In re Cook

• Citation: 104 F.2d 981
• Decision Date: 14 July 1939
• Docket Number: No. 6798.,6798.
• Parties: In re COOK et al. In re WEST PINES APARTMENTS. DVINSKY et al. v. COOK et al.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

104 F.2d 981 (1939)

In re COOK et al.

In re WEST PINES APARTMENTS.

DVINSKY et al. v. COOK et al.

No. 6798.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

May 23, 1939.

Rehearing Denied July 14, 1939.

Meyer Abrams, of Chicago, Ill., for appellants.

Roy O. West, Samuel E. Hirsch, William M. Klein, Julian H. Levi, Ralph R. Hawxhurst and Bernard Hoban, all of Chicago, Ill., for appellees.

Before EVANS, MAJOR, and TREANOR, Circuit Judges.

MAJOR, Circuit Judge.

This appeal, allowed by this court, is from an order of the District Court entered October 15, 1938 in a 77B, 11 U.S. C.A. § 207, bankruptcy proceeding, overruling appellants' exceptions to the Master's report on the issues of good faith and jurisdiction, and sustaining appellees' exceptions to that part of the report recommending dissolution of a restraining order which enjoined the further prosecution of an accounting suit in the Circuit Court of Will County, Illinois, against appellees, William C. Cook and James S. McClellan.

Appellants' attack is predicated upon the alleged lack of proof to sustain the allegations requisite to confer jurisdiction in the instant proceeding, namely: (1) proper legal interest in the petitioning creditors, (2) insolvency or inability to pay debts as they mature, and (3) good faith. A prior phase of this same case was before us in In re Cook et al., 7 Cir., 101 F.2d 394, where some of the legal problems here presented were discussed to which reference will hereafter be made.

The property sought to be reorganized is a nine-story apartment hotel called the West Pines Apartments, located in Joliet, Illinois. A bond issue of $250,000 had been issued thereon in April, 1923. Foreclosure of this issue was begun in the State Court in July, 1926, which resulted in the entry of a foreclosure decree in November, 1928. The decree expressly found that the attorneys for the complainant in the foreclosure suit were not entitled to be compensated for services therein rendered. September 21, 1928, a deposit agreement was entered into between the bondholders and a committee composed of Cook and McClellan, appellees, and one, Kirby. The latter was succeeded by appellee, Knutson, as a member of the Committee. At the foreclosure sale in February, 1929, the Committee for the Bondholders purchased the property for $237,864.04, upon which deposited bonds in the amount of $198,500 (of $200,000 outstanding) were applied. Nondeposited bonds in the amount of $1500 were paid. The court, in the foreclosure decree found certain liens upon the premises in the amount of some $30,000 which were prior to the mortgage bond issue. Appellees, in order to discharge these liens, and to care for other items of expense, borrowed from the Garard Trust Company, and in February of 1930, were indebted to said concern in the amount of $64,069.78, which included an item of $12,500 for legal fees incurred in the foreclosure proceeding. In the meantime, a receiver was appointed for the Garard Trust Company. The property, at the expiration of the redemption period, was conveyed to the Chicago Title and Trust Company, as trustee by reason of a trust agreement, the beneficiaries of which were appellees, Cook and McClellan, as trustees, under the Bondholders' Protective Agreement, and the Receiver for the Garard Trust Company. By the trust agreement, the Receiver of the Garard Trust Company was given a lien upon the premises in controversy and the income therefrom, superior to that of the certificate holders (formerly bondholders).

In May, 1930, by order of the District Court, the Chicago Title and Trust Company, as Receiver of the Garard Trust Company, sold the interest of the latter, including certificates representing bonds in the amount of $38,100 to one, Busbey for $26,100, which he in turn sold to appellees for $33,500. The money to pay for this purchase was obtained by placing on the property a new mortgage in the amount of $38,000. The bonds or certificates in the amount of $38,100 were not cancelled but were sold to one, Pope for $5000 on July 21, 1935. This transaction was not entered upon the books of the trust estate and the proceeds were divided among Cook, McClellan and a Mr. Pease who was the son-in-law of Cook. It appears that an attempt was made in November, 1937, to undo this transaction by the repurchase from Pope of the $38,100 in certificates and that they were re-acquired by the Committee, although it does not appear that they were cancelled. The certificate holders were at no time informed concerning this transaction.

On June 4, 1937, appellant Rifas submitted to Cook a proposition to purchase the property for the amount of $129,000. Cook accepted a deposit of $5000, conditional on the consent of the certificate holders, to be obtained within 30 days. This offer was not submitted to the certificate holders and the deal was not made.

On October 7, 1937, a complaint was filed in the State Court by certain certificate holders against appellees, Cook and McClellan, accusing them of misconduct, seeking therein their removal, an accounting and other relief. At the hearing thereon it was claimed by Cook and McClellan that the sale of the $38,100 in certificates was bona fide and that Pope was the owner of the certificates, and it was disclosed that Cook had offered the certificates for sale. Cook and McClellan were enjoined by the court from selling such securities, were removed from the management of the property and a receiver appointed. On November 26, 1937, an order was entered in the State Court directing Cook and McClellan, as the Bondholders' Protective Committee, to file a final account and report of their acts and doings within 60 days. Prior to the expiration of such period, an application was made by their attorneys for further time in which to prepare the account and an extension was granted to and including the 5th day of February, 1938. The property had long been in litigation in the State Court, a further account of which would throw no light on the questions here presented.

On January 25, 1938, 10 days prior to the date when the accounting was due in the State Court, appellees, as trustees under the Bondholders' Committee, filed a voluntary petition in the instant proceeding and obtained an order enjoining the State Court proceeding. The petition for reorganization contains a recital of the various proceedings in that court; alleged that the debtor was unable to meet its debts and that the petition was filed in good faith. The receiver appointed by the State Court and certain certificate holders sought unsuccessfully to attack the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. An appeal from the action of the District Court in this respect, was before us in In re Cook et al, supra. We sustained the action of the court, in approving the petition as properly filed. In other words, we there held that the petition contained the proper and necessary jurisdictional averments. It is now contended by appellees that our previous holding is conclusive on the essential questions here presented. We do not so regard it. Subsequent to the action of the District Court in approving the petition as properly filed, answers were filed denying the essential allegations of the petition. The...