Tanana Valley R. Co. v. Washington-Alaska Bank

6 Alaska 15
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedJanuary 10, 1918
DocketNo. 1597
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Alaska 15 (Tanana Valley R. Co. v. Washington-Alaska Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tanana Valley R. Co. v. Washington-Alaska Bank, 6 Alaska 15 (D. Alaska 1918).

Opinion

BUNNELL,, District Judge.

The position taken by the petitioner is that the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, 173 U. S. 131, 19 Sup. Ct. 360, 43 L. Ed. 640, and Aldrich v. Chemical National Bank, 176 U. S. 618, 20 Sup. Ct. 498, 44 L. Ed. 611, are controlling in this case, and that the sum of $27,248.76 claimed to be due on January 30, 1914, was ascertained in accordance with the methods of calculation employed in those cases. In Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, supra, the rule is established that:

“A secured creditor of a national bank may prove and receive dividends upon tbe face of Ms claim as it stood at the time of the declaration of insolvency, without crediting either his collaterals, or collections made therefrom after such declaration, subject always to the proviso that dividends must cease when, from them and from collaterals realized, the claim has been paid in full."

By this rule a secured creditor of an insolvent national bank is assured that if the dividends declared, together with the proceeds of any security held, are equal to the amount of his claim, that is, principal and interest, he will be paid in full; and it may be permissible to add that the unsecured creditor is by the same rule assured that the secured creditor will not be permitted to take more than is due him. In the administration of estates under receivership, the District Court, while recognizing the ruling of the Supreme Court [25]*25as the law, have endeavored to determine each case with due regard to the equities thereof, and not to apply the rule of the Supreme Court as a solution for every problem similar, •but not identical. In Hitner v. Diamond State Steel Co. (C. C.) 176 Fed. 390, the court gives the following as the first question raised for decision:

“Whether one having a pecuniary claim ascertained in amount against an insolvent corporation in the hands of receivers, and holding collateral security for its payment, has a right in equity to receive out of its general assets pro rata dividends calculated on the basis of the amount of the corporate indebtedness to him existing at the time of the declaration of insolvency, including interest thereon, if any, to that time, without regard to such collateral security or any payment or payments he may have received on account of his claim since that time, provided, that he shall not receive and retain from any or all sources more than the real amount of his claim, with interest thereon until paid, aside from any costs, charges and expenses incurred by him in the enforcement of or realization upon such collateral security.”

And, commenting thereon, it was said:

“Whatever might be the inclination of this court on the subject were it res integra, the first of these two questions [the question above] has been set at rest by the Supreme Court in Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville, 173 U. S. 131, 19 Sup. Ct. 369, 43 L. Ed. 640; the court there fully recognizing and approving the following as the chancery rule: ‘The creditor can prove for, and receive dividends upon, the full amount of his claim, regardless of any sums received from his collateral after the transfer of the assets from the debtor in insolvency, provided that he shall not receive more than the full amount due him.’ ”

As distinguished from the chancery rule, the Supreme Court, in Sexton v. Dreyfus, 219 U. S. 339, 31 Sup. Ct. 256, 55 L. Ed. 244, lays down the bankruptcy rule as follows:

“Under the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, a secured creditor selling his securities after the filing of the petition must apply the proceeds, other than interest and dividends-accrued since the date of the petition, first to the liquidation of the debt with interest to the date of the petition; he cannot first apply such proceeds to interest accrued since the petition.
“A secured creditor of a bankrupt can apply interest and dividends accruing on the securities after the date of the petition to interest on the debt accruing after such date.”

The two rules are thus established.

[26]*26In Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co. v. Idaho Ry., L. & P. Co. (D. C.) 228 Fed. 972, the court holds that

1 Since “Rev. Codes Idaho, § 4520, provides that there can be but . one action for the recovery of any debt or the enforcement of any right secured by mortgage; which action in case of mortgage is defined as a foreclosure suit, in which, after sale of the property, but not before, the plaintiff may have judgment, which he may satisfy by execution, but only for the amount of the debt remaining unpaid, * * * in view of such statutory provisions, on distribution by a federal court of equity in Idaho of the assets of an insolvent corporation, the trustee of a mortgage of property in the state is entitled to share as a creditor in the unmortgaged assets in the hands of a receiver on the basis of the amount of his deficiency judgment only.”

The same court also cites Commercial & Savings Bank v. Robert H. Jenks Lumber Co. (C. C.) 194 Fed. 732, to the effect that neither the National Bankruptcy Act (U. S. Comp. St. §§ 9585-9656) nor the state insolvency law is binding upon a federal court administering an estate through a receivership in the general course of equity. It is worthy of note, however, that in 194 Fed. 732, supra, the court decides that:

“Where an insolvent corporation deposited collaterals with claimant bank as security for its entire indebtedness, the bank on administration of the corporation’s estate in equity was entitled to prove its claim for the full amount of its debt and to receive dividends up to the balance due after crediting the proceeds of the sale of the collaterals.”

And in the AVestinghouse Case, supra, in commenting upon the rule laid down by the Supreme Court in national bank cases, the court says:

“And upon principle possibly no substantial reason can be given why, if controlling in national bank eases, the rule should not be extended to other insolvent estates, and to mortgage claims as well, provided, of course, there are no opposing statutory provisions.”

Any confusion now existing with respect to the Supreme Court cases above cited is not on account of what is therein stated, but on account of a tendency to extend the scope of the rule announced.. The rule was made applicable to “a secured creditor of an insolvent national bank.” In Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville two kinds of indebtedness are mentioned: First, the indebtedness upon the unsecured drafts for $6,010.47,. which claim was proved and upon which [27]*27' there was no controversy; second, the secured claim of $10.-093.34 — and it was with reference to a secured claim that the Supreme Court made its ruling. It is nowhere stated that, because the sum of $10,093.34 was secured, there was thereby imparted to the whole indebtedness the status of being secured. In Aldrich v.

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Related

Merrill v. National Bank of Jacksonville
173 U.S. 131 (Supreme Court, 1899)
Aldrich v. Chemical National Bank
176 U.S. 618 (Supreme Court, 1900)
Sexton v. Dreyfus
219 U.S. 339 (Supreme Court, 1911)
Dexter Horton National Bank v. Washington-Alaska Bank
150 P. 1176 (Washington Supreme Court, 1915)
Hitner v. Diamond State Steel Co.
176 F. 384 (Circuit Court of Delaware, 1910)
Commercial & Savings Bank v. Robert H. Jenks Lumber Co.
194 F. 732 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Ohio, 1911)

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6 Alaska 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tanana-valley-r-co-v-washington-alaska-bank-akd-1918.