In the Matter of Pittsburgh Railways Company, Debtor, United States of America

253 F.2d 654, 1 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1237, 1958 U.S. App. LEXIS 5777
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 25, 1958
Docket12322
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 253 F.2d 654 (In the Matter of Pittsburgh Railways Company, Debtor, United States of America) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of Pittsburgh Railways Company, Debtor, United States of America, 253 F.2d 654, 1 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1237, 1958 U.S. App. LEXIS 5777 (3d Cir. 1958).

Opinion

McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge.

A voluntary petition for corporate reorganization of the Pittsburgh Railways System was presented on May 10, 1938. The United States thereafter filed claims for various taxes and interest payments. Ultimately the Treasury accepted the trustee’s offer of settlement under authority of § 199 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 599 (1952) 1 and payment *656 was made upon court authorization of December 5, 1950.

The terms of the settlement and the authorization order included a provision that interest would be paid on the various amounts, constituting the aggregate of the settlement, from their due date to the date of payment.

In City of New York v. Saper, 1949, 336 U.S. 328, 69 S.Ct. 554, 93 L.Ed. 710, the Supreme Court had decided that in an ordinary bankruptcy proceeding the city was not entitled to interest from the date the bankruptcy proceeding was initiated to the date of payment of the taxes owed prior to initiation of the bankruptcy proceeding. The Fourth Circuit, after the agreement between the Treasury and the trustee above described had been consummated, found the reasoning of the Saper case applicable also to a Chapter X reorganization proceeding. United States v. Edens, 4 Cir., 1951, 189 F.2d 876, affirmed per curiam 1952, 342 U.S. 912, 72 S.Ct. 357, 96 L.Ed. 682.

Consequently the reorganization trustee of Pittsburgh Railways filed claims for refund of the post-reorganization interest paid in accordance with the terms of the settlement; when these were not acted upon, he petitioned the bankruptcy court for such refund, alleging jurisdiction under § 57, sub. k of the Bankruptcy Act, as amended, 11 U.S.C.A. § 93, sub. k. 2 The trustee maintained that the part of the settlement agreement permitting the post-reorganization interest to be paid had been entered into upon a mistaken assumption as to the law governing such interest and that the Edens ease had demonstrated the error of the assumption. The United States moved to dismiss the petition. The district court, however, denied the motion and entered an order with opinion, D.C.W.D.Pa.1957, 150 F.Supp. 634 directing a refund of $100,609.92. That judgment is here appealed.

The first question with which the court is presented is whether the district court had jurisdiction as a bankruptcy court to determine the trustee’s claim for what amounts to a refund. In maintaining that the court was without jurisdiction the government asserts first that since there is no statutory consent by the sovereign to permitting a claim for refund to be entertained in a bankruptcy court, the trustee should have been required to bring a separate action under 28 U.S.C. § 1346. As a corollary of this argument the government declares that since the funds are in its possession as a result of a court-approved settlement, it holds the property adversely to the estate of the debtor, and the only remedy is therefore the separate action, citing In re Brokol Mfg. Co., 3 Cir., 1955, 221 F.2d 640. But this whole line of argument slides over the fact that unperfected tax liens, and a fortiori tax claims, of an estate in a reorganization proceeding are, by §§ 196 and 199 3 of the Bankruptcy Act submitted to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court. It was only after submission of the government’s claims from which the interest here in controversy accrued that the compromise settlement was approved and the government was paid. In re Brokol Mfg. Co., supra, is fundamentally distinguishable from the question now presented, inasmuch as the property there involved had been taken into government *657 possession before the filing of the petition in bankruptcy. The property there had never been amenable to the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and to make it so, the trustee had to bring a separate plenary action. Where assets of the bankrupt and where claims of creditors have been under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court, the import of § 57, subsections k 4 and l 5 is that the court’s jurisdiction may be asserted any time until the closing of the estate. In re Plankinton Bldg. Co., D.C.E.D.Wis.1942, 46 F.Supp. 697, reversed on other grounds, 7 Cir., 1945,135 F.2d 273. Unless, therefore, there is a compelling argument why § 57, subsections k and l should not be applied to tax claims in a reorganization proceeding, the court below had jurisdiction.

The Second Circuit in National City Bank of New York v. O’Connell, 2 Cir., 1946, 155 F.2d 329, pointed out that § 102 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 502 makes the provision of the first seven chapters dealing with ordinary bankruptcy proceedings applicable to reorganization proceedings so long as they are “ * * * not inconsistent or in conflict with the provisions * * * ” for such proceedings; the section goes on to enumerate certain sections of the first seven chapters that are not ordinarily to be applied in reorganization proceedings. Subsections k and l of § 57 are not among them. § 2, sub. a (2), 11 U.S. C.A. § 11, which also is not specifically made inapplicable in reorganization proceedings invests the bankruptcy court with power to “ * * * reconsider allowed or disallowed claims * *

Section 64 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 104 45 6 is made expressly inapplicable to reorganization proceedings, but it seems clear that that inapplicability is attributable to the expression of priorities contained in § 64 and was never intended to deprive a bankruptcy court of power to pass on tax claims presented against an estate undergoing reorganization. See In re 168 Adams Building Corp., 7 Cir., 1939, 105 F.2d 704. 7 It is clear, then, that under §§ 196 and 199 of Chapter X, and under § 102’s application of § 2 and so much of § 64 as is not concerned with priorities, the bankruptcy court has jurisdiction of tax claims in a reorganization proceeding. It is further clear that subsections k and l of § 57 are also made pertinent to reorganization proceedings. The court below therefore had jurisdiction.

We turn now to the question of whether the court erred in permitting the trustee to recover the post-reorganization interest paid pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement entered into with the approval of the bankruptcy court. The trustee’s claim basically rests on an assertion of mutual mistake as to the liability for interest on unpaid taxes.

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253 F.2d 654, 1 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1237, 1958 U.S. App. LEXIS 5777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-matter-of-pittsburgh-railways-company-debtor-united-states-of-ca3-1958.