In re Knetzer, 11508.
| Citation | 229 F.2d 232 |
| Decision Date | 13 February 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 11508.,11508. |
| Parties | In the Matter of Robert L. KNETZER, Bankrupt. Robert W. JAFFKE, Petitioner-Appellee, v. William C. DUNHAM, as Trustee of the Estate of Robert L. Knetzer, Bankrupt, Respondent-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
G. William Horsley, L. H. Lenz, Springfield, Ill., for defendant-appellant.
Roscoe Bonjean, William M. Giffin, Wanless, Craven & Giffin, Springfield, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before DUFFY, Chief Judge, and SWAIM and SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Southern Division, sitting in Bankruptcy in the Matter of Robert L. Knetzer, Bankrupt. The order appealed from required the trustee of the bankrupt estate to pay from the funds in his possession to the petitioner, Robert W. Jaffke, the sum of $27,400.00 which the court found that the bankrupt, Robert L. Knetzer, had procured from Jaffke by fraud subsequent to October 21, 1948, the date on which Knetzer had been adjudged a bankrupt.
The fraud by which Knetzer was alleged to have induced the petitioner to give him the money which petitioner seeks to reclaim from the trustee in bankruptcy consisted of representations by Knetzer to the petitioner made during the period from December 7, 1950, to and including March of 1951. These representations were that he (Knetzer) was the manager of a large corporation known as the Bison Construction and Mining Corporation in which a number of well to do men were interested; that this corporation was to build a large number of homes in a housing project near the Air Force Base at Great Falls, Montana; that a similar project which Knetzer had just finished promised to pay a 50 per cent profit; that an influential man was arranging for a loan to the corporation from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, but that it was such a large scale operation that it would take two years to complete it and that in order to initiate the business the corporation needed money then; and that the investors in this project would share pro rata in the profits.
Jaffke's petition alleges that these representations by Knetzer were false and were known to Knetzer to be false but that they were believed by Jaffke to be true, and that by these false representations Knetzer induced Jaffke to give him for investment in the project money in the total sum of $47,980.00.
In the hearing on Jaffke's petition, Jaffke testified that because of Knetzer's false representations he (Jaffke) paid to Knetzer during the period between December 7, 1950 and October 22, 1951, both dates inclusive, a total of $47,980.00. Jaffke's petition alleged that of this amount Knetzer turned over to the defendant trustee the sum of $36,000.00.
In arriving at the amount of $27,400.00, which the trial court ordered that the petitioner recover from the trustee, the court apparently subtracted from the amount alleged to have been paid to the trustee by Knetzer, $3,800.00 which Jaffke admitted that he knew was to be paid to the trustee to keep Knetzer out of prison, and $4,800.00 which Jaffke admitted had been repaid to him by a relative of the bankrupt.
In seeking to set aside the order of the trial court the appellant trustee questions the admission of certain evidence which was received in the hearing on Jaffke's petition. The appellant first questions the competence of the testimony of the petitioner as to his dealings with Knetzer. The objection to this testimony is based on Section 2 of the Evidence Act of the State of Illinois, Illinois Revised Statutes, c. 51, § 2 (Bar Association Edition 1955). This statute provides in part:
"No party to any civil action, suit or proceeding, or person directly interested in the event thereof, shall be allowed to testify therein of his own motion, or in his own behalf, by virtue of the foregoing section, when any adverse party sues or defends as the trustee or conservator of any habitual drunkard, or person who is mentally ill or mentally deficient, or as the executor, administrator, heir, legatee or devisee of any deceased person, or as guardian or trustee of any such heir, legatee or devisee * * *."
The testimony of the petitioner was objected to on the ground that he was an "interested party" within the meaning of the statute for the reason that the respondent trustee was acting not only as trustee in bankruptcy for the creditors but also as trustee and representative for the widow and minor children who were heirs of the deceased bankrupt. The bankrupt, Knetzer, died prior to the hearing on the petition and left a widow and children.
We think this objection was not well taken. The obvious purpose of the Illinois statute is to protect persons under disability and the heirs of deceased persons, and Knetzer's heirs did not stand to gain anything out of the bankruptcy estate. During the period of time in which the false representations were made the bankrupt, Knetzer, was engaged in attempts to comply with a court order to turn over to the trustee the sum of $250,000.00, which represented the amount of assets which the court had found that Knetzer owned and had concealed. On Knetzer's failure to comply with the turn over order he was found to be in contempt of court and was sent to jail. The court permitted Knetzer to leave the jail on different occasions in the custody of the United States Marshal or of bailiffs of the court. This permission was granted on Knetzer's promises that he could and would use his freedom to procure the required $250,000.00 and thereby purge himself of contempt. During the period from December 7, 1950 to November 16, 1951, Knetzer procured and turned over to the trustee a total amount of only $79,923.72.
On January 27, 1950, the trustee wrote a letter to Knetzer's creditors explaining that Knetzer was hopelessly insolvent; that all of his assets had been sold and turned into cash; that the trustee then had on hand a total of $74,000.00; and that claims in the total amount of $3,844, 776.54 had been filed in the Knetzer bankruptcy matter.
From these undisputed facts it seems certain that Knetzer's only interest in his bankruptcy matter while he was alive was to try to get out or stay out of jail. It was certain that the trustee at the close of the bankruptcy proceeding could have nothing left to turn back to Knetzer. It follows that after Knetzer's death there could be nothing left to turn over to Knetzer's heirs. The contest here over the funds in the trustee's hands could only affect the petitioner and the other creditors. Under these circumstances we think the trial court did not err in admitting Jaffke's testimony as to his transactions with Knetzer.
The trustee points out that the petitioner filed this action against both Knetzer and the trustee; but the record shows that after the death of Knetzer, his death was suggested to the court and the action then proceeded against the trustee alone, pursuant to Rule 25 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A.
After carefully reviewing all of the evidence in this case it seems clear that there was a sufficient basis for the trial court...
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