Indiana Nat. Bank v. Danner, Rec.

179 N.E. 546, 203 Ind. 205, 1932 Ind. LEXIS 37
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 28, 1932
DocketNo. 26,158.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 179 N.E. 546 (Indiana Nat. Bank v. Danner, Rec.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indiana Nat. Bank v. Danner, Rec., 179 N.E. 546, 203 Ind. 205, 1932 Ind. LEXIS 37 (Ind. 1932).

Opinion

Roll, J.

Appellant, The Indiana National Bank of Indianapolis, filed its verified claim with the receiver of The Direct Advertising Corporation for money loaned to the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company, all the assets having been taken over and all debts having been assumed by the Direct Advertising Corporation. Appellant’s claim was evidenced by five promissory notes, the total amount of principal being $24,198.62. The total amount due, including interest and attorney’s fees, being $33,732.34, for which amount it asked judgment.

The claim was disallowed by appellee, and the cause was set down for trial by the court without the intervention of a jury. The evidence was stipulated by the parties, and the court found that appellant was enti *207 tied to have its claim allowed in the sum of $2,730.08, and ordered the receiver to pay the same.

Appellant filed its motion for a new trial, which was overruled by the court. The overruling of appellant’s motion for a new trial is assigned as error on this appeal. In its motion for a new trial, appellant assigns three reasons: (1) That the decision of the court is contrary to law; (2) that the decision of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence; (3) error in the assessment of the amount of recovery, same being too small.

The facts in this case are as follows: For a long time prior to January 1, 1922, The Indiana National Bank of Indianapolis, hereinafter referred to as “the bank,” had been a creditor of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company. Some time after January 1, 1922, the Direct Advertising Corporation, for and in consideration of the transfer of all of the assets of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company to it, assumed all of the liabilities of the latter company. The claimant’s indebtedness was among the liabilities assumed.

On August 9, 1922, a receiver was appointed by the superior court of Marion County for the Direct Advertising Corporation. On August 11, 1922, a receiver was appointed by the same court for the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company. At the time of the appointment of the receivers of the two companies, the bank was a creditor in the amount of $24,198.62, which was represented by promissory notes of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company. These notes represented amounts which were renewals of a much larger indebtedness which had existed prior to the appointment .of the receivers. The total amount of these notes, $24,198.62, was one of the liabilities assumed by the Direct Advertising Corporation. Neither this company nor the Mu *208 tual Printing and Lithographing Company ever put up any collateral for this indebtedness or paid any part of the same.

Baird' G. Saltzgaber was an officer of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company, and, prior to his death, had created a trust in certain life insurance policies on his own life in favor of the bank, the validity of which was established by a judgment. The trustees paid the said bank $28,602.16, which represented the entire proceeds of the trust-in the policies of insurance, ■ and the amount was applied against interest on the indebtedness which had accrued in the amount of $8,323.69, against attorney’s fees which had accrued as provided in the notes in the amount of $1,209.93, and against the principal indebtedness in the amount of-$24,198.62, leaving a principal balance of $5,130.08. This was reduced by the receipt of $2,400 from the receiver of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company, and the principal remaining due and unpaid was $2,730.08.

The original obligation owed to the bank by the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company was guaranteed by William E. Henkel and Baird G. Saltzgaber, but this guaranty was solely for the accommodation of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company. The estate of Baird G. Saltzgaber, deceased,, was insolvent, and did not have sufficient assets to pay any dividend to the bank. The Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company never put up any collateral for the payment of the original indebtedness, nor did it pay anything on the indebtedness except $2,400 which was received from the receiver of that company. All other payments upon the obligation owed the bank were made from outside sources, namely, from the trust created by Baird G. Saltzgaber in certain policies of insurance on his own life, and from the receiver of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company.

*209 The five exhibits attached to the bank’s petition and identified as A, B, C, D and E are the notes executed by the Mutual Printing Company by B. G. Saltzgaber, its treasurer. The note identified as Exhibit A is in the amount of $9,600; the note identified as Exhibit B is in the amount of $3,200; the note identified as Exhibit C is in the amount of $2,500; the note identified as Exhibit D is in the amount of $3,000, but has a credit thereon of $101.38, which makes its amount $2,898.62; the note identified as Exhibit E is in the amount of $6,000. The total amount of the principal indebtedness as shown by these notes was $24,198.62. The total principal indebtedness, with interest and attorney’s fees, at the time of the payment by the trustees of the trust in the life insurance policies amounted to $33,732.34.

When the payment out of the trust and the payment by the receiver of the Mutual Printing and Lithographing Company are deducted, the balance of $2,730.08 remains unpaid.

Appellant claims that its share of the dividends from the general assets should be figured on the basis of the amount of its claim at the time of the appointment of the receiver, subject, of course, to the qualification that it should in no event receive more than the face of its claim. The court below reduced said' claim by the amount realized from receiver and from the sale of the collateral, and allowed it in the sum remaining.

The question presented by this appeal is, whether the action of the court was correct in reducing appellant’s claim in the amount which it had received from the collateral it held from a third party, or should the court have allowed appellant’s claim without regard to such collateral. It is appellee’s contention that the case of Union Trust Co. v. Fletcher, etc., Trust Co. (1924), 194 Ind. 314, 142 N. E. 711, is decisive of this question, and *210 is relied upon by appellee. It was said in that case (syllabus) that: “A creditor of an insolvent corporation which is in the hands of a receiver, who has received a part of his debt by the sale of collateral which he held as collateral therefor, is not entitled to have his claim allowed for the full amount of the debt as a basis for determining his share of the fund_ for distribution among creditors, but only the remainder of the debt after deducting the amount received from the collateral.”

It is contended by appellant that the facts in the above case are materially different from the facts in this case, that in Union Trust Co. v. Fletcher, etc., Trust Co., supra, the collateral which was held by the claimant belonged to the insolvent estate, and that the collateral in the case at bar was in no way the property of the insolvent, but was that of a third party.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 N.E. 546, 203 Ind. 205, 1932 Ind. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indiana-nat-bank-v-danner-rec-ind-1932.