Straton v. New

Citation51 S.Ct. 465,75 L.Ed. 1060,283 U.S. 318
Decision Date20 April 1931
Docket NumberNo. 137,137
PartiesSTRATON et al., Special Com'rs, v. NEW et al
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. Randolph Bias, of Williamson, W. Va., for Straton and others.

Mr. Arthur F. Kingdon, of Bluefield, W. Va., for New, Trustee, etc.

Mr. Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The District Court for Southern West Virginia entered an order in the bankruptcy of the Fall Branch Coal Company enjoining commissioners appointed by a West Virginia state court from proceeding with the sale of certain real estate of the bankrupt pursuant to a decree of that court. The petitioners were the trustee in bankruptcy and two mortgagees.

The petition alleged that the commissioners were advertising for sale only the property of the bankrupt in West Virginia, that it would be advantageous to all parties to have this property sold with property of the bankrupt situate in Kentucky, and that the bankruptcy court had exclusive jurisdiction to make the sale. The respondents in their answer denied the right of the District Court to enjoin the proceedings in the state court, and appealed from an order awarding an injunction.

April 11, 1927, one Alley obtained judgment against the coal company in the Circuit Court of Mingo County, West Virginia, which was docketed May 5, 1927, and thus be- came a lien on its estate in that county. February 20, 1928, Alley filed in the same court a judgment creditors' suit against the coal company, and made parties thereto all creditors having liens against its real estate, including the two mortgagees who were co-petitioners with the trustee in the bankruptcy court. In his bill he prayed that the liens and assets be marshalled and that the company's real estate be sold and the proceeds distributed among the lien claimants according to their respective rights. The cause was duly matured and, at April term, 1928, was referred to a commissioner in chancery to report the real estate owned by the debtor and the liens thereon. At the July term, 1928, the commissioner presented his report, and thereupon the respondents were appointed to make sale of the property. August 4, 1928, sixteen months after rendition of Alley's judgment, and five and one-half months after the filing of the creditors' bill, the coal company filed its voluntary petition in bankruptcy, and on October 11, 1928, while the commissioners of the state court were proceeding to carry out its order of sale, the petition was filed to enjoin them from frthe r proceeding.

Upon these facts the question certified is:

Where creditors have obtained and docketed judgments constituting liens on the real estate of defendant, and have instituted a creditors' suit in a state court to marshal and enforce the liens and sell the real estate subject thereto, does the bankruptcy of defendant occurring more than four months after the institution of the creditors' suit oust the state court of jurisdiction, or vest in the court of bankruptcy power to enjoin further proceedings in the state court?

The purpose of the Bankruptcy Act (11 USCA) passed pursuant to the power of Congress to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States, is to place the property of the bankrupt, whereever found, under the control of the court, for equal distribution among the creditors. The filing of the petition is an assertion of jurisdiction with a view to the determination of the status of the bankrupt and a settlement and distribution of his estate. This jurisdiction is exclusive within the field defind by the law, and is so far in rem that the estate is regarded as in custodia legis from the filing of the petition. Acme Harvester Co. v. Beekman Lumber Co., 222 U. S. 300, 32 S. Ct. 96, 56 L. Ed. 208. It follows that liens cannot thereafter be obtained nor proceedings be had in other courts to reach the property, the district court having acquired the exclusive right to administer all property in the bankrupt's possession. Lazarus, Michel & Lazarus v. Prentice, 234 U. S. 263, 34 S. Ct. 851, 58 L. Ed. 1305; White v. Schloerb, 178 U. S. 542, 20 S. Ct. 1007, 44 L. Ed. 1183; Murphy v. John Hofman Co., 211 U. S. 562, 29 S. Ct. 154, 53 L. Ed. 327; U. S. F. & G. Co. v. Bray, 225 U. S. 205, 32 S. Ct. 620, 56 L. Ed. 1055; Hebert v. Crawford, 228 U. S. 204, 33 S. Ct. 484, 57 L. Ed. 800. It may inquire into the validity of liens, marshal them, and control their enforcement and liquidation. Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co., 282 U. S. 734, 51 S. Ct. 270, 75 L. Ed. 645, and authorities cited; Whitney v. Wenman, 198 U. S. 539, 25 S. Ct. 778, 49 L. Ed. 1157; Remington, Bankruptcy (3d Ed.) § 2472.

Though a lien be not discharged by bankruptcy, its owner may not, without the bankruptcy court's permission, institute proceedings in a state court to enforce it, since his so doing might interfere with the orderly administration of the estate. Thus a mortgagee will be restrained from instituting or proceeding further in a foreclosure action, begun after the date of the petition in bankruptcy.1 And a creditor holding a valid judgment more than four months old will be enjoined from enforcing its lien by suit brought after the date of the petition.2 And as the lien created by a judgment entered within four months in avoided, the court of bankruptcy has jurisdiction to administer the property regardless of the lien and will restrain the prosecution of an action to enforce it.3

The bankruptcy law contains no express provision preserving liens acquired by legal proceedings more than four months before the petition is filed. But it is clearly implied that they shall be saved from the operation of the law, for section 67f4 voids only liens obtained by legal proceedings within that period. It has consequently been held that those acquired earlier, if valid under state law, are preserved, and will be accorded priority by the bankruptcy court in distribution of the estate, in accordance with applicable local law. 5

There is no dispute concerning these propositions. Appellants, however, assert that the jurisdiction in bankruptcy to ascertain, marshal and enforce liens, is not exclusive, but concurrent with that of other courts competent to that end, if the liens in question are not discharged but recognized as valid in bankruptcy, and that the rule of comity is applicable that the court first lawfully taking jurisdiction shall retain it. Wabash R. Co. v Adelbert College, 208 U. S. 38, 28 S. Ct. 182, 52 L. Ed. 379; Harkin v. Brundage, 276 U. S. 36, 48 S. Ct. 268, 72 L. Ed. 457. They contend that when the petition was filed in this case, the state court was proceeding in a suit within its jurisdiction and had taken possession of the res for the purpose of enforcing such a lien.

The certificate states that the judgment of the plaintiff in the creditors' suit constituted a lien on real estate from a date sixteen months prior to the initiation of the bankruptcy proceeding. It is obvious that it and any other judgments involved in that suit, and the mortgage liens which were to be marshalled in it, including those of the two mortgagees who joined in the petition for injunction against further action by the state court, were valid notwithstanding the bankruptcy, because the creditors' suit was filed five and one-half months before the petition in bankruptcy, and all such other judgments and liens must then have been in existence and matured, or they would not have been proper subjects for the state court's action.

If appellants are correct in their contention that the creditors' suit was no more than a proceeding to enforce liens saved from discharge by the subsequent bankruptcy of the debtor, it follows, as they claim, that the District Court sitting in bankruptcy had no power to enjoin that action.

In Metcalf v. Barker, 187 U. S. 165, 23 S. Ct. 67, 47 L. Ed. 122, Lesser Brothers were adjudged bankrupts on their own petition, on May 12, 1899. They had on October 2, 1896, being insolvent, transferred all their property, partnership and individual, to certain favored creditors. On October 22, 1896, and October 29, 1896, Metcalf recovered judgments in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the Lessers, upon which executions were issued and returned unsatisfied. On December 17, 1896, Metcalf commenced a judgment creditors' action in the Supreme Court of New York, which came to trial on December 17, 1897, as a result whereof the transfers were adjudged fraudulent and void as to plaintiff. 22 Misc. Rep. 664, 50 N. Y. S. 1060. The transfers had involved both personal property and real estate. The judgment of the court set aside the transfers of personal property and of the real estate in favor of the plaintiff. Meantime receivers had been appointed for the Lessers and the judgment of the Supreme Court determined that the tangible property and its proceeds then in the hands of the receivers, and certain claims by the receivers, were to be administered by them for the benefit of the creditors of the partnership, including Metchalf, while the real estate ivolv ed became subject to the lien of the judgments of Metcalf as of October 22 and 29, 1896.

From this judgment there were appeals (35 App. Div. 596, 55 N. Y. S. 179; 161 N. Y. 587, 56 N. E. 67), as a result of which the decree in favor of Metcalf did not become final until March 12, 1900. On March 8, 1900, the trustee in bankruptcy procured from the United States District Court an order on Metcalf to show cause why an injunction should not issue enjoining him from taking any further proceedings under any judgment in the creditors' action. Objection was made to the jurisdiction of the court, which was overruled, and the injunction made permanent. Metcalf presented a petition to revise to the Circuit Court of Appeals, which certified to this Court certain questions, amongst others, whether the District Court had jurisdiction to make the injunction order, and whether Metcalf,...

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