Bank v. Cooper

• Decision Date: 01 October 1873
• Citation: 22 L.Ed. 273,87 U.S. 171,20 Wall. 171
• Parties: BANK v. COOPER
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

87 U.S. 171

22 L.Ed. 273

20 Wall. 171

BANK v. COOPER.

October Term, 1873

APPEAL from the Circuit Court for the Northern District of New York; the case being thus:

On the 4th of February, 1870, the Troy Woolen Company was adjudged a bankrupt by the District Court for the Northern District of New York, and on the 11th of March, 1870, one Tappan became the assignee. Soon afterwards Cooper Vail & Co. proved a debt against the bankrupt amounting to $67,029, and on the 24th of July, 1870, filed the probate with the assignee. Subsequently, on the 29th of November, on petition of the First National Bank of Troy, which had also proved a debt against the bankrupt, the District Court made an order allowing them and the assignee to contest the validity of the claim of Cooper, Vail & Co. It was them referred to W. Frothingham, Esq., to take the proofs and accounts respecting the claim, to determine its legality and amount, and to report his conclusions to the court. Permission was also given to the assignee, and to any creditor of the bankrupt, if they desired to contest the claim, to attend the proceedings before the referee, and it appears that the bank did attend, that evidence in opposition to the claim was submitted, and that the referee reported the whole of it as due from the bankrupt. To his report joint exceptions were filed on behalf of the bank and the assignee, and argued in the District Court upon the evidence taken before the referee. These exceptions were overruled, and on the 13th of July, 1871, the court made an order allowing the debt as proved by Cooper, Vail & Co., and directing the bank to pay the costs and expenses of the reference.

In this condition of things, the bank filed a bill in the Circuit Court below against Cooper, Vail & Co., and the assignee, to procure a reversal of the order. The bill, after setting forth the facts above stated, made a general averment that Cooper, Vail & Co. had no legal claim against the bankrupt; that they had fraudulently proved their claim; that they knew this when the exceptions were taken to the referee's report as well as when the court made the decree allowing the debt, and that it was thus proved before the District Court. The bill then averred that the decree was erroneous, because there was no legal debt due by the bankrupt to Cooper, Vail & Co.; because the evidence before the court proved that there was no such debt, and because the court should have disallowed it.

This was one aspect of the bill. It further charged that the assets in the hands of the assignee were insufficient to pay fifty cents on the dollar of the legal debts of the bankrupt, even if the claim of Cooper, Vail & Co. were disallowed, and it averred that the assignee refused to appeal from the decision of the District Court, or to allow the creditors to appeal in his name, stating that he was advised that the bank had a right to have the decree reviewed under section second of the Bankrupt Act, and that if the creditors desired a review they would have to take that course. It then charged that the assignee was guilty of neglect of duty in omitting to appeal from the decree of the District Court, and renewed the averment that the bankrupt was not, and never was, liable for the debt proved against it by Cooper, Vail & Co., or for any part of it.

The prayer of the bill was that the decree made by the District Court might be 'reviewed, examined, revised, and annulled, and that the proof of debt filed with the assignee by Cooper, Vail & Co. might be rejected and expunged.'

The second section of the Bankrupt Act, through which it was alleged that the assignee had told the creditors if they wished relief they would have to resort, declares that the several Circuit Courts of the United States, within and for the districts where the proceedings in bankruptcy shall be pending, shall have a general superintendence and jurisdiction of all cases and questions arising under the act, and, except when special provision is otherwise made, may, upon bill, petition, or other process of any party aggrieved, hear and determine the case (as) in a court of equity.

Cooper, Vail & Co. demurred:

1. For want of equity.

2. For want of jurisdiction.

3. For want of privity between the complainant and the defendant.

4. That the matters had been adjudicated and that the adjudication was conclusive.

5. That the appeal was not within the time prescribed by law.

6. That the bill showed that the District Court had decided the questions presented by the bill, but that the bill did not set forth the facts, or the evidence upon which the order or decree of the District Court complained of was made, or any facts or evidence before the court when the order was made, or the grounds upon which that court based its said decision and order or decree.

7. That the bill of complaint did not set forth facts sufficient to enable the court to determine whether or not the District Court erred in making the order or decree complained of.

8. That the bill did not show that the District Court erred in making the order or decree in the bill complained of.

The Circuit Court sustained the demurrer, and the bank took this appeal.

Mr. E. F. Bullard, for the appellants; J. S. Stearns, contra.

Mr. Justice STRONG delivered the opinion of the court.

The demurrer presents the question whether the complainants' bill sets forth any equity sufficient to justify the court in granting the relief sought against the defendants.

No doubt when an executor or administrator colludes with a fraudulent claimant against a decedent's estate, and refuses to take steps to resist the claim, any person interested in the estate may maintain an action against such fraudulent claimant and the executor or administrator for the purpose of contesting the claim. Bills in equity of this nature have been maintained. And if anassignee in bankruptcy, with knowledge, or with reason to believe that one claiming to be a creditor of the bankrupt had proved a debt against the bankrupt's estate which had no existence, or which was tainted with fraud, should neglect or refuse to contest the allowance to such debt, there is no reason why the other creditors, having proved their debts, should not be permitted to interpose and seek the aid of a court of equity to annul the allowance. But the bill before us presents no such case. The assignee has resisted the allowance of the debt claimed by Cooper, Vail & Co. He took part with the appellants in contesting the debt before the referee to whose consideration it was submitted. He joined with them in filing exceptions to the report allowing the claim. There is no averment of any collusion between him and the claimants. The bill exhibits nothing which ought to cast discredit upon his fidelity to his trust. The referee decided against the appellants after hearing all the evidence they had to submit. The District Court reviewed his decision upon exceptions taken to it, and came to the same conclusion, allowing the debt claimed by Cooper, Vail & Co. Nor is it pretended that any new evidence exists which ought to lead the Circuit Court to any other conclusion than that at which the District Court arrived. In such a...