Aronofsky v. Bostian, 12409.

• Decision Date: 08 February 1943
• Docket Number: No. 12409.,12409.
• Citation: 133 F.2d 290
• Parties: ARONOFSKY v. BOSTIAN.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

133 F.2d 290 (1943)

ARONOFSKY v. BOSTIAN.

No. 12409.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

February 8, 1943.

Harry L. Jacobs, of Kansas City, Mo. (E. R. Klein, of Kansas City, Mo., on the brief), for appellant.

Warren S. Earhart, of Kansas City, Mo (Jeter & Earhart, of Kansas City, Mo., on the brief), for appellee.

Before SANBORN, WOODROUGH and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.

WOODROUGH, Circuit Judge.

This appeal has been taken to reverse an order of the District Court in bankruptcy which sustained the order of the referee denying the appellant a discharge in bankruptcy. The trustee's specifications of objections to the discharge of the bankrupt set forth that the bankrupt had committed an offense punishable by imprisonment as provided by the Bankruptcy Act, Section 14, sub. c(1), 11 U.S.C.A. § 32, sub. c(1), which reads: "The court shall grant a discharge unless satisfied that the bankrupt has (1) committed an offense punishable by imprisonment as provided under this act title", and that he "had made a false oath or account in relation to a proceeding under the Bankruptcy Act, Section 29, sub. b(2), 11 U.S.C.A. § 52 sub. b(2)," which reads: "A person shall be punished, by imprisonment * * * upon conviction of the offense of having knowingly and fraudulently * * * (2) made a false oath or account in, or in relation to, any proceeding in bankruptcy."

The acts alleged to have been done in commission of the offense were described in detail.

It appeared on the trial upon the objections before the referee that the bankrupt had lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and having become heavily indebted to creditors in that city and insolvent, had personally filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy on his own behalf in the United States District Court in Boston on December 19, 1939. He had the assistance of legal counsel in the preparation of the necessary papers and having borrowed money from a friend, took the documents personally "to court" and paid the necessary fees, amounting to $15 or $16. Adjudication was duly entered on the petition. Thereafter he established residence in Kansas City, Missouri, and within two years from the time he brought his bankruptcy proceedings in Boston he filed his voluntary petition in bankruptcy in the United States District Court at Kansas City in the present proceedings. Accompanying his petition in these proceedings he made oath to and filed a statement of affairs, as required by the Bankruptcy Act and the General Orders and Forms in Bankruptcy prescribed by the Supreme Court (11 U.S. C.A. § 25; General Orders and Forms in Bankruptcy, Form No. 2, 11 U.S.C.A. following section 53) in which he answered the question: "What proceedings under the Bankruptcy Act have been brought by or against you during the six years immediately preceding the filing of the original petition herein?" by writing the word "none."

The appellant concedes and it is apparent that the statement so made by the bankrupt under oath was material. His schedules disclosed some of the same debts owing to creditors in Boston from which he had attempted to secure discharge by the bankruptcy proceedings he had begun in that city. It is equally apparent that the statement...