In re Duluth, S. S. & A. Ry. Co.

80 F. Supp. 639, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2150
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedJuly 31, 1948
DocketNo. 13310
StatusPublished

This text of 80 F. Supp. 639 (In re Duluth, S. S. & A. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Duluth, S. S. & A. Ry. Co., 80 F. Supp. 639, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2150 (mnd 1948).

Opinion

NORDBYE, District Judge.

On June 19, 1947, the Interstate Commerce Commission approved and thereupon certified to this Court for its approval or disapproval a Plan of Reorganization for the principal Debtor, The Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway Company (which will be referred to herein as the Debtor), and the subsidiary Debtor, Mineral Range Railroad Company. The Court then entered and caused to be duly served and published an order fixing the time within which objections to the Plan might be filed. No objections were filed.

In the meantime, petitions for the allowance of fees for services rendered and expenses incurred down to September 30, 1947, by counsel, trustees and committees representing parties to this proceeding in the aggregate amount of $354,787 were filed in this Court. These petitions were referred to the Interstate Commerce Commission to fix the maximum amounts allowable. Pending such action by the Commission the Court deferred its consideration of the Plan. On May 18, 1948, the Commission entered its order fixing the maximum amounts of fees and expenses to September 30, 1947, at an aggregate of $199,581. Thereupon the Court entered an order for a hearing on June 21, 1948, on the question whether the Court should approve the Plan of Reorganization approved by the Commission. Due notice of the hearing was given.

At the hearing the Court had before it a certified copy of the record made before the Interstate Commerce Commission, including a transcript of the evidence submitted at the hearing on plans before an Examiner of the Commission, a copy of the Commission’s report and order approving the Plan certified to the Court, a transcript of the evidence submitted at the hearing before the Commission’s Examiner on the various petitions for fees and allowances; and a copy of the Commission’s report and order of May 18, 1948, fixing the maximum amounts allowable on such petitions.

The Debtor’s counsel moved that the Court approve the Plan approved by the [641]*641Commission, and made an extended statement respecting the factual background of the Plan and its provisions. The Court’s attention was directed to a stipulation dated July 28, 1947, executed by counsel for the Hattstaedt and Clinkunbroomer Committees and counsel for the Canadian Pacific and filed by them with the Commission, wherein they agreed to support the Plan approved by the Commission. Counsel for both the Hattstaedt and Clinkunbroomer Committees joined in the Debtor’s motion that the Court approve this Plan; counsel for the Hattstaedt Committee made an extended statement in support of the motion, and all other counsel present requested that the Plan be approved.

In brief outline, the essential facts and considerations which lead the Court to approve the Plan are as follows:

The Debtor operates lines of railroad extending from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and from St. Ignace, Michigan, westward to Soo Junction, Michigan, where they join, thence westward through Marquette, Michigan, to Nestoria, Michigan, thence northward from Nestoria to Houghton, Michigan, and westward from Nestoria to Marengo, Wisconsin, thence westward through Ashland, Wisconsin, and Superior, Wisconsin, to Duluth, Minnesota, comprising 425 miles of main line, 21 miles of branch line, and 102 miles of leased line, a total of approximately 548 miles. The cost of reproduction of the principal Debtor’s property less depreciation plus value of land and rights amounted to $15,717,941, as of December 31, 1944, according to the report or the Interstate Commerce Commission’s Bureau of Valuations.

The portion of the lines extending from Marquette through Nestoria to Houghton was formerly owned and operated by the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad Company, and is known as MH&O Mortgage District. The remaining portions of the Debtor’s railroad, extending westward from Nestoria and eastward from Marquette, are collectively known as the DSS&A Mortgage District.

The Debtor also operates in connection with the above railroads, the railroad of the Mineral Range, 26 miles long, extending from Houghton, Michigan, through Hancock to Calumet, Michigan. The cost of reproduction of the Mineral Range railroad, less depreciation plus value of land and rights, was $797,917 as of December 31, 1944, according to 'the report of the Commission’s Bureau of Valuations. This railroad has value principally as a feeder to the Debtor’s lines.

On January 2, 1937, the Debtor began this proceeding by filing in this Court a petition showing that it was unable to meet its debts as they matured, and that it desired to effect a Plan of Reorganization pursuant to Section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 205. The Debtor’s obligations at that time included, in addition to large amounts of unsecured debt, the following amounts of debt secured by outstanding mortgages of its properties:

Bonds secured by the MH&O
6% Mortgage of 1885 (here-
after called Sixes) assumed
by the principal Debtor---- $ 1,400,000
Bonds secured by the DSS&A
5% First Mortgage of 1887
(hereafter called Fives)---- 4,000,000
Bonds secured by the DSS&A
Consolidated Mortgage of
1890 (hereafter called Fours) 15,107,000
Unpaid interest on Fours.... 21,599,315
Total ................$42,106,315

On January 30, 1937, the Court appointed two trustees in bankruptcy: Mr. James L. Homire, who was nominated by counsel for the Prudential Insurance Company which owned $416,000 of the Fives, and Mr. E. A. Whitman, who was nominated by counsel for the Canadian Pacific .Railway Company. Mr. Homire has since resigned, and Mr. Whitman is deceased. Mr. P. L. Solether is now the sole trustee.

On June 1, 1937, the Mineral Range filed in this Court a petition showing that it was unable to meet its debts as they matured, and praying that it be allowed to effect a Plan of Reorganization in connection with the Plan to be effected for the Debtor. The outstanding obligations of the Mineral Range at that time included, in addition to large amounts of unsecured [642]*642debt and equipment trust obligations, $1,-598,675 of principal and. $231,912 of unpaid interest owing on bonds secured by mortgages of its properties.

Persons other than the Canadian Pacific held $3,199,000 of the Debtor’s Fives; an individual bondholder held $4,000 (reduced to $2,800 by subsequent' payment) of Mineral Range bonds; and the Canadian Pacific owned directly or indirectly all of the other outstanding bonds of both the Debtor and the Mineral Range.

The Canadian Pacific conceded from the outset that the Fives were secured by a first lien on the Debtor’s properties comprised in the DS-S&A Mortgage District and on a proportionate share of the equipment.

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Related

McCulloch v. Canadian Pac. Ry. Co.
53 F. Supp. 534 (D. Minnesota, 1943)
Lober v. Canadian Pac. Ry. Co.
151 F.2d 758 (Eighth Circuit, 1945)
In re Duluth, S. S. & A. Ry. Co.
58 F. Supp. 733 (D. Minnesota, 1945)

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Bluebook (online)
80 F. Supp. 639, 1948 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-duluth-s-s-a-ry-co-mnd-1948.