In re M. E. Dunn & Co.

193 F. 212, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1776
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 17, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 193 F. 212 (In re M. E. Dunn & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re M. E. Dunn & Co., 193 F. 212, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1776 (E.D. Ark. 1912).

Opinion

TRIEBER, District Judge

(after, stating the facts as above). The intervener bases its right to recover all these funds, amounting to $1,714.88 to satisfy its claim of $1,716.79, of which $1,476.82 is for the goods delivered to the bankrupt, and $239.97 the proportionate part of the cost of carriage of these goods, upon the proposition that a trust was impressed upon these funds which came to the hands of the receiver as assets of the bankrupt’s estate; they being the proceeds of the goods turned over to the bankrupt and which by agreement of the parties were to be paid over to them as soon as collected.

[1] Leaving for the present out of consideration the effect of section 8 of the Act of June 25, 1910, 36 Stat. 838, 840, amending the bankruptcy act, it cannot be disputed that trustees and receivers in bankruptcy, as well as all other receivers, take the assets of the bankrupt iti the absence of fraud, subject to all equitable liens in favor of third parties to the extent that such assets have been augmented by the wrongful act of the bankrupt. Scott v. Armstrong, 146 U. S. 499, 507, 13 Sup. Ct. 148, 36 L. Ed. 1059; Fourth Street Nat. Bank v. Yardley, 165 L. S. 634, 653, 17 Sup. Ct. 439, 41 L. Ed. 855; York Mfg. Co. v. Cassell, 201 U. S. 344, 26 Sup. Ct. 481, 50 L. Ed. 782; Bryant v. Swofford Bros., 214 U. S. 279, 291, 29 Sup. Ct. 614, 53 L. Ed. 997: In re E. M. Newton & Co., 153 Fed. 841, 83 C. C. A. 23; Gillespie v. J. C. Piles & Co., 178 Fed. 886, 102 C. C. A. 120; Dunlop v. Mercer. 156 Fed. 545, 86 C. C. A. 435.

[2] Nor could there be any doubt that trust funds which have been fraudulently diverted or appropriated can be recovered of a receiver [216]*216whenever such funds are susceptible of identification in the hands of the possessor, or, if they have 'been intermingled with the general funds of the trustee so as to render their identification impossible, a court of equity (and bankruptcy courts are courts of equity in proceedings of this nature) will follow them and decree restitution to the cestui que trust if the unlawful appropriation of the trust funds resulted in swelling or increasing the assets of the insolvent and came to the possession of the trustee. National Bank v. Insurance Co., 104 U. S. 54, 26 L. Ed. 693; Peters v. Bain, 133 U. S. 670, 10 Sup. Ct. 354, 33 L. Ed. 696; Spokane County v. First Nat. Bank, 68 Fed. 979, 16 C. C. A. 81; American Can Co. v. Williams, 178 Fed. 420, 101 C. C. A. 634; First Nat. Bank v. Armstrong (C. C.) 36 Fed. 59; Frelinghuysen v. Nugent (C. C.) 36 Fed. 239; Van Alen v. American Nat. Bank, 52 N. Y. 1.

[3] On the other hand, if, at any time after the misappropriation of the funds and mingling them with those of the wrongdoer, all the money is withdrawn, including that unlawfully mingled, the equities are lost, although moneys from other sources are subsequently placed in the same place. Or if a part of the funds so mingled is withdrawn, and the fund reduced to a smaller sum than the trust fund, the latter must be regarded as dissipated except as to this balance. Sums subsequently added to the fund from other sources cannot be subjected to the equitable claim of the cestui que trust. Beard v. Independent District of Pella City, 88 Fed. 375, 31 C. C. A. 562; Spokane County v. First Nat. Bank, supra; Board of Commissioners v. Strawn, 157 Fed. 49, 84 C. C. A. 553, 15 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1100; American Can Co. v. Williams, supra.

Applying these principles to the facts in this cause, it is clear that unléss section 8 of the amendatory act-of June 25, 1910, makes these rules of law inapplicable, the intervener is entitled to the proceeds of the drafts for the goods which came to the hands of the receiver of the state court and by him turned over to the receiver in bankruptcy and now in his possession. These claims are: F. W. Dillard, $32.53; Arkansas Wholesale Grocer Company, $260.42; CottonVeazy Grocer Company, $76.35; Harris Wholesale Grocer Company, $46.10; and also the proceeds of the check of the Collins-Hampton Grocer Company for $543.35, deposited by the bankrupt on November 29th and now in the possession of the receiver. The check for $304.02, received by the bankrupt for these goods on November 22d and deposited by him on that day, would also be subjected to intervener’s claim1 but for the fact that the hank books show that the bankrupt’s deposit account, which was $822.97 on November 23d, was by withdrawals reduced to $13.72 on November 25th, and again increased the next day by deposit of moneys realized by the bankrupt from other sources. The sum of $13.72 is the only sum which intervener can be entitled to from this check.

[4] The check of intervener for $451.81 is not a trust fund. Intervener bought the goods from the bankrupt and gave them a check for it. It could have credited that amount on the indebtedness due it from the bankrupt; but it saw proper to make this transaction one [217]*217of purchase and sale, and not one of principal and agent or commission merchant. Why give a check for its own goods and then ask for an accounting ? The reason given that it had accepted a check for the full amount from the bankrupt to be paid out of funds realized from the sales, and it took that sum to make the check good, is neither convincing nor persuasive. If this transaction was not a separate purchase, that sum could have been deducted from the amount due from the bankrupt, and its check made for that much less. For these reasons the intervener is not entitled to a decree for that sum in any event.

[5] The next question to be determined'is: What is the effect of the amendatory act of 1910. By the terms of that act the trustee in bankruptcy “shall be deemed vested with all the rights, remedies and powers of a creditor holding a lien by legal or equitable proceedings tliereon.” The trustee, therefore, is entitled to the same rights an execution creditor would have if the money in controversy had been seized by an officer under a writ of attachment or execution, or, if deposited in the bank, a writ of garnishment had been served on the depositor}'. Would such proceedings defeat the claim of intervener?

If a deposit is made by one describing himself as agent, attorney, or trustee, the rule of law, according to the great weight of authority, is that presumptively he is the owner of the funds, and the deposit is subject to garnishment by his judgment or attaching creditor; but this is only a presumption which may be rebutted by the principal or true owner of the funds, who, if successful, will have priority over the creditor. Ingersoll v. First Nat. Bank, 10 Minn. 396 (Gil. 315); Jones v. Bank, 44 Pa. 253; Proctor v. Greene, 14 R. I. 42; Des Moines Cotton Mill v. Cooper, 93 Iowa, 654, 61 N. W. 1084; Cunningham v. Bank of Nampa, 13 Idaho, 167, 88 Pac. 975, 121 Am. St. Rep. 257, 10 L. R. A. (N. S.) 706; Petty v. Dunlap, 99 Ga. 300, 25 S. E. 697; Silsbee State Bank v. French Market Grocery Co. (Tex.) 132 S. W. 465, 34 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1207.

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Bluebook (online)
193 F. 212, 1912 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1776, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-m-e-dunn-co-ared-1912.