Matters v. Manufacturers' Trust Co.

54 F.2d 1010, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2977
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJanuary 4, 1932
Docket55
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 54 F.2d 1010 (Matters v. Manufacturers' Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matters v. Manufacturers' Trust Co., 54 F.2d 1010, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2977 (2d Cir. 1932).

Opinions

L. BAND, Circuit Judge.

Thé B. B. Bose Co., Ine., was a retail seller of radio machines; it was organized in September, 1924, and expanded quickly, but by the autumn of 1927 its fortunes started to wane, due to a change in the market, which began to demand radios that could be used with ordinary domestic current, in[1012]*1012stead of being equipped with a battery. The company dealt in tbe old machines, and in October its sales fell to about $300,000 as against twice that amount for the preceding year; in November to $430,000 against $646,000; in December to $600,000 against $750,000; and in January, 1928, to $215,-000 against $470,000. Thus for the four months its total sales had been only sixty per cent, of the year before, though its overhead had not been correspondingly reduced. The District Judge found, and the defendants do not dispute, that on January 31, 1928, this had brought about an insolvency in the sense that a fair valuation of the assets would not pay the liabilities. The balance sheet prepared as of that date showed, it is true, apparent assets of $887,000 and liabilities of $746,000; but of the assets the merchandise inventories accounted for about $560,000, of which- not more than forty per cent, could be recovered, unless the business went on for a period of two or three years. The net worth of the assets should therefore be decreased by about $330,000, and, as there were also accounts of about $43,000 which were not collectible, the deficiency was not far from $250,000. Rose was the president and manager, and he kept daily track of the sales; but it is in dispute when he learned of the financial condition at the end of January. His bookkeeper gave him on February eighteenth a statement as of January thirty-first, or December thirty-first, and it seems to have been assumed by all parties that it was the first, though, so far as we can see, this is uncertain except for the improbability that it should take nearly seven weeks to draw off such a statement. However, even if the statement which he got was as of December thirty-first, it would make no difference, because though this showed assets of over a million dollars and liabilities of eight hundred thousand, there was nevertheless a deficiency, similarly calculated, of about $160,-000. Whichever it was, it satisfied Rose that if he could not finance his company by outside means, he was at the end of his tether. He knew that he could not get any further renewals of notes, aggregating $125,000, which would fall due within ten days.

The company had three bank accounts, one of which plays no part here. Another was with the Capitol National Bank, and went back a long time. This was the bank which held the two notes, one of $25,000 maturing on the fourteenth of February, and the other, of $100,000 on the twenty-seventh. It also held four trade acceptances drawn by a defendant, the Freed-Eisemann Company, aggregating about $44,000, and accepted by the Rose Company for merchandise purchased. These fell due between the sixth of April and the seventeenth of May. . Freed and Eisemann together held about one-third of the Rose Company stock, and had a representative upon its board, and Rose knew that the Capitol Bank held this paper. On January sixteenth he opened another account with the Seventh National Bank, with which he had coquetted a little in the preceding summer, and which held two more of the Freed-Eisemann acceptances, which were of long standing, had been paid in part and renewed, and which aggregated about $30,000, and fell due on April tenth and thirteenth. Rose also knew that this bank held these. Upon his knowledge as to the place of discount of all the acceptances, Austrian’s testimony is conclusive in spite of Rose’s equivocation. On the first of February he had $60,000 of overdue merchandise bills, and merchandise notes of about $260,000,° counting the acceptances just mentioned; $71,000 on deposit with the Capitol Bank and $26,000 in the Seventh.

The smaller of the two notes held by the Capitol Bank was paid on the fourteenth, when it fell due, by charging it off against the company’s balance. The account on the thirteenth had been $34,000 and remained substantially unchanged after the charge, because of a deposit of a little over $25,000 on that day. Rose was continually using it for his needs, paying a few of his creditors out of it, though keeping off most after the tenth, in spite of some pressure. The account fell to $30,000 on the sixteenth, but thereafter grew daily with one exception, until, on the twenty-fifth, it had reached $128,000. On the twenty-seventh the bank charged off the second note of $100,000 then due, and the account later fell from $25,-000 on that day to $22,000 on March fifth. Thereafter it again grew till on the sixteenth it was $53,000, and closed at $44,000 on the seventeenth, the day when the company filed a voluntary petition. Thereupon the bank exercised its right to accelerate the four trade acceptances, and paid them off, leaving a small balance, which was turned over to the bankruptcy receiver. The ease against it was based upon the theory that payment of both notes and of trade acceptances were preferential transfers under section fifteen of the New York Stock Corporation Law, Rose having built up his deposits with intent not to draw them down [1013]*1013below the necessary amount to cover his debts until their maturity or his bankruptcy. At the time when these transactions took place, the statute charged the transferee without regard to notice; it has since been changed.

The deposit in the Seventh Bank, fluctuated between $26,000 at the beginning of February, and $4,700 on the fourteenth. It grew to $24,500 on the seventeenth, but fell to $7,000 on March first, where it remained until the eighth, between which time and the bankruptcy it rose to $40,000 — $10,000 more than enough to cover the two trade acceptances. This bank adopted a different course from the Capitol. It did not at once charge off the deposit against the acceptances, but placed it in a .special account, until they fell due, when it charged them against it, after presenting them for payment to the Freed-Eisemann Company, and upon dishonor, protesting them in due course. It does not indeed definitely appear that it did this in the ease of both; the only notice of protest in evidence is that of the acceptance falling due on April eleventh. The parties seem however to assume that the same course was taken as to the second.

On February twentieth Austrian, who was the bankrupt’s vice president and had charge of the selling, suggested to Rose that they sound out the Davega Company, with a view to taking over the insolvent and assuming its indebtedness. Negotiations were opened and went along until March sixth, when they substantially ended in Davega’s 'offer to pay thirty-three per cent, of the claims, or fifty per cent, in its own stock, though they flickered along to final extinction on the ninth. It is the position of the banks that while they lasted, their pend-ency contradicted Rose’s preferential intent.

On either the twenty-third or the twenty-seventh — the date being uncertain — Rose and Eisemann had a conference at the home of Eisemann’s father, who was a director in the Capitol Bank. Eisemann had already heard of the Davega negotiations and the purpose of the interview was probably to discuss the bankrupt’s affairs and what kind of showing it could make.

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Bluebook (online)
54 F.2d 1010, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 2977, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matters-v-manufacturers-trust-co-ca2-1932.