United States & Mexican Trust Co. v. Beaty

243 F. 544, 156 C.C.A. 242, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 2141
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided May 29, 1917·No. No. 4550·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

REED, District Judge.

The appellants in No. 4550 have filed a petition for rehearing in the above cause, upon the ground alone as alleged:

“That the opinion of this court is in direct conflict with the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in the Gregg Case” (Gregg v. Metropolitan Trust Company, 197 U. S. 183, 25 Sup. Ct. 415, 49 L. Ed. 717).

That the majority opinion in that case has limited in some particulars the prior opinion of that court in Miltenberger v. Logansport Ry. Co., 106 U. S. 286, 1 Sup. Ct. 140, 27 L. Ed. 117, and some other [545] ca'ses, which has resulted in a diversity of opinions in the lower federal courts, may be admitted, but that it does not overrule the Miltenberger, and other similar cases, is not doubted. The facts and grounds upon which the receivers were appointed in this case are stated at some length in the opinion heretofore filed and need not be restated. In the Gregg Case a receiver was appointed June 1, 1897, in a proceeding to foreclose two mortgages upon a railroad property; the grounds upon which he was appointed are not stated. After his appointment there was found on hand a quantity of railroad ties of the value of some $3,200 which were used in the maintenance of the road as a going concern. The petitioner Gregg made a claim on the funds in the hands of the receiver for the value of these ties, because he had not been paid for them, and they had not been returned to him by the receiver. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an order of the Circuit Court which established the claim as a six months claim, but denied priority of payment therefor from the body of the fund, and the case went to the Supreme Court upon certiorari. The Supreme Court said of the case:

“The ease stands as one in which there has been no diversion of income by which the mortgagees have profited, or otherwise, and the main question is the general one, whether in such a case a claim for necessary supplies furnished within six months before the receiver was appointed should lie charged on the corpus of the fund. There are no special circumstances affecting the claim as a whole, and if it is charged on the corpus it can be only by laying down a general rule that such claims for supplies are entitled to precedence over a lien expressly created by a mortgage recorded before the contracts for supplies were made. An impression that such a general rule was to be deduced from the decisions of this court led to an evidently unwilling application of it in New England R. Co. v. Carnegie Steel Co., 75 Fed. 54. 58 [21 C. C. A. 219], and perhaps in other cases. But wo are of opinion, for reasons that need no further statement (Kneeland v. American Loan & Trust Co., 136 U. S. 89, 97 [10 Sup. Ct. 950, 34 L. Ed. 379]); that the general rule is the other way, and has been recognized as being the other way by this court.”

The Miltenberger Case is then referred to and the opinion continues:

“But while the payment of some pre-existing claims was sanctioned in that case, it was expressly stated that ‘the payment of such debts stands, prim'a facie, on a different basis from1 the payment of claims arising under the receivership.’ The ground of such, allowance as was made was not merely that the supplies were necessary for the preservation of the road, but that the payment was necessary to the business of the road—a very different proposition. In the later cases the wholly exceptional character of the allowance is observed and marked [citing the cases 1. In Union Trust Co. v. Illinois Midland Ry., 117 U. S. 434, 465 [6 Sup. Ct. 809, 29 L. Ed. 963], labor claims accruing within six months before the appointment of the receiver were allowed without special discussion, but the principles laid down in the Miltenberger Case had been repeated in the judgment of the court, and the allowance was said to be in accordance with them. * * * But the payment of the employes of the road is more certain to be necessary in order to keep it running than the payment of any other class of previously incurred debts.” (But for what reason is not stated.)

In Kneeland v. American Loan Co., 136 U. S. 89, 10 Sup. Ct. 950, 34 L. Ed. 379, cited with apparent approval in the majority opinion in the Gregg Case, we call attention to the particular facts, without reciting them, upon which the court denied the priority of the claim [546] for réntal of certain rolling stock prior to December 1, 1883, but allowed such rental for the rolling stock after that date, because the mortgagee upon that date applied for and obtained the appointment o'f the receiver. Mr. Justice Brewer, speaking for the court, said (136 U. S. at page 98, 10 Sup. Ct. at page 953, 34 L. Ed. 379):

“But it is urged, * * * that the court did not allow contract price, but only rental (for the rolling stock), and the question is asked: May a court, through its receiver, take possession of property and pay no rental for it? If it may legitimately compel the operation of the railroad in the hands of its receiver, in order to discharge the obligations of the company to the public, may it not also, and must it not also, burden that receivership, and the property in charge of the receiver, with all the expenses connected with the operation of the road, together with reasonable rentals for the property used and necessary for the operation of the road? As to the general answer to these inquiries, we have no doubt. A court which appoints a receiver acquires, by virtue of that appointment, certain rights and assumes certain obligations, and the expenses which the court creates in discharge of those obligations are burdens necessarily on the property taken possession of, and this, irrespective of the question who may be the ultimate owner, >or who may have the preferred lien, or who may invoke the receivership!. So if, at the instance of any party rightfully entitled thereto, a court should appoint a receiver of property, the same being railroad property, and therefore under an obligation to the public of continued operation, it, in the administration of such receivership, might rightfully contract debts necessary for the operation of the road, either for labor, supplies, or rentals, and make such expenses a prior lien on the property itself.”

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United States & Mexican Trust Co. v. Beaty, 243 F. 544, 156 C.C.A. 242, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 2141 (8th Cir. 1917).

243 F. 544 (United States & Mexican Trust Co. v. Beaty) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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