Charles White v. August Schloerb, 530

• Court: United States Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Gray
• Citation: 44 L.Ed. 1183,20 S.Ct. 1007,178 U.S. 542
• Parties: CHARLES M. WHITE, John C. Thompson, and Henry Eckstein v. AUGUST T. SCHLOERB, Eugene B. Schickedantz, and Henry Roewitz, Trustee
• Docket Number: No. 530,530
• Decision Date: 28 May 1900

178 U.S. 542 20 S.Ct. 1007 44 L.Ed. 1183 CHARLES M. WHITE, John C. Thompson, and Henry Eckstein

v.

AUGUST T. SCHLOERB, Eugene B. Schickedantz, and Henry Roewitz, Trustee.

No. 530. Submitted April 26, 1900. Decided May 28, 1900.

This was a petition in equity to the circuit court of appeals for the seventh circuit, under the jurisdiction conferred upon that court by the 2d clause of § 24 of the bankrupt act of July 1, 1898, chap. 541, to superintend and revise in matter of law the proceedings in bankruptcy of the district courts of the United States in that circuit. 30 Stat. at L. 553. The circuit court of appeals certified to this court the following statement of the case and questions of law:

'On September 13, 1899, August T. Schloerb and Eugene B. Schickedantz, who were respectively residents and inhabitants of the eastern district of Wisconsin, and who were copartners in trade in the said district, filed their voluntary petition in bankruptcy in the district court of the United States for that district. On the same day they were duly adjudged

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bankrupt by that court, and the matter referred to a referee in bankruptcy for further proceedings according to law. They had at that date a stock of goods contained in a store, the entrance to which was locked by the direction of the referee.

'Thereafter, on September 21, 1899, James Cogan and Bernard Cogan, who were copartners, commenced an action of replevin against the bankrupts in the circuit court of the state of Wisconsin for the county of Winnebago, in which county the store of the bankrupts was located, to recover the possession of certain specified goods then in the store of the bankrupts, and forming part of their stck of goods. On the same day the proper undertaking and requisition to the sheriff of the county of Winnebago, according to the law of the state of Wisconsin, were delivered to the petitioner Charles M. White, who was then the sheriff of the county, who delivered it for execution to the petitioner Henry Eckstein, who was the under-sheriff of said sheriff. In pursuance of said requisition, the under-sheriff, on the same day, and before the selection and appointment of a trustee in the bankrupt proceedings, forcibly entered the store of the bankrupts, and took possession of certain goods, part of the goods specified in the writ of replevin.

'On September 23, 1899, the bankrupts presented their petition to the district court of the United States for the eastern district of Wisconsin, setting forth the facts above recited, and also alleging that the goods so taken under the writ of replevin were part of a bill of goods purchased by them of the plaintiffs in that writ, and were their lawful property. The petition alleges that the goods were in the possession of the petitioner, the sheriff and under-sheriff mentioned, and John C. Thompson, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the writ of replevin, and asked the court that they be compelled to redeliver the goods to the district court sitting in bankruptcy, from whose possession they were taken, and that they be enjoined from any disposition thereof. Upon the filing of the petition the district court issued its mandate requiring the petitioners here, the sheriff, the under-sheriff, and the attorney mentioned, to show cause before that court, at a time and place mentioned, why the seizure of the goods under the writ of replevin should not be vacated and set aside,

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and the goods returned to the bankrupts, or placed in the possession of the marshal of the court, or such other person as the court should direct, and why they should not be respectively enjoined from interference with the property so seized, and in the meantime restraining them from such interference. The petitioners specially appeared upon the return day mentioned in the mandate; and moved the district court to set aside and vacate its mandate or order to show cause, for want of jurisdiction in the court of bankruptcy over the subject-matter; and also presented proof by affidavit to the effect that the assertion of title to the goods in question by the plaintiffs in the writ of replevin was founded upon the claim that the bankrupts had purchased...