In re St. Paul Garage Co.

22 F. Supp. 32, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1171
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJune 1, 1937
DocketNo. 8451
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 22 F. Supp. 32 (In re St. Paul Garage Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re St. Paul Garage Co., 22 F. Supp. 32, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1171 (D. Md. 1937).

Opinion

CHESNUT, District Judge.

In the administration of the estate of the St. Paul Garage Company in bankruptcy, the Baltimore Trust Corporation (a liquidating agent for the Baltimore Trust Company) filed and proved three claims amounting to $282,708. The Trustee in bankruptcy filed a petition asking that all of these claims be disallowed unless certain alleged preferences were returned by the claimant to the bankrupt estate. In t.he ensuing controversy the issue, however, narrowed down to the question as to whether certain accounts receivable assigned by the bankrupt to the claimant, in the face amount of $9,675.43 as collateral for a newly made advance of $10,800 made as a loan, was voidable under section 60b, Bankr.Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 96(b), as a preference or as a conveyance with intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors under section 67e of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 107(e). On these issues the Referee took testimony, heard argument and found as to both against the Trustee in bankruptcy, and thereupon passed an order filed March 12, 1936, which he seeks to review in the present proceeding. In connection therewith the Referee has filed, his certificate on March 12, 1937, stating how the question arose and was decided and also separately under date of February 25, 1937, the Referee filed an extended report entitled “Referee’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” in which he summarized the testimony given before him in the controversy and stated his conclusions therefrom. But the testimony itself taken by the Referee has not been written up nor filed and is not before me. It results that the matter now presented for decision must be decided on the basis of the findings and conclusions of the Referee and the summary of testimony included in his findings. The matter has been quite fully argued by counsel for the respective parties.

As the Referee’s report includes a very full discussion both of the substance of the testimony and of the applicable law, it is unnecessary to repeat here what is therein contained. And I will limit the discussion to what is necessary in explanation of the conclusions which I have reached.

The financial history of the St. Paul Garage Company, situated at the northwest corner of St. Paul and Saratoga Streets in Baltimore City, is reviewed in some detail by the Referee. The ultimate question as to whether the transfer of the accounts receivable to the Baltimore Trust Corporation on October 1, 1935, constituted a voidable preference must be determined by the conclusion as to whether or not at that time the Baltimore Trust Corporation had “reasonable cause to believe” that the St. Paul Garage Company was then insolvent in the sense that its assets were not sufficient to satisfy its liabilities at their then fair valuation. The law may be stated thus shortly, so far as this case is concerned, and in view of the fuller statement in the Referee’s report. See, also, Gilbert’s Collier on Bankruptcy, 4th Ed., § 1188; In re Bresnan, 45 F.2d 193, 196. (D.C.Md.). The Referee concluded that the St. Paul Garage was in fact then insolvent in this statutory bankruptcy sense. The bankruptcy petition in fact was filed on January 16, 1936, and the adjudication occurred on February 1, 1936, both within four months after October 1, 1935. On the summary of the financial data and testimony as to value of assets set out by the Referee it is quite clear that his finding of insolvency was justified, and indeed this finding has not now been challenged by the claimant’s attorney. The only question, therefore, is whether the claimant through its officers had reasonable cause on October 1, 1935, to believe that the St. Paul Garage was insolvent. As to this the Referee very cleaidy posed the question as follows:

“The claimant through Thomas, its president, knew whatever the bankrupt or any of its officers knew of its financial condition. Did this knowledge amount to ‘reasonable cause to believe’ that the transfer would effect a preference? More specifically, was there reasonable cause to believe that insolvency existed and that the transfer would have the effect of giv-. [34]*34ing the claimant more than its share of the assets. Here, as in the pasé of insolvency, the principles adopted by the courts are easy to state and hard to apply. The rule most commonly stated is that in preference cases, notice of facts which would incite a man of ordinary prudence to an inquiry under similar' circumstances is notice of all the facts which a reasonably diligent inquiry would have disclosed. In the matter of Bresnan, 45 F.2d 193.”

The Referee concluded that the question should be answered in the negative, saying, at the end of that portion of his report entitled “Findings of Fact” as follows :

“I am not justified in concluding from the testimony that the transfer of the new accounts receivable to the claimant on October 1, 1935 as security for the loan of $10,800 was made or received in contemplation of bankruptcy or for the purpose of hindering, delaying or defrauding creditors, or (specifically) that the claimant accepted the said transfer with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that the Garage Company was insolvent in the bankruptcy sense, or that the mortgagees were about to foreclose, or that claimant’s motive in making the loan and receiving the security was to benefit'itself or the bank at the expense of other creditors.”

Counsel for the claimant refers to this quotation from the Referee’s report as itself constituting a finding of fact which must be accepted as conclusive, in the absence of a stenographic report of the testimony before the Referee. See Putney Shoe Co. v. Dashiell, 4 Cir., 246 F. 121; Kaufman v. Tredway, 195 U.S. 271, 25 S.Ct. 33, 49 L.Ed. 190; Whitmore v. Swank, 4 Cir., 252 F. 135; Gilbert’s Collier on Bankruptcy, 4th Ed., § 1192. But I think this general principle inapplicable here because the testimony as summarized by the Referee was not conflicting (indeed there was little testimony offered by the claimant) and thereafter under the heading of “Conclusions of Law” the Referee proceeds at length to consider the relevant statutory provisions in the bankruptcy law and their application as made by the courts in particular cases. That is, the Referee’s conclusion seems to have been based on the legal effect of the whole evidence rather than on the weight of conflicting evidence. And with respect to the question as to whether the claimant had reasonable cause to believe that there was insolvency, the reason given by the Referee in his conclusions of law is stated as follows:

“If, however, the claimant knew or should have known that an appraisal of the real estate would show the insolvency of the Company, it must have known that it was receiving a preference. The testimony does not, however, support the conclusion that the claimant either had or should have had such knowledge. As previously stated, appraisals of property of this character are based largely on the judgment of the individual appraiser. Evidence of value is at least largely a matter of opinion. (Helvering v. Midland Mutual Life Ins. Co., 300 U.S. 216, 57 S.Ct. 423, 81 L.Ed. 612, 108 A.L.R. 436, decided by the United States Supreme Court February 15, 1937). Different appraisers therefore might arrive at widely different valuation of the property.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 F. Supp. 32, 1937 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1171, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-st-paul-garage-co-mdd-1937.