Reichert v. Federal Land Bank

139 F.2d 627, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 4106
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 5, 1944
DocketNo. 12633
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 139 F.2d 627 (Reichert v. Federal Land Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reichert v. Federal Land Bank, 139 F.2d 627, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 4106 (8th Cir. 1944).

Opinion

THOMAS, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal by a farmer-debtor from an order entered in a proceeding under § 75 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S. C.A. § 203.

The appellant filed his petition under § 75 on March 5, 1941, and was adjudged bankrupt under § 75, sub. s, on May 31, 1941. Thereafter his property was duly appraised, and on August 25, 1941, an order was entered by the Conciliation Commissioner staying proceedings against the bankrupt or his property for a period of three years, allowing the debtor to retain possession of his farm under the supervision and control of the court, and fixing rentals for 1941 and annually thereafter for the period of the stay at one-fourth of all grain, one-fourth of all payments under the AAA program, and $200 for the use of the buildings and pastures.

The land comprised two sections subject to two' first mortgages to the appellee for which claims were allowed in the aggregate amount of $14,707.12. The appellee also held as additional security for unpaid taxes and delinquencies a $3,400 mortgage covering 25% of all crops grown on the same land during the year 1941.

The value of the land was fixed, upon review by the court, at $10,400.

On October 11, 1941, the debtor reported and deposited' with the Conciliation Commissioner $1,456.27, which accounted for the 1941 crop rental pursuant to the order of August 25, 1941. The debtor did not [629]*629pay nor account for one-fourth of the payments under the AAA program nor the $200 cash rental provided for in said rental order. No distribution of the amount of rentals deposited was made upon taxes, upkeep or to the creditors pursuant to the provisions of § 75, sub. s(2).

For the purpose of redeeming the land the debtor thereafter deposited with the Conciliation Commissioner $8,943.73, which with the $1,456.27 crop rental previously deposited was intended to make up the $10,-400 redemption value fixed by the court. This payment included the proceeds which "the debtor had received from the 1941 ■crop, none of which had been applied by him to payment of appellee’s $3,400 mortgage on the 1941 crop.

On September 23, 1942, the Conciliation Commissioner entered an order turning over the real estate to the debtor free and clear of encumbrances and distributing the $10,400 by applying $1,605.83 to the payment of taxes and the balance of $8,794.17 to the mortgagee.

Upon petition to review this order the district court held:

1. That pursuant to § 75, sub. s(2), rentals paid during the stay period must be distributed to payment of taxes and upkeep and the balance to the creditors upon their claims as their interest may appear; that “claims” of creditors as used in § 75, sub. s(2), means “the total debts” held by the creditors and allowed in the proceeding •and not the appraised value of the security fixed for redemption purposes.

2. That the debtor should be required to account for and deposit with the Conciliation Commissioner the $200 cash rental and one-fourth of the benefit payments under the AAA program for 1941, and that the Commissioner should then distribute all ■of the 1941 rentals so received, including the $1,456.27 crop rental, to the payment of taxes and upkeep and the remainder to the appellee as the holder of the first lien.

3. That the Conciliation Commissioner, acting as referee, should then, upon due notice and hearing, determine the value of the security for the crop mortgage held "by appellee on 25% of the 1941 crops grown ■on the land, and require payment of the value so found upon said mortgage as a condition precedent to the use of any part of the proceeds of said crop for redemption purposes.

4. That upon thus determining the part of the $10,400 on deposit properly applicable to the redemption of the real estate at the value fixed by the court an order should be entered allowing the debtor a reasonable time in which to deposit such additional funds as may be necessary to make up the $10,400 fixed value before entering an order turning over the land to the debtor free and clear of encumbrances; and that the amount so deposited should then be distributed to the secured creditors as their interest may appear.

An order was entered accordingly. Tt is from this order that the debtor appeals.

The debtor contends that the court erred in two particulars: (1) In holding, in a case in which the debtor redeems the mortgaged land, that the rentals remaining after payment of taxes and upkeep should be distributed to the creditors as their interests may appear — in this case to the appellee as holder of the first lien; and (2) in holding that the crop mortgage, given before adjudication of bankruptcy, was a lien on the debtor’s share of the crop remaining after payment of rentals fixed by the court, 25% of the value of which crop must be paid to the mortgagee in addition to the value of the farm as fixed by the court.

The first contention relates to the proper distribution of the rentals, in excess of taxes and upkeep, required to be paid for possession of the mortgaged land during the three-year period under § 75, sub. s (2), in a case where the debtor redeems pursuant to the provisions of § 75, sub. s(3).

Section 75, sub. s(2), provides that: “Such rental shall be paid into court, to be used, first, for payment of taxes and upkeep of the property, and the remainder to be distributed among the secured and unsecured creditors, and applied on their claims, as their interests may appear.” This subsection further provides that “The court, in its discretion, * * * may, in addition to the rental, require payments on the principal due and owing by the deptor to the secured and unsecured creditors, as their interests may appear”, for the protection of the rights of the creditors and with a view to the debtor’s financial rehabilitation. (Italics supplied).

Subsection s(3) provides that “At the end of three years, or prior thereto”, the debtor may redeem the farm by paying into court the appraised value, or the value [630]*630fixed by the court, “less payments made on the principal.”

In the instant case redemption was' attempted before the first year of the three-year period had expired, and the Conciliation Commissioner’s order turning over the property to the debtor was made about a month after the end of the year. At that time the first year’s rental was not all paid and none of the rental had been distributed.

The retention of the possession of the property is conditioned by the statute upon the debtor’s depositing in court the reasonable rental provided for. No complaint is made of the amount of the rental fixed in the order of August 25, 1941. There can be no doubt that that part of the order requiring the payment of the rental into court is correct and in accordance with the provisions of the statute. Neither can there be any doubt about how the court should use the rental after it is paid in. First the taxes and upkeep of the property must be paid. The Commissioner proceeded without paying the taxes out of the rental. In this he erred, and the court was right in requiring this to be done. The remainder of the rental must then be “distributed among the secured and unsecured creditors, and applied on their claims, as their interests may appear.” There appear to be no unsecured creditors in the present instance. The appellee’s claim allowed on its first mortgages amounted to $14,707.12. The value of the land fixed by the court was only $10,400.

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Related

Beecher v. Leavenworth State Bank
192 F.2d 10 (Ninth Circuit, 1951)
Schafer v. Federal Land Bank
142 F.2d 1013 (Eighth Circuit, 1944)
In re Schmidt
54 F. Supp. 262 (D. Nebraska, 1944)

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Bluebook (online)
139 F.2d 627, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 4106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reichert-v-federal-land-bank-ca8-1944.