Irving Trust Co. v. United States

83 F.2d 20, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 2429
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 15, 1936
DocketNo. 7203
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 83 F.2d 20 (Irving Trust Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Irving Trust Co. v. United States, 83 F.2d 20, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 2429 (6th Cir. 1936).

Opinion

MOORMAN, Circuit Judge.

The Guardian Trust Company is a state bank and trust company organized under the laws of Ohio, with its place of business in Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. On March 6, 1919, the judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, acting under section 61 of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C.A. § 101), designated the Guardian Company as a depository “for the money of bankrupt estates in and for the County of Cuyahoga in this Judicial District.” The Guardian Company executed bonds to the United States to secure the deposits with the Standard Accident Insurance Company and the American Surety Company as sureties thereon. In November of 1924, the judges of the District Court entered an order prohibiting depositories designated for bankruptcy funds from accepting deposits of such funds in excess of the amounts of their bonds therefor without permission of the court. The deposits in the Guardian Company being in excess of the amount of its surety bonds on October 5, 1932, the company on that date made application to the court to be permitted to furnish collateral security in lieu of bond for the excess deposits. This and a similar request made on February 18, 1933, were granted, and collateral in the form of government bonds was delivered to the clerk of the court as additional security. On April 18, 1933, the Guardian Company, not being able to meet its obligations, was taken over by the superintendent of banks for the state of Ohio and since then has been in process of liquidation under the Ohio Statutes (Gen.Code Ohio, § 710-85 et seq.). At the time it was taken over by the superintendent of banks, the securities which it had given amounted to $152,000. It was chargeable at the time with funds of bankrupt estates deposited by local receivers and trustees in an aggregate amount of $141,679.04.

In July and August of 1932, the Retail Chemists Corporation, a New York corporation, and the United Cigar Stores Company of America, a New Jersey corporation having its principal place of business within the Southern District of New York, were adjudged bankrupts. The Irving Trust Company of New York was duly elected and qualified in the Southern District of New York as trustee in bankruptcy of each of these corporations. Each had retail stores in many sections and federal court districts of the country. Prior to bankruptcy each had deposited the proceeds from the sales in its stores in northern Ohio in the Guardian Company. By order of the District Court of the Southern District of New York, the trustee of each was authorized to continue the operation of the bankrupt’s business and to deposit the moneys received therefrom in designated depositories within and without the district. Following the entry of this order, the trustee wrote the Guardian Company and inquired whether it was a designated depository of bankruptcy funds, to which the Guardian Company replied that it was “an authorized depository of bankruptcy funds by the Federal District Court.” Thereafter the Irving Company directed its agents operating the stores in the Northern District of Ohio and adjacent territory to deposit the proceeds from sales in the stores in the Guardian Company, and to use that company as a commercial bank. At the time of the failure of the Guardian Company, the Irving Company had on deposit with it funds of the estate of the Cigar Stores Company amounting to $282,911.79, and funds belonging to the estate of the Chemists Corporation amounting to $17,893.80. Later this action was instituted in the District Court on behalf of the local receivers and [22]*22trastees of bankrupt estates in the Northern District of Ohio to recover their deposits from the sureties on the depository bonds, the Standard Accident Insurance Company and American Surety Company, and to obtain a distribution of the proceeds of the sale of the government bonds deposited with the clerk of the court. The Irving Company, as trustee for the Cigar Stores Company and the Chemists Corporation, intervened, claiming a right to participate in the security of the surety bonds and the proceeds of the sale of the collateral. By cross-bill it asserted a lien on the assets of the Guardian Company in the hands of the superintendent of banks for any balance due it after such participation. Upon the hearing the trial court dismissed the Irving Company’s petitions, decreed liability against the surety companies to the extent of their respective bonds, and ordered the payment of the amount thereof into court for distribution with the proceeds of the sale of the government bonds among the local trustees and receivers in the proportion that the amount due each bore to the aggregate amount to be distributed. The Irving Company, as trustee, has appealed, contending: (1) That it is entitled to participate in the funds; and (2) to the extent that it is not, its deposits were impressed with a trust in the hands of the Guardian Company for which the assets of that company are liable in preference to the claims of other creditors.

The appeal presents two controversies: One between the Irving Company, as trustee for the Cigar Stores Company and Chemists Corporation, and the local receivers and trustees of bankrupt estates, with whom are the two surety companies; the other between the Irving Company, as trustee, and the superintendent of.banks of Ohio representing the general creditors of the Guardian Company.

The claim of the Irving Company to the protection of the securities given by the Guardian Company rests upon the terms of the order of the court designating the Guardian Company as depository together with the obligations of the depository bonds. The order designated the Guardian Company as a depository for the money of bankrupt estates in and for the county of Cuyahoga in the Northern District of Ohio. The obligations of the bonds were that the Guardian Company would faithfully discharge and perform its duties as depository, safely keep all money deposited, and pay the same only according to law and the orders of the court. The Irving Company contends that there is nothing in the terms of the order of designation restricting the Guardian Company to the acceptance of deposits of bankrupt estates administered in the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. We think the designation must be considered from the point of view of a grant of power or authority, that is, power or authority to the local trustees and receivers to deposit and the bank to receive deposits of funds of bankrupt estates, and, as so considered, it is to be treated as authorizing, the Guardian Company to receive the funds of such estates administered in the court of the judicial district for the Northern District of Ohio. The grant went no further, and, being thus limited, the bonds given under section 61 of the Bankruptcy Act are likewise limited in their obligation, that is, to secure the deposits of funds of bankrupt estates in administration in the county of Cuyahoga, Ohio, and the judicial district for the Northern District of Ohio.

It is said by the Irving Company that the bonds must be read and construed in the light of the intent and purposes of the Bankruptcy Act; that the act is national in its scope (Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co., 282 U.S. 734, 51 S.Ct. 270, 75 L.Ed. 645); that section 47 (a) (3) requiring trustees to deposit all money received by them in a designated depository is mandatory [R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Jones Co.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
83 F.2d 20, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 2429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irving-trust-co-v-united-states-ca6-1936.