Insurance Group Committee v. Denver Co

• Decision Date: 03 February 1947
• Docket Number: No. 690,690
• Citation: 329 U.S. 607,67 S.Ct. 583,91 L.Ed. 547
• Parties: INSURANCE GROUP COMMITTEE et al. v. DENVER & R.G.W.R. CO. et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

329 U.S. 607

67 S.Ct. 583

91 L.Ed. 547

INSURANCE GROUP COMMITTEE et al.

v DENVER & R.G.W.R. CO. et al.

No. 690.

Argued Jan. 6, 1947.

Decided Feb. 3, 1947.

Rehearing Denied March 3, 1947.

See 330 U.S. 854, 67 S.Ct. 860.

[Syllabus from pages 607-609 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. George D. Gibson, of Richmond, Va., and Kenneth F. Burgess, of Chicago, Ill., for petitioners.

F. C. Nicodemus, Jr., of New York City, and William V. Hodges, of Denver, Colo., for respondents.

Mr. Jus ice REED delivered the opinion of the Court.

On November 29, 1944, the District Court for the District of Colorado confirmed a plan of reorganization for the debtor, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Co., 62 F.Supp. 384, notwithstanding the rejection of the plan by holders of the General Mortgage bonds pursuant to § 77, sub. e, Bankr. Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 205, sub. e. Upon appeal the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the order of confirmation. 10 Cir., 150 F.2d 28. This Court granted certiorari, Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. Denver & S.L.W.R. Co., 326 U.S. 699, 66 S.Ct. 50, 51, reversed the Circuit Court and affirmed the order of confirmation. 328 U.S. 495, 66 S.Ct. 1282. The debtor con- sistently opposed the plan throughout those proceedings. After the opinion of this Court was filed on June 10, 1946, the debtor petitioned for a rehearing which was denied October 28, 1946. At about the same time as that of filing its petition for rehearing, it moved in the District Court (September 17, 1946) for a re- examination of the plan in the light of circumstances which had changed since the Interstate Commerce Commission's hearings on the plan in May, 1941. 254 I.C.C. 6. The debtor specified three categories of changed conditions: '(a) The decline in money rates to a level far below the rates prevailing at these dates; (b) The recent public offering by the Government and purchase by private capital for private operation of the steel plant at Geneva, near Provo, Utah, which had been constructed by the Government in the exigencies of the War at a cost in excess of $200,000,000; (c) A permanent elevation of the National income through intensified industrial activity involving for the indefinite future a greatly increased demand for railway transportation.'

The debtor prayed that upon re-examination the District Court set aside its order of October 25, 1943, approving the plan, and its order of November 29, 1944, confirming the plan, and refer the proceeding back to the Interstate Commerce Commission for the formulation of a new plan. After a hearing on a motion to dismiss the debtor's petition but without the introduction of evidence, the District Court dismissed the petition on October 30, 1946, on the grounds that the order of confirmation determined the rights of participation and that the District Court did not now have power to reopen the proceedings. The District Court also held that the petition failed to state a case that justified reconsideration. The debtor filed notice of appeal and requested a stay of execution of the plan on the same day; the latter motion was denied by the District Court at that time. Thereupon the debtor docketed its appeal in the Circuit Court of Appeals and applied for an order staying execution of the plan until the appeal should be considered. This application of the debtor was granted on November 2, 1946, by an order of Judge Phillips staying proceedings in the District Court to consummate the plan. A petition for certiorari to the Circuit Court was filed in this Court under Judicial Code, § 240(a), 28 U.S.C.A. § 347(a), which asked that we grant a writ of certiorari to the Circuit Court of Appeals, before judgment, and that the order of the District Court be affirmed in this Court. The grounds urged were that the action of the respondent was in violation of the mandate of this Court issued June 10, 1946, and that even if the mandate had not been violated the denial of the petition to reopen proceedings on the plan was not appealable because the petition for re-examination was in reality a petition for rehearing. Further, petitioner urged that this Court take and decide the whole case because the claim of change of circumstances was repetitious of the same claim rejected by this Court in its June, 1946, decision and that no allegations were made sufficient to justify a re-examination of the plan on account of changes in circumstances since the June decision. Because of the importance of the questions raised to the fficient administration of railroad reorganizations under the Bankruptcy Act, we granted certiorari. 329 U.S. 708, 67 S.Ct. 371.

We may assume, arguendo, that both this Court upon appeal from an order of confirmation in bankruptcy, and the bankruptcy court itself, after its order of confirmation has been affirmed on review, 11 U.S.C. § 205(f), 11 U.S.C.A. § 205, sub. f, may take cognizance of subsequent changes in conditions and order a plan re-examined by the Interstate Commerce Commission. On that assumption, we are of the opinion that the debtor has failed to allege the existence of changed conditions since our decision of June 10, 1946, of a kind not 'envisaged and considered by the Commission in its deliberations upon or explanations of the plan.' 328 U.S. 522, 66 S.Ct. 1296. We do not therefore think that re-examination would be justified in this case.

The conclusion in the foregoing paragraph removes the necessity of considering the question whether the respondent disregarded the effect of the judgment of this Court of June 10, 1946, which affirmed the orders of approval and confirmation of the plan. Likewise it disposes of any necessity to determine whether this petition in the District Court was in reality a request for a rehearing. Cf. United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150, 247, 60 S.Ct. 811, 855, 84 L.Ed. 1129.

Upon the same assumption employed above, we ruled in our decision of June 10, 1946, 328 U.S. 534, 66 S.Ct. 1302, that in this reorganization no changed circumstances, up to that date, presented to us by the debtor or other respondents in that review justified a re-examination of the plan as confirmed. This ruling was binding upon the District Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals as to changed circumstances arising after the order of confirmation and prior to our decision. When matters are decided by an appellate court, its rulings, unless reversed by it or a superior court, bind the lower court. Thus a cause proceeds to final determination. While power rests in a federal court that passes an order or decision to change its position on a subsequent review in the same cause, orderly judicial action, except in unusual circumstances, requires it to refuse to permit the relitigation of matters or issues previously determined on a former review. ¹

The debtor's brief and the opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals on the hearing of the review of the orders of approval and confirmation of the plan make clear that changed circumstances in the period between the Interstate Commerce Commission hearings in May, 1941, and our decision of June 10, 1946, of a like character with those now alleged, were relied upon by the debtor in its former effort to set aside the District Court's orders of approval and confirmation. The debtor argued on the former review, as it again argues, that the plan should not be confirmed because of the 'radical lowering for the indefinite future of money rates.' And it was emphasized at that time that capitalizing on these lower rates would permit the issuance of a greater volume of securities against earnings of the debtor, and consequently a larger allotment to presently dissatisfied creditors. Every example of railroad refinancing, listed in respondent's present brief to support by illustration the argument of falling interest rates, was listed in the brief on the last review for the same purpose. The purpose was to set forth instances of the issue of railroad securities at interest rates definitely lower than those borne by the debtor's issues. The debtor in its brief of that time also argued the beneficial effects of the 'permanent elevation of national income' upon the anticipated earnings of the debtor. Lastly, the debtor there pointed out that the 'establishment and construction of the great Geneva steel plant was certain to be revolutionary in its contribution to the earning power of the debtor * * *'. Although it did not then rely, as it does now, upon the purchase of that corporation by private capital, the argument, then as now, was that the prospective business from a great steel plant was a factor indicating higher earnings. The plant may or may not turn out to be strategically located for private low cost operation and distribution. The shift of ownership has only moderate significance.

In sum, the very kinds of changed circumstances which were argued here formerly as reasons for not approving and confirming the plan of reorganization were presented by the petition now under review to the District Court as reasons why that court should vacate its orders of approval and confirmation, and remand the plan to the Commission for reconsideration. The debtor argues that it only urged this Court to take judicial notice of the existence of these changed circumstances, and that our refusal to do so should not bar it from proving these changes in the District Court. Our holding was not based upon a conclusion that this Court could not take judicial notice of changes in economic conditions subsequent to approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission. We concluded that, even if weighed, the alleged changes were not of a kind which justified re-examination of the plan. 328 U.S. 534, 66 S.Ct. 1302.

The questions of interest rates and increased earnings from the Geneva steel plant were considered by the Commission and the District Court before the order of confirmation. The approval of the plan by the Commission on June 14, 1943,...