Crampton v. Massie

• Decision Date: 01 November 1916
• Docket Number: 2843.
• Citation: 236 F. 900
• Parties: CRAMPTON v. MASSIE et al. In re CAMPBELL.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

236 F. 900

CRAMPTON v. MASSIE et al.

In re CAMPBELL.

No. 2843.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

November 1, 1916

Prior to and at the time of the bankruptcy of M. B. Campbell, he owned all of block 2 according to the recorded plat of East Point, in Montgomery county, Ala., except lot 16 of that block. On December 5, 1913, he executed and delivered to T L. Epps a mortgage on lot 20 of that block to secure a debt of $1,800, which was to mature on March 5, 1914. Afterwards he made other mortgages conveying all the lots in block 2 owned by him, including lot 20, previously mortgaged to Epps. On May 25, 1915, a decree was made in the bankruptcy proceeding directing the trustee to sell all of said block 2 except lot 16, but including lot 20, subject to the incumbrances thereon, and on June 26, 1916, at the sale made pursuant to that decree, F. J. Crampton became the purchaser of all the lots decreed to be sold. The sale was duly confirmed, a deed was made by the trustee to the purchaser who went into possession of the property purchased, and was in possession when he filed his petition in the bankruptcy proceeding. In October, 1914, prior to his bankruptcy, M. B Campbell, for the purpose of getting said lot 20 released from the mortgage to Epps, agreed with the latter to give him a note for $1,950, payable at a future date and secured by mortgages on other property, upon the receipt of which by Epps the latter marked the mortgage to him, on lot 20, 'Satisfied in full and canceled,' and surrendered that mortgage and the note it secured to Campbell. Thereafter, but also prior to the bankruptcy, Campbell borrowed from Bessie K. Massie, as guardian, $750, and to secure that amount sent back to Epps the $1,800 mortgage, from which Campbell had erased the satisfaction and cancellation placed thereon by Epps, and had Epps to sign a transfer and assignment of that mortgage, which had been written upon it by the agent of Bessie K. Massie. Epps received no part of the $750 so obtained by Campbell. On July 24, 1915, after the date of the sale at which Crampton bought, the court in the bankruptcy proceeding made another decree directing the trustee to sell said lot 20, and on August 31, 1915, the trustee sold the same. At that sale J. E. Duskin became the purchaser thereof at the price of $900, which amount the trustee received and was holding at the time Crampton filed his petition. The decree last mentioned was made after the court, on a claim propounded by Bessie K. Massie, guardian, in the bankruptcy proceeding, had decreed that she, as guardian, was the owner of the mortgage to Epps and held the same as security for $750, interest thereon, and attorney's fees, making in all $885. Crampton was not a party to and had no notice of the proceedings leading up to the decree under which Duskin purchased.

Crampton filed a petition in the bankruptcy proceedings, which, after averring the facts above set out, prayed that notice of the petition be given to all parties in interest, including said Bessie K. Massie, as guardian, that the sale of said lot 20 to said Duskin be set aside, and the amount paid be restored to him, or that, if said sale be confirmed, it be decreed that the proceeds of said sale belong to the petitioner, and that the trustee be ordered to pay the same to petitioner. In response to that petition Bessie K. Massie, as guardian, appeared and moved that the petition be dismissed on the following grounds: '(1) This court has no jurisdiction of said petition. (2) Said Crampton is a stranger to the proceedings to which his petition relates, and has no right to intervene therein. (3) Said Crampton is a stranger to the proceedings to which his petition relates, and had no right to intervene without first obtaining leave of the court, which he failed to obtain. (4) Said petition filed by said Crampton is neither a proceeding at law nor in equity between parties over whom the court would have jurisdiction, and is not...