Miller v. Mangus

125 F.2d 507, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 4403
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 1942
DocketNo. 2285
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 125 F.2d 507 (Miller v. Mangus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Mangus, 125 F.2d 507, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 4403 (10th Cir. 1942).

Opinion

MURRAH, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court for the District of Utah, sustaining its jurisdiction over certain property included within the schedule of the debtor in a farmer-debtor proceedings under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act. Title 11, Section 203, U.S.C.A.

By motion to strike, the appellant challenges the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court to administer certain property scheduled in the proceedings under Section 75 of the Act. The facts, as disclosed by the motions of the appellant, and affidavits in support thereof, show that on or about the 3rd day of November, 1938, one James K. Miller, as the seller, entered into a contract in writing with Walter L. Mangus, the debtor here, and his wife, Rose L. Mangus, by the terms of which the seller agreed to sell to the buyers, Walter L. Mangus and Rose L. Mangus, “as joint tenants with full rights of survivorship and not as tenants in common” the tract of land involved in this appeal.

The buyers agreed to pay the sum of $4,000; $500 in cash and $35 on the 3rd day of each month thereafter, commencing December 3, 1938. The appellant, Matthew A. Miller, acquired the contract from the original seller. The contract provided that time was the essence thereof, and on failure of the buyers to comply with the terms, or to make any payment or payments when due, or in thirty days thereafter, the seller would be released from all obligations in law and equity, to convey the said property ; that all payments made thereon would be forfeited to the seller as liquidated damages for nonperformance, and the seller might re-enter and take possession of the said premises and the buyers would thus become tenants at will.

On November 30, 1940, the buyers were in default for “many months” more than thirty days, whereupon the seller notified them in writing of such default; demanded that they make full payment on or before January 3, 1941, of all sums due on the said contract or forfeit all rights thereunder.

The buyers failed to comply, but on December 28, 1940, Walter L. Mangus, without reference to his cotenant, commenced these proceedings in bankruptcy under Section 75, listing among his assets, the land in question. On January 27, 1941, the appellant filed his motion to strike from the debtor’s schedule of his property, the land in question and, in support thereof, filed an affidavit narrating the facts substantially as herein stated.

Nowhere in the record are these facts traversed or disputed. But pursuant to leave granted on February 1, 1941, and on February 6, 1941, Rose L. Mangus filed what is termed a “Joinder of Rose L. Mangus,” in which she attempted to join and expressly adopt the petition of Walter L. Mangus for relief under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act (making reference to Schedules A and B), the same as if she had signed the said petition and schedules at the time they were filed by her joint tenant. She claimed accrued rights as of the date of the filing of the petition, and for relief under Section 75 of the Bankruptcy Act.

On the 8th day of February, 1941, the appellant seller, by supplemental motion and affidavit by his attorney, renewed his motion to strike the described property from the schedules, and again challenged the jurisdiction of the court to administer the property in bankruptcy under Section 75, contending that the “Joinder of Rose L. Mangus,” filed on February 6, 1941, did not confer jurisdiction on the court to administer the property in bankruptcy because on that date Rose L. Mangus, having forfeited all right, title and interest in the property, could not invoke the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court; contending that the court was without jurisdiction of the joint estate and the property scheduled, and prayed that the said property be stricken from the proceedings.

On February 24, 1941, the court having considered the original and supplemental motion to strike and the affidavit in support thereof, overruled and denied them. From this order the appellant has appealed.

The facts set forth in the affidavits of the appellant were not challenged or refuted on the record, and hence they stand admitted.

When Walter L. Mangus commenced proceedings under Section 75 on December 28, 1940, he and his wife, Rose L. Mangus, were the owners of a contract for a deed or a contract for sale of the land in question, as joint tenants with the right of survivorship and not tenants in common. The contract was in default but had not been forfeited. They were, therefore, jointly seized of an interest in prop[510]*510erty which was subject to the jurisdiction of a court of Bankruptcy under Section 75.

It is no longer open to question that subsections n and o of Section 75, Section 203, subsections n and o, 11 U.S. C.A., are sufficiently broad to include the interest of the holder of a contract for a deed or a conditional sales contract when such contract is in default but before forfeiture. From and after the date of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy the bankruptcy court acquires exclusive and paramount jurisdiction over the property, with the full power to administer the same in accordance with the provisions of the Act.1 Wright v. Union Central Life Insurance Company, 304 U.S. 502, 58 S.Ct. 1025, 82 L.Ed. 1490, and Kalb v. Feuerstein, 308 U.S. 433, 60 S.Ct. 343, 84 L.Ed. 370.

It is equally plain that the appellant having served written notice of forfeiture as stipulated, time having been made the essence of the contract, and no extension of time having been granted, the right, title and interest of Rose Mangus was forfeited, from and after January 3, 1941, and she thereafter had no justiciable interest in the property.2 Her equity, or interest in the property having been effectively cut off the attempted joinder was ineffectual to confer jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court over her estate in the property. Wright v. Union Central Life Ins. Co., supra, and Tullis v. Pratt, supra. The attempted joinder neither added to, nor took from the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court.

It follows that the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court over the estate of Rose L. Mangus must fail, unless the petition and schedule of Walter L. Mangus without reference to his cotenant operated to confer jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court over the estate of his cotenant, by virtue of the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, Section 203, sub. s(4) Title 11, U.S. C.A.3

The provisions of the Bankruptcy Act, Section 203, sub. s(4) Title 11, U.S.C.A., are made applicable to joint tenants, but the parties here failed to avail themselves of this right until one joint tenant was no longer seized of a justiciable interest in the property.

The record negatives any intention of either of them to timely avail themselves of any right accorded by the provisions of the statute noted. Section 203, sub. s(4) Title 11, U.S.C.A.

Clearly, Rose L. Mangus, although having a right to join in the proceedings [511]*511while she had an interest capable of protection, failed to avail herself of that right. As a result the estate of Rose L. Mangus in the property was effectively severed by forfeiture on January 3, 1941, and by such severance the joint tenancy was terminated and the appellant Miller became reinvested with her estate in the property.

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Bluebook (online)
125 F.2d 507, 1942 U.S. App. LEXIS 4403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-mangus-ca10-1942.