Joseph Wild Company v. Provident Life Trust Company

Decision Date24 May 1909
Docket NumberNo. 190,190
Citation29 S.Ct. 619,53 L.Ed. 1003,214 U.S. 292
PartiesJOSEPH WILD & COMPANY, Appts., v. PROVIDENT LIFE & TRUST COMPANY, Trustee of the Estate of George Watkinson & Company, Bankrupts
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. Max L. Powell and Harris S. Sparhawk for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 292-294 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Arthur G. Dickson and Dickson, Beitler, & McCouch for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 294-296 intentionally omitted] Mr Justice Moody delivered the opinion of the court:

The appellants, Joseph Wild & Company, offered for proof against the estate of George Watkinson & Company, who had been declared bankrupts, a claim of $2,565.92. The claim was allowed by the referee, but disallowed by the district court, except upon a surrender of an alleged preference of $634.78, which was received within four months of the adjudication. The judgment of the district court was affirmed by the circuit court of appeals.

The facts of the case are simple. The bankrupt because insolvent on or before January 1, 1901, but the claimants had no knowledge of their insolvency during the running of the account hereafter referred to, and the merchandise therein specified was sold and delivered in the ordinary course of business. The appellants sold and delivered merchandise in various items, beginning February 14, 1901, and ending October 8, 1901. The total price of the merchandise thus delivered was $3,377.28. There were payments on account on June 29 and October 10, amounting to $811.36, leaving the net amount by which the bankrupt estate was enriched, $2,565.92. The last payment, on Cotober 10, was $634.78, and was two days after the last sale and delivery of merchandise.

The single question in the case is whether that payment was a preference. It is conceded that it would not be a preference, in view of the other facts in the case, if it had been followed by a sale and delivery of goods of any value, however small. This concession is made necessary by the decision in Jaquith v. Alden, 189 U. S. 78, 47 L. ed. 717, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 649, which is, in all respects, like the present case, except that two days after the payment which was alleged to be a preference, merchandise of trifling value was sold and delivered to the bankrupt. But the decision in that case was not rested upon the fact of this slight sale subsequent to the last payment. It was rather put upon the broader principle that all the dealings...

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24 cases
  • In re Ford, Bankruptcy No. 88-00168
    • United States
    • U.S. Bankruptcy Court — District of Vermont
    • 31 d5 Março d5 1989
    ...in Yaple v. Dahl-Millikan Grocery Co., 193 U.S. 526, 24 S.Ct. 552, 48 L.Ed. 776 (1904) and Joseph Wild & Co. v. Provident Life & Trust Co., 214 U.S. 292, 29 S.Ct. 619, 53 L.Ed. 1003 (1909). Since Jaquith, Courts have expressed their discomfort with the continued vitality of the "net result"......
  • In re Fulghum Const. Corp.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee
    • 18 d5 Setembro d5 1981
    ...547(b), as well as under section 60(c) of the Act, the predecessor to section 547(c)(4). See Joseph Wild & Co. v. Provident Life & Trust Co., 214 U.S. 292, 29 S.Ct. 619, 53 L.Ed. 1003 (1909); Yaple v. Dahl-Millikan Grocery Co., 193 U.S. 526, 24 S.Ct. 552, 48 L.Ed. 776 (1904); Jaquith v. Ald......
  • In re Fulghum Const. Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Middle District of Tennessee
    • 28 d5 Novembro d5 1980
    ...in Yaple v. Dahl-Millikan Grocery Co., 193 U.S. 526, 24 S.Ct. 552, 48 L.Ed. 776 (1904), and in Joseph Wild & Co. v. Provident Life & Trust Co., 214 U.S. 292, 29 S.Ct. 619, 53 L.Ed. 1003 (1909). Although the transferees in each of these cases had in fact been unaware of the debtor's insolven......
  • In re Frigitemp Corp.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • 29 d2 Novembro d2 1983
    ...of insolvency, before being permitted to prove their claims in the bankruptcy proceedings. See Joseph Wild & Co. v. Provident Life and Trust Co., 214 U.S. 292, 29 S.Ct. 619, 53 L.Ed. 1003 (1909) (preferential transfers occurring prior to 1903 amendment of § 57(g)); Yaple v. Dahl-Millikan Gr......
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