In re George M. Hill Co.

130 F. 315, 66 L.R.A. 68, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4161
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedApril 12, 1904
DocketNo. 1,024
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 130 F. 315 (In re George M. Hill Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re George M. Hill Co., 130 F. 315, 66 L.R.A. 68, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4161 (7th Cir. 1904).

Opinion

JENKINS, Circuit Judge.

The First National- Bank of Chicago, the appellant here, filed in the bankruptcy court its amended claim against the estate of the bankrupt.

The indebtedness to the appellant is not in dispute. The contest below, as here, had reference to certain payments made by the bankrupt within four months prior to the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. On June 4, 1903, the referee made an order which upon petition for review he certified to the court below, wherein he found, first, that there was due to the bank from the bankrupt upon notes executed by it payable to the bank, and upon its indorsements of notes of third persons, held by the bankrupt, the sum of $55,644.45 second, that the bankrupt for four months prior to the filing of thé petition in bankruptcy was wholly insolvent and not possessed of property sufficient to pay its debts; third, that within the period of four months the bank received from the bankrupt the sum of $3,-700.93, which was paid and received with knowledge by the bank of the fact of insolvency, and that such payment was a preference which the trustee was entitled to recover from the bank; fourth, that within the stated period the bankrupt paid to the bank the further sum of $77,005.53, which was received without knowledge of the bankrupt’s insolvency, which payment constituted a preference which the bank was bound to pay to the trustee as a condition of proving its claim against the estate. It was thereupon ordered that the claim of the bank be disallowed, unless the bank should within 10 days pay to the trustee the amount of $80,706.46, and if such sum should be paid the claim of the bank should be allowed at the sum of $136,-350.91. On the 22d of July, 1903, upon the hearing, the court below approved and confirmed the findings and judgment of the referee, which decree the bank brings here for review.

The bankrupt, a corporation engaged in the book business in the city of Chicago, and against whom a petition in bankruptcy was filed on March 6, 1902, had been for a long time a customer of the First National Bank, maintaining a deposit account with it, and was a constant and large borrower of money from it. The bank was ignorant of the insolvency of the bankrupt until March 4, 1902, two days before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. In its dealings with the bankrupt the bank kept a “loan account” and a “deposit account.” The loan account included direct loans, being discount to-the bankrupt of its notes (herein designated as direct indebtedness), and notes of customers of the bankrupt received from, indorsed by, and discounted for it (herein called contingent indebtedness). During the same period the bank discounted for others of its customers [317]*317notes of the George M. Hill Company to a large amount, indorsed by such other customers. Such discounts, however, did not appear in the loan account of the bankrupt kept by the bank, but in the loan account of the customers for whom the discounts were made. On November 6th, the commencement of the period of four months immediately preceding the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, the loan account stood as follows:

Direct indebtedness ............................................$30,000 00

Contingent indebtedness ........................................ 39,700 00

$89,700 00

On March 6, 1902, the date of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, the loan account exhibited as follows:

Direct indebtedness ............................................$23,500 00

Contingent indebtedness ........................................ 51,829 86

$75,329 86

There was in fact $20,000 in addition paid during the stated period, but with the money of the bank loaned for that purpose. The loans were for like amounts, and were contemporaneous with the payments, and are treated by the referee as renewals and not considered as payments. The amount actually paid by the bankrupt upon its direct indebtedness during the stated period of four months was $17,-500. The last payment, $2,500, was made January 7, 1902, and reduced the direct indebtedness at that date to $15,000, at which sum it remained until February 11th, when $5,000 was added, and on March 1st $3,500 more was loaned, making the total direct indebtedness, at the date of filing the petition in bankruptcy, $23,500.

On the second day before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, and after knowledge of the insolvency of the George M. Hill Company, the bank appropriated the balance in the deposit account standing to the credit of the company, to wit, $3,700.93, and applied it upon the direct indebtedness in the loan account.

During the stated period of four months the bankrupt paid to the bank on its promissory notes discounted by the bank for third parties, and owned by the bank, the sum of $59,505.53. These payments do not appear upon the loan account of the bank with the George M. Hill Company, but in the loan account kept by the bank with the customers for whom the discount of the notes was made. The sums thus received by the bank within the stated period of four months were these:

On loan account ...............................................$17,500 00

In payment of bankrupt’s notes discounted by the bank for third parties ...................................................... 59,505 53

Appropriated balance ........................................... 3,700 93

$80,706 46

These accounts the referee held to be preferences, the appropriated balance to be repaid to the trustee, because received with knowledge of insolvency, and the others to be repaid as a condition of the allowance of the bank’s claim.

[318]*318The contention here is with respect to the ruling upon each of these sums.

First. With respect to the appropriated balance of $3,700.93, it was ruled below that because the appropriation of that amount was with knowledge of the insolvency of the George M. Hill Company it was a transfer of property amounting to a preference, under section 60a of the bankruptcy act of July 1, 1898, c. 541, 30 Stat. 562 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3445], It is sufficient to say that the precise question has recently- been ruled to the contrary by the Supreme Court, in New York County National Bank v. Massey, 192 U. S. 138, 24 Sup. Ct. 199, 48 L. Ed. 380. In this respect, therefore, the referee and the court were in error.

Second. It is insisted by the appellant that payment by the bankrupt of notes given by it to third parties and discounted by the bank were, under the law, preferential payments to those for whom the bank discounted the notes, and were not preferential payments to the bank. We are not able to concur in this contention. The fact that the bank did not enter these notes in its loan account with the bankrupt, but in the account with the parties for whom they were discounted, is of no moment. The real question is, what was the true nature of the transaction? Was payment under the law preferential to the bank receiving payment ? The title of the bank to these notes was absolute. The debt thereby evidenced was a debt owing by the bankrupt to the bank. True, the original payees of the notes were liable to the bank upon their indorsements of the notes, contingent upon their dishonor by the maker and upon due notice of such dishonor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cissell v. First Nat. Bank of Cincinnati
476 F. Supp. 474 (S.D. Ohio, 1979)
In Re Perry
336 F. Supp. 420 (D. South Carolina, 1972)
In The Matter Of The Onondaga Litholite Company
218 F.2d 671 (First Circuit, 1955)
CITIZENS'NAT. BANK OF GASTONIA, NC v. Lineberger
45 F.2d 522 (Fourth Circuit, 1930)
Horner v. First National Bank
141 S.E. 767 (Court of Appeals of Virginia, 1928)
Lowell v. Merchants' Nat. Bank
283 F. 124 (D. New Hampshire, 1922)
German-American State Bank v. Larimer
235 F. 501 (Eighth Circuit, 1916)
Continental & Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Breen & Kennedy
188 Ill. App. 467 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1914)
Johnson v. American Bank
5 Alaska 145 (D. Alaska, 1914)
Lowell v. International Trust Co.
158 F. 781 (First Circuit, 1907)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
130 F. 315, 66 L.R.A. 68, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-george-m-hill-co-ca7-1904.