In re Progressive Wall Paper Corp.

222 F. 87, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1493
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedApril 3, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 222 F. 87 (In re Progressive Wall Paper Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Progressive Wall Paper Corp., 222 F. 87, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1493 (N.D.N.Y. 1915).

Opinion

RAY, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1] The validity of the mortgage sought to be foreclosed by the petitioner, the Adirondack Trust Company, the trustee named therein, is not questioned. The validity of the bonds issued thereunder and held by many different parties is not disputed. No person or party has come forward with an offer for this mortgaged property, or proposing or expressing a willingness to' pay more therefor than the amount of such bonds and accrued interest. In fact, so far as this court is advised, no offer has been made for the property. The property has been in the hands of the trustee for about four months at this date. The bonds, with accrued interest, are in excess of $100,000. It is, of course, the duty of this court to protect the interest of general creditors, but not at the sacrifice of the rights or interests of these bondholders, whose rights were shown to general creditors by the recorded mortgage. If the court can see that a sale free and clear of liens and incumbrances will produce money enough to pay them in full, and do this within a reasonable time, it is its duty to have the property so sold, as this will allow this court to control the sale and fund, and pay off the liens in full, and avoid costs and expenses. But, if this does not appear, I doubt the right of the court to experiment with the property, and thereby to an extent imperil the rights of mortgage bondholders by delaying foreclosure and sale to be made for their benefit and allowing their claims to increase by way of accumulating interest. Then, too, comes in impairment of value by way of dilapidation and exposure to fire.

The situation is somewhat complicated, and there is a question as to what personal property is covered by the mortgage, and also other questions. It appears from the papers before the court that the bankrupt corporation was organized as a manufacturing stock corporation, about April 15, 1904, under the general laws of the state of New York. The original plant of the company consisted of a pulp mill, á paper mill, and the machinery and appurtenances connected therewith, together with' a storehouse and usual outbuildings, and the real estate consisted of about 100 acres of land, including the water power, on the [89]*89Saranac river used by the corporation in its operations, and this was acquired in April, 1904. Additional real estate was acquired in 1904. 1905, and again in 1906 and 1911. In 1911 a wall paper mill was erected by the company upon a tract of some 15 acres of land acquired by the company at that time. About May 1, 1904, the company mortgaged all its then owned real estate to the petitioner, the Adirondack Trust Company, to secure bonds amounting to $100,000, and this is the mortgage hereinbefore referred to. In the petition herein the mortgaged property covered by that mortgage is described in Schedule A thereof. In February, 1906, the company made a further or supplemental mortgage to the said Trust Company to secure the same bonds issued under the first mortgage and hereinbefore referred to. This supplemental mortgage covers the real property acquired by the company after the making of the first mortgage and before the execution of the second mortgage, and is described in Schedule B of the petition.

[2] It is a question in dispute whether or not these mortgages above referred to are sufficient to subject to their operation as against the trustee lands thereafter acquired, or chattels thereafter acquired and put upon the property. If the language is broad enough and explicit enough, chattels put into a manufacturing plant as a part of the plant and to be used in carrying on the business may be subjected to the lien of such mortgage, even if subsequently acquired. Not so as to raw materials to be purchased and manufactured, or the goods made from such afier-acquired raw materials. This is the general rule.

About June 7, 1906, and subsequently to the execution of the said first mortgage and the supplemental mortgage above referred to, the company acquired from one Baker about one-fourth of an acre of laud, and about April 1, 1911, said company acquired from one Cunningham and others a parcel of some 15 acres of land. In 1911, on these last-mentioned parcels of land, the company erected its wall paper or printing mill, and this formed a part of the plant of the company, taken as a whole, at the time of the bankruptcy of this corporation. These last-acquired parcels of land, on which was erected the wall paper or printing mill, are not claimed to be covered by the first mortgage or the said supplemental mortgage, and are not claimed to be covered by said mortgages. It is claimed, however, that this last-mentioned building was erected in such a manner and so located that it stands for some little distance on the lands included in said first mortgage.

About November 1, 1911, the now bankrupt corporation executed another mortgage to the said Adirondack Trust Company, as trustee, which covers and includes in its description, not only the property, real and personal, covered by the said first mortgage and the supplement til mortgage, but also the two parcels of land above referred to acquired after the making of the first mortgage and the supplemental mortgage. This last mortgage purports to have been given to secure an issue of 100 bonds, of $1,000 each, payable in 20 years, with interest, and which interest is payable semiannually. It is claimed that none of the. bonds purporting to be secured by this last-mentioned mortgage were ever legally issued and negotiated or sold by the bankrupt, or [90]*90used in any proper manner, except that after they were formally executed by the company they were delivered at different times and in different amounts to various creditors of the bankrupt in form as collateral security for old or 'pre-existing debts of the company, and that that was no new consideration, or any consideration, for the issue of the bonds or their pledge, except the antecedent indebtedness of the now bankrupt corporation and an extension of time for the payment of such antecedént indebtedness. It is claimed that each and all of the persons and corporations who received and who now hold the said bonds so issued under the last mortgage mentioned held at the time the bonds were so delivered the note of the now bankrupt for the amount of the debt due from it, and that the par value of the bonds delivered to each of said creditors was equal to the principal of the note then and now held by said creditors, respectively. Some or all of the notes have been renewed from time to time. These notes were indorsed, it is alleged, by John J. Cunningham, Grenvill M. Ingelsbe, and John H. Derby, each of whom then was, and each of whom from the organization of the company had been, a director and officer of the said corporation.

■ It is. contended that the second mortgage is invalid, and that the bonds issued and so pledged under the last-mentioned mortgage are invalid. After the execution of the first mortgage and said supplemental mortgage, the corporation purchased at least appliances for use in the operation of the mills, and which are now on hand at the mill, and this includes blocks and designs used in printing wall paper, valued by the appraisers at some $2,750, but which in the schedules are valued at $10,000.

It is claimed by the trustee that this personal property and other personal property is not subject to the lien of the said first mortgage.

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Bluebook (online)
222 F. 87, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-progressive-wall-paper-corp-nynd-1915.