowledged by said bankrupt, and referred to in the amended claim, and annexed to the amended claim, reads as follows:

In consideration of the sum of seven thousand dollars ($7,000), to me in hand paid at or before the ensealing and delivery of these presents, I, Charles J. Ballantine, of the city and county of Albany, state of New York, do hereby sell, assign, transfer, and set over unto Harriet K. Ballantine, of the same place, all book accounts and other evidences of indebtedness now due and owing me.
In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name and affixed my seal this 19th day of September 1907. Charles J. Ballantine. [L. S.]
State of New York, City and County of Albany — ss.:
On this 19th day of September, 1907, personally appeared before me Charles J. Ballantine, to me known to be the person who executed the foregoing instrument, and he thereupon acknowledged that he executed the same.
George Lawyer,
Commissioner of Deeds, Albany, N. Y.

There was and is no allegation in the amended claim that any book accounts or other evidences of indebtedness were due and owing to the assignor mentioned in said assignment, Charles J. Ballantine, from any person, and hence it does not appear and did not appear to the referee that anything was assigned to or received by the assignee, Harriet K. Ballantine, to apply on the alleged indebtedness, which as shown in Schedule A was barred by the statute of limitations, as the last .loan of money was made January 6, 1905, and the claim was not presented, until some time in the year 1915. , There is nothing in the amended claim to show that this assignment, even if it assigned anything, or carried anything, to the assignee, was made to apply as a payment on the indebtedness alleged and particularized in Schedule A, and for this reason the amended claim did not show a renewal or revival of the claim, so as to take it out of the statute of limitations.

Schedule B simply says, giving dates, “Received on account, $20.00,” and this is repeated each and every year down to and including July 20, 1914. There is no allegation or statement in the amended claim, and there is none in the original claim, that these payments were made or accepted or received on the claim mentioned and set forth in Schedule A, or that they were made by Ballantine himself, or that they were made at the times mentioned. To accept these as payments on the account set' forth in Schedule A and mentioned in the original claim, and also in the amended claim, would require that we infer that the alleged payments were made at the dates mentioned, and there is -no statement in the claim as amended that they were made at the dates mentioned, and also on the account and claim mentioned in Schedule A, and there is no allegation or statement in the claim that [275] they were so made. I think the referee was right in sustaining the objection to the sufficiency of the claim, and in sustaining the objection thereto that such claim on its face was barred by the statute of limitations, even in its amended form.

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In re Ballantine, 232 F. 271, 1916 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1653 (N.D.N.Y. 1916).

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