In re Knowlton & Co.

• Decision Date: 24 January 1913
• Docket Number: 63.
• Citation: 202 F. 480
• Parties: In re KNOWLTON & CO. v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF GARDNER, MASS., et al. WATERS et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

202 F. 480

In re KNOWLTON & CO.

WATERS et al. v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF GARDNER, MASS., et al.

No. 63.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

January 24, 1913

Arthur G. Dickson, James McMullan, Horace Paul Dormon, and Henry P Brown, all of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

James A. Stiles, of Gardner, Mass., and Henry G. Hart, of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellees.

Before GRAY and BUFFINGTON, Circuit Judges, and RELLSTAB, District judge.

GRAY Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order and decree made and entered in the above-entitled cause by the court below, sitting in bankruptcy, modifying and in part reversing the order made by a referee in bankruptcy, in regard to the distribution of a fund in the hands of the trustees of the estate of Knowlton &amp Co., received by them from the assignees of the firm of A. &amp H. C. Knowlton, one of the partners of the said firm of Knowlton & Co.The case both before the referee and the court below was heard on an agreed statement of facts, briefly summarized as follows:

On June 18, 1910, the partnership of Knowlton & Co., formed November 28, 1908, doing business in Philadelphia, was adjudged a bankrupt; the bankrupt partnership consisted of the firm of A. & H. C. Knowlton, of Gardner, Mass., and John W. Maskell of Camden, N.J.The partners of A. & H. C. Knowlton had their domicile and the firm its principal place of business, in Gardner, Mass.This firm was formed July 2, 1895.Neither the firm of Knowlton & Co. nor John W. Maskell had any interest whatsoever in the said firm of A. & H. C. Knowlton, or its property, business or assets, except as herein stated.Knowlton & Co. and A. & H. C. Knowlton were 'separate partnerships.'The latter sold 'chairs in the white' to the former, for which it was paid, and, except as to certain indorsements of notes of the former company to the latter company to secure deferred payments, there were no business transactions between the two, and each kept separate books of account.February 21, 1910, the Gardner partnership made an assignment for the benefit of creditors to Greenwood, Derby and Bryant.At that time, it owed about $15,000, upon contracts and obligations with which neither the firm of Knowlton & Co. nor John W. Maskell were in any wise concerned and upon which neither was in any way liable.The Gardner partnership was then able to pay in full all its debts, excluding its liability as a partner in Knowlton & Co., and the liquidation of its assets resulted in a net sum of $25,000-- more than sufficient for that purpose.The bankrupt firm of Knowlton & Co. was indebted in an amount greater than its assets.The administration of the assets of the Gardner firm of A. & H. C. Knowlton was taken over by the court below, as being the assets of one of the partners of the bankrupt firm of Knowlton & Co., and the net proceeds thereof, amounting to about $25,000, were paid over by the assignees of the Gardner firm to the trustees in bankruptcy of the Philadelphia firm.The assets of the firm of Knowlton & Co. have proved insufficient to pay its partnership debts.Debts primarily due from the Gardner firm of A. & H. C. Knowlton, or due from it by virtue of its indorsement of paper of Knowlton & Co. and John W. Maskell, have been proved in this cause against the said firm.Debts primarily due from the Philadelphia firm of Knowlton & Co. have likewise been...