Thomas Tindle v. Clarence Birkett

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Fuller
• Citation: Thomas Tindle v. Clarence Birkett, 205 U.S. 183, 27 S.Ct. 493, 51 L.Ed. 762 (1907)
• Decision Date: 25 March 1907
• Docket Number: No. 217,217
• Parties: THOMAS TINDLE and Willis K. Jackson, Plffs. in Err., v. CLARENCE T. BIRKETT

205 U.S. 183

27 S.Ct. 493

51 L.Ed. 762

THOMAS TINDLE and Willis K. Jackson, Plffs. in Err.,

v CLARENCE T. BIRKETT.

No. 217.

Argued February 28, 1907.

Decided March 25, 1907.

Mr. Frank Gibbons for plaintiffs in error.

No counsel appeared for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action brought in 1899 to recover damages claimed to have been sustained in consequence of specified false and fraudulent representations made by the firm of which the defendant was survivor, by reason whereof plaintiffs alleged they were deceived into selling goods to defendant's firm, which they otherwise would not have done. The complaint contained three counts, setting up separate items of damages, namely, $349.30, $230.83, and $321.73 for goods sold, and judgment was demanded for the aggregate, with interest on each item.

One of the defenses was that plaintiffs' claims were barred by a discharge in bankruptcy of defendant's firm, to which plaintiffs replied that they were not such as could be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings.

The New York court of appeals held that, according to the rulings of this court in Crawford v. Burke, 195 U. S. 176, 49 L. ed. 147, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 9, the alleged indebtedness to plaintiffs was covered by the discharge, and directed plaintiffs' complaint to be dismissed. 183 N. Y. 267, 76 N. E. 25.

This writ of error was then prosecuted, and plaintiffs' counsel contends that their debts were not provable debts, and therefore not discharged, and that Crawford v. Burke might well be modified in view of certain suggestions deemed to be novel.

Sections 17 and 63a of the bankruptcy act of 1898 read as follows:

'Sec. 17. A discharge in bankruptcy shall release a bankrupt from all of his provable debts, except such as . . . (2) are judgments in actions for frauds, or obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations, or for wilful and malicious injuries to the person or property of another; . . . or (4) were created by his fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, or defalcation while acting as an officer or in any fiduciary capacity.

'Sec. 63. Debts which may be proved:——

'(a) Debts of the bankrupt may be proved and allowed against his estate which are (1) a fixed liability, as evidenced by a judgment or an instrument in writing, absolutely owing at the time of the filing of the petition against him, whether then payable or not . . . ; (4) founded upon an open account, or upon a contract expressed or implied; and (5) founded upon provable debts reduced to judgments after the filing of the petition and before the consideration of the bankrupt's application for a discharge.' [30 Stat. at L. 550, 562,...