Ledbetter v. Mandell

124 A.D. 854, 109 N.Y.S. 602, 1908 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2209
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 20, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 124 A.D. 854 (Ledbetter v. Mandell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ledbetter v. Mandell, 124 A.D. 854, 109 N.Y.S. 602, 1908 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2209 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

Clarke, J.:

On December 8, 1896, there was filed in the clerk’s office of the United States Court for the Southern District of the Indian Territory a complaint in equity by the H. B. Claflin Company, K. Mandell & Co., and certain other persons, plaintiffs, against H. Munzesheimer and Sam Daube and W. A. Ledbetter, defendants. That bill alleged that in November, 1896, the defendants Munzesheimer a.nd Daube executed a deed of assignment under the laws of the State of Arkansas in force and operation in the Indian Territory, in which deed the plaintiffs therein were named as creditors and are all preferred creditors to a large amount. The plaintiffs then set forth the nature of the stock and property conveyed by said deed of assignment and alleged that the defendant Ledbetter, acting as assignee under the trust conferred upon him, took the' inventory of said property and filed his bond and oath thereby qualifying as assignee: “ that by the terms of the law under which the said Ledbetter acts as assignee, he is not permitted to sell the said property at retail, nor to keep the store open for the collection of debts or for the supplying of customers who are already indebted to the estate with other goods, nor is he permitted to sell at private sale any of the real estate or other property of said estate, nor is he permitted to replenish the stock of goods, nor to sell at either public or private sale of notes and accounts, but he is required to sell within 120 days and .after advertising for thirty days the real and personal property belonging to the said estate and to sell only for cash.” The bill [856]*856goes- on, to set up the facts by reason of which plaintiffs allege that, to sell.the goods as required by law within 120 days and at public outcry would be in effect to sacrifice and destroy the. same to cred- ■ itors and thereby prevent the payment of debts, and alleges “ that unless the said Ledbetter is restrained from selling under thé laws of Arkansas, as an assignee of said estate, he will sell the property as required by said law, which will result as heretofore alleged ; ” it further alleges that Munzesheimer & Daube are insolvent and “ that it is for the best interest for all the creditors of said estate preferred, in said deed of assignment, that the said Ledbetter should be, by order of this court, relieved of the requirement and necessity of acting under the said deed of assignment in the sale of said .property, and should be restrained from selling said property as Such assignee, and the said Ledbetter, who is a lawyer actively engaged in the practice of his profession, but knows nothing of the.mercantile business, together with an experienced merchant, who thoroughly understands the details of such business, should in the judgment of the creditors, be appointed joint receivers for all the property of said estate * * * that' may have passed by virtue of the deed of assignment;” wherefore plaintiffs prayed “for the restraining order herein suggested and for an order appointing two joint receivers of said estate, requiring of them sufficient bon'd to protect the rights of all parties, and to render said estate' safe, also giving to them broad and comprehensive power in the management and control of the property of said estate and in the protection óf the same, with such restrictions and requirements as the-court may.see proper to require, but in any event relieving the said Ledbetter of his duties and responsibilities as assignee under the deed of assignment requiring the proceeds to be paid as named in said instrument, except when otherwise ordered by this court,” and “ for such other relief, general and spécial, as may be necessary in the premises.” Munzesheimer & Datibe, and Ledbetter, assignee of said" firm, interposed an answer, waived the issuance of service, entered their appearance and admitted the allegations of the bill. Thereupon the court made an order on the 8th of December, 1896, filed on the ninth, “ That the said W. A. Ledbetter, as assignee, is hereby enjoined and restrained from selling any of the property conveyed to him under and by virtue of said deed .of assignment as therein [857]*857provided, and said W. A. Ledbetter is hereby appointed receiver to take possession of, manage, control and dispose of all of said property conveyed to him, as such assignee, and the is appointed co-receiver to act in connection with the said W. A. Led-better in accordance with the provisions of this order as hereinafter set forth.” It was further provided that upon the execution and filing of the oath and bond required by law.in- the sum of $50,000, by the said Ledbetter, “ the title to all the lands, tenements, goods, • chattels, funds, assets, moneys, credits, dioses in action,, rights and interest of every kind, name and nature, either in law or equity, or any part thereof belonging to same as conveyed in said deed of assignment, shall be vested in said W. A. Ledbetter and lie' shall take possession of said property and shall from thence forward until further orders of this court, or the judge thereof, have full possession, custody and control thereof, and shall be vested with the title so far as it shall be necessary to collect the debts and preserve the assets and the property for the benefit of creditors named in said deed of assignment.” - There were directions as to what he should do in managing and disposing of the estate for the best prices’he could obtain., It was further ordered “ that the proceeds realized from the sale of any of said property, and from the eollectioiis on notes and accounts and other evidences of debt, shall be placed to the credit of W. A. Ledbetter, receiver, and shall be subject only to his check.”

The first object of the suit had been accomplished upon the entry of this order. Ledbetter, as assignee, had been disposed of. The duties and obligations imposed upon him by law as assignee, which, in the view of the plaintiffs, would have been disastrous to their interests, had been wiped out. Instead' of the estate being wound up under the Assignment Law of the State of Arkansas,

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Related

Ledbetter v. Mandell
141 A.D. 556 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 A.D. 854, 109 N.Y.S. 602, 1908 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ledbetter-v-mandell-nyappdiv-1908.