Field v. Lew

• Decision Date: 27 May 1960
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 19419.
• Citation: 184 F. Supp. 23
• Parties: Carl M. FIELD, as Trustee in Bankruptcy in the Estate of Giant Outlet Market, Inc., Bankrupt, Plaintiff, v. Martin LEW, Bankers Trust Company, First National City Bank of New York, Morrie Lew. Abraham Schneider and Household Finance Corporation, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

184 F. Supp. 23

Carl M. FIELD, as Trustee in Bankruptcy in the Estate of Giant Outlet Market, Inc., Bankrupt, Plaintiff, v. Martin LEW, Bankers Trust Company, First National City Bank of New York, Morrie Lew. Abraham Schneider and Household Finance Corporation, Defendants.

Civ. No. 19419.

United States District Court E. D. New York.

May 27, 1960.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Jacob Oliner, New York City, for plaintiff.

Moses & Singer, New York City, Arnold A. Jaffe and Bernard Robbins, New York City, of counsel, for defendant, Bankers Trust Co.

Shearman, Sterling & Wright, New York City, John V. Downey, New York City, of counsel, for defendant, First National City Bank of New York.

ZAVATT, District Judge.

This is an action by a trustee in bankruptcy against, inter alios, the president of the bankrupt corporation who it is alleged used corporate funds for his own purposes, the bank in which the corporation had its account (Bankers Trust Company) and it is alleged participated in the conversions, and another bank (First National City Bank of New York) that accepted a corporate check and applied the same to the individual indebtedness of the president of the corporation to that bank. The matter is before the court on motions and cross motions for summary judgment which involve only the trustee and the two banks.¹

The complaint describes three transactions which it is claimed render the defendant banks liable to the trustee. The facts, as they appear in the complaint and the answers thereto, various moving papers with supporting affidavits, depositions, and exhibits, are not in dispute on the material issues, and are as follows:

Giant Outlet Market, Inc., the bankrupt corporation, operated a farmers' market in leased premises at Rockaway Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. Martin Lew was the president and sole stockholder of the corporation. In December 1956, the market burned down. Thereafter, the corporation received about $40,000 on its fire insurance policies, which it deposited in the corporate account maintained with Bankers Trust Company ("Bankers"). At the time the account was opened in December 1955, the corporation filed with Bankers a corporate resolution authorizing Martin Lew as president to transact all corporate business, including the signing and endorsing of all negotiable instruments, and further authorizing Bankers to pay such instruments when so signed.

During July 1957, there occurred the following incidents that constitute the first of the trustee's three claims against the depository bank, Bankers. Lew presented at the appropriate office of Bankers four checks drawn by the corporation and signed by himself as president, payable to Bankers, and received in their stead, upon payment of a $1 fee, four cashier's checks in equivalent amounts payable to four different individuals, two of whom had the last name of "Lew". The checks were for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $2,439.06, and totaled $7,439.06. However, the corporation owed nothing to these four payees. Thereafter, Bankers debited the corporate account in this amount.

The transaction which is the basis of the trustee's second claim against both banks took this form: On July 18, 1957, a check for $1,045, drawn on Bankers by the corporation and signed by Lew as president was sent to The First National City Bank of New York ("FNCB") in part payment of a $6,000 loan that FNCB had made to Lew personally. The check bore on its reverse side Lew's own notation that it was to be credited to his account at FNCB. After normal bank collection procedures, Bankers debited the corporation account.

The trustee's third claim is based on these facts: On August 8, 1957, Lew cashed at Bankers a check drawn by the corporation, by Lew as president, and made payable to himself. The check was in the amount of $16,433.30 and had the practical effect of closing out the account. Thereafter, Lew used this money for his own purposes.

The involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed January 23, 1958 and the corporation was adjudged a bankrupt February 10, 1958. Creditors have filed claims totalling $4,443.12, and time has elapsed for these, or any other, creditors to file any further claims, except for the United States which may still file a tax claim for $4,004.51.

Before discussing the specific claims, it will be helpful to mention some principles that have applicability to all the claims. This action is brought by a trustee in bankruptcy. Section 70, sub. a (5) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 110, sub. a (5), vests in the trustee all rights of action reposing in the corporation at the time the bankruptcy petition was filed. In addition, the trustee may sue to set aside transfers of property that are fraudulent as to creditors under either applicable state law or the federal adaptation of the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act. See Bankruptcy Act sections 70, subs. a (4), e, 67, sub. d; 11 U.S.C.A. §§ 110, subs. a (4), e, 107, sub. d. See generally 4 Collier, Bankruptcy 1018-25 (14th ed.). The "applicable state law" is the New York version of the same Uniform Act, Debtor & Creditor Law, §§ 270-281. Although the federal and state versions are slightly different, so far as the facts of this case are concerned, they are equivalent. Therefore, the trustee's rights in property transferred in fraud of creditors are the same under the various sections of the Bankruptcy Act dealing with such transfers.

The trustee's first claim involves the four cashier's checks. A corporate officer who uses corporate funds for his own purposes may be liable for conversion to the corporation and in bankruptcy to the trustee. Since the officer had no title to the property, transferees of the officer may be similarly liable. However, the general rule of liability does not apply when the officer's acts have been ratified by all the shareholders of the corporation. In that case, the unauthorized acts of the individual become the authorized acts of the corporation, the corporation loses its right of action against the officer, and the corporation, having no right, the trustee in bankruptcy also has no right. See Reif v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y, 1935, 268 N.Y. 269, 197 N.E. 278, 100 A.L.R. 55; Barr & Creelman Mill & Plumbing Supply Co. v. Zeller, 2 Cir., 1940, 109 F. 2d 924; Quintal v. Kellner, 1934, 264 N.Y. 32, 189 N.E. 770; Rosenfeld v. Fairchild Engine & Aviation Corp., 1955, 309 N.Y. 168, 180, 128 N.E.2d 291, 51 A.L.R.2d 860 (dissenting opinion); Capitol Wine & Spirit Corp. v. Pokrass, 1st Dep't 1950, 277 App.Div. 184, 98 N.Y.S. 2d 291; John William Bldg. Corp. v. Union Trust Co., 4th Dep't 1939, 256 App. Div. 885, 9 N.Y.S.2d 14; New York Credit Men's Adjustment Bureau, Inc. v. Manhattan Life Ins. Co., City Ct.N.Y.1955, 149 N.Y.S.2d 778. Under the facts of the instant case, the corporation would have no action in conversion against Lew, any of his transferees, or any one participating in the transfer, because Lew as sole stockholder ratified his own actions. It becomes unnecessary at this point to characterize Bankers as either a transferee or a mere participant in the cashier's check transactions, or to investigate thereupon whether it had the status of a holder in due course of a negotiable instrument, which, of course, would be a perfect defense to a charge of conversion. See N.Y. Negotiable Instruments Law § 96.

"Creditors, of course, are not prejudiced by the corporation's acts of ratification." Barr & Creelman Mill & Plumbing Supply Co. v. Zeller, supra, 109 F.2d at page 927. We are led to inquire, therefore, as to the rights of the trustee on this first claim to set aside transactions fraudulent as against creditors. Under both the state and federal law, a transfer is not fraudulent as against creditors if fair consideration is given or if the transferor is not rendered insolvent thereby. The latter "if" is enough to defeat the trustee on this theory because the debiting of $7,439.06 from the corporate account left enough in the account to pay the corporate creditors, including the potential tax claim by the United States.

The trustee tries to avoid this result by alleging that the costs of administrating the bankrupt estate, including attorney's fees, may be as high as $5,000, and since this amount will be a valid claim against the estate, it should be added to the roughly $8,000 in proved or provable claims in determining the question of insolvency. The trustee cites no authority and I can see nothing in the Bankruptcy Act, or in logic, that supports this argument.

The trustee's second claim concerns the repayment of Lew's personal loan to FNCB, for which liability is asserted against both FNCB and Bankers. The trustee relies primarily on the case of Ward v. City Trust Co., 1908, 192 N.Y. 61, 84 N.E. 585, for the conversion claim against FNCB. In that case creditors of a corporation in reorganization brought suit against a bank that had accepted a check payable to the corporation and endorsed over to the bank by...