J. S. Farlee & Co. v. Springfield-South Main Realty Co.

86 F.2d 931, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3894
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 10, 1936
DocketNo. 3162
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 86 F.2d 931 (J. S. Farlee & Co. v. Springfield-South Main Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J. S. Farlee & Co. v. Springfield-South Main Realty Co., 86 F.2d 931, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3894 (1st Cir. 1936).

Opinion

BINGHAM, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by J. S. Farlee & Co., Inc., under section 24b, as amended, 77B(k) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. A. §§ 47(bl, 207(k) (Meyer v. Kenmore Granville Hotel Co., 297 U.S. 160, 56 S. Ct. 405, 80 L.Ed. 557), from two orders of May 26, 1936, of the federal District Court for Massachusetts in a reorganization proceeding under section 77B, instituted by Springfield-South Main Realty Company, debtor, appellee. In the first order the court confirmed the report of a special master as to the fairness and feasibility of the amended plan of reorganization and objections thereto; and in the second order confirmed the amended plan of reorganization and authorized its execution.

The debtor is a corporation organized under the laws of Massachusetts on March 27, 1929. On April 10, 1929, it acquired title to certain real estate of the Potter Realty Trust, and, at the same time, agreed to assume the obligation of certain bonds issued by the Potter Trust and secured by a first mortgage on the real estate. The principal amount of coupon bonds of the Potter Realty Trust then outstanding amounted to $219,000 and bore interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, payable on April 1 and October 1 of each year. The coupons on the bonds representing the interest due October T, 1927, April 1, 1928, October 1, 1928, and April 1, 1929, had not been paid by the Potter Trust Company; and the coupons becoming due October 1, 1929, were not paid by the debtor. But coupons in the aggregate amount of $38,325, representing the interest thus due, were paid by C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., on the latter date. The debtor paid the coupons representing the interest on the bonds later falling due April 1, 1930, and October 1, 1930, but on April 1, 1931, the bondholders were invited to deposit their bonds with a committee. All the bondholders, with the exception of $12,300 in principal amount, deposited their bonds and received from C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., on account of the April 1, 1931, coupons, as interest, the sum of $25 per thousand dollar bond. Since then no interest has been paid on any of the bonds and the sinking fund provisions of the mortgage securing the bonds have not been maintained since October 1, 1927.

The real estate in question is located in Springfield, Mass. It consists of a five-story building used for manufacturing purposes and certain land adjoining the same which is unoccupied except in part by a filling station. The debtor’s chief source of revenue is the rent received therefrom.

The capital stock of the debtor corporation consists of one thousand shares, no par value. It is now owned by Thomas H. Mahoney, receiver of C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., appointed by the Massachusetts state court. He also owns the coupons aggregating $38,325 that were paid by C. D. Parker & Co., Inc.

The debtor’s petition for reorganization under section 77B, as amended, 11 U.S.C.A. § 207, was filed in the District Court on September 11, 1935. It was approved on the same day. December 17, 1935, an amended plan of reorganization was filed, to which, on January 3, 1936, the appellant filed objections, and, on January 6, 1936, an order was entered by the District Court referring the plan to a special master to consider and report as to the fairness and feasibility of the plan and the objections thereto.

The amended plan, among other things, provides that the interest of the owners of the stock of the debtor shall remain unchanged; that the expenses of administration, including the claims of creditors incurred in the operation and preservation of the estate, and debts other than bonds and the claim of C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., for $38,325 be paid in cash in full; that the bondholders surrender their 7 per cent, bonds, releasing their claims for unpaid interest, and receive therefor bonds of equal principal amount ($219,-000) bearing 5 per cent, interest, payable from the net income of the debtor in any particular year, which interest shall be cumulative before any distribution on junior interests or common stock; and that, after the 5 per cent, on the new bonded indebtedness in any particular year and any accumulation from any prior year shall have been paid or set aside, one-half of the balance of any net income earned in that year shall be paid as a sinking fund to the trustee of the mortgage and the other half devoted to the general pur[933]*933poses of the debtor. The plan also contains a provision wherein holders of the old bonds, to the aggregate principal amount of $12,300, who had not received payment of $25 on each $1,000 of the principal amount, on account of interest due April 1, 1931, should receive such payment in cash in full; that C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., receive on its claim for interest paid by it for 1927, 1928 and 1929, a new bond or bonds in the principal amount of $38,325, releasing its claim for interest on the coupons held by it; and that the old mortgage be discharged and a new mortgage executed to secure the new issue of 5 per cent, bonds aggregating in principal amount $257,325.

Bondholders representing 78 per cent, of the principal amount of outstanding bonds and 82 per cent, of the number of holders accepted the amended plan; and the receiver of C. D. Parker & Co., Inc., the holder of $38,325 of coupons and of all the capital stock of the debtor, likewise accepted it. The only creditor objecting' to the plan is the appellant. It is the holder of $8,000, or about Z2/¡ per cent, of the principal amount of the outstanding bonds, $7,500 of which it purchased at 9y% cents on the dollar, shortly before the filing of the petition for reorganization, and the $500 balance of bonds at 5 cents on a dollar shortly thereafter.

While the books of the debtor disclose that as of May 31, 1935, it had assets in excess of $350,000, the master found that the present worth of its real estate was less than the principal amount of the mortgage bonds outstanding and that the debt- or was in fact insolvent. He further found that the amended plan proposed by the debtor was “fair and equitable” and did not “discriminate unfairly in favor of any class of creditors or stockholders, and is feasible,” and recommended that it be confirmed. The master’s report was filed May 8, 1936. It was assigned for hearing on May 25, on which date the appellant filed exceptions to the report and, after hearing, the court reserved its decision. May 26, 1936, the appellant filed a petition for leave to intervene generally, and to intervene specially in order that it might obtain a copy of the list of bondholders, which petition was denied on the same day. And on the same day the two orders here appealed from were entered — one confirming the special master’s report as to the fairness and feasibility of the amended plan, and the other confirming the amended plan.

From these orders Farlee & Co., Inc., on July 1, 1936, was granted leave to appeal by this court.

Among the errors assigned the appellant relies on the following:

(1) That the court erred in confirming the report of the special master and in holding that the amended plan of reorganization of the debtor is fair and equitable and does not .discriminate unfairly in favor of any class of creditors or stockholders for the following reasons:

(a) Although the special master found the debtor is insolvent with assets insufficient to cover the principal amount of first mortgage bonds outstanding, the plan leaves intact the stock interest of C. D.

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Bluebook (online)
86 F.2d 931, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3894, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-s-farlee-co-v-springfield-south-main-realty-co-ca1-1936.