Virginia Mirror Co. v. Roaring River Furniture Co., 3655.

• Decision Date: 29 June 1934
• Docket Number: No. 3655.,3655.
• Citation: 72 F.2d 136
• Parties: VIRGINIA MIRROR CO. v. ROARING RIVER FURNITURE CO. et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

72 F.2d 136 (1934)

VIRGINIA MIRROR CO. v. ROARING RIVER FURNITURE CO. et al.

No. 3655.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

June 29, 1934.

J. E. Alexander, of Winston-Salem, N. C. (Whittle & Whittle, of Martinsville, Va., on the brief), for appellant.

Owen Reese, of High Point, N. C., and J. M. Brown, of North Wilkesboro, N. C. (John R. Jones, of North Wilkesboro, N. C., and Horace S. Haworth, of High Point, N. C., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PARKER and NORTHCOTT, Circuit Judges, and CHESNUT, District Judge.

PER CURIAM.

The appellant claims to be a creditor in the amount of $4,661.91 for goods sold and delivered to Roaring River Furniture Company which was adjudicated bankrupt April 3, 1929. Its formal proof of claim was not filed until January 1, 1930, more than six months thereafter, and it was therefore rejected by the referee under section 57, subdivision (n) of the Bankruptcy Law as revised by act of 1926 (11 USCA § 93 (n).

On January 14, 1930, at a creditors' meeting attended by attorneys for various creditors, by the trustees in bankruptcy and their attorney, and the bankrupt and its attorney, the appellant presented its claim, and it was agreed that it be allowed to later file a petition setting up the facts concerning the same, and shortly thereafter on or about January 16, 1930, the appellant as creditor did file its petition asking that its formal claim be allowed, and filed therewith as an exhibit a letter dated January 2, 1930, from the receivers of the bankrupt, in which it was said: "We reported your account to the Referee in Bankruptcy the 30th of last April, exactly the amount which the invoice attached calls for."

On May 12, 1930, at a further meeting of creditors also attended by representatives of various creditors, by the trustee in bankruptcy and their attorney, and the bankrupt and its attorney, a motion was made and unanimously carried to the effect that the appellant be allowed to prove its claim for the reason that it had not had notice of the bankruptcy proceedings within six months from the adjudication. No action seems to have been taken by the court on the above-mentioned petition, but the trustees, under orders of court, continued to operate the business until January 12, 1933, at which time at a creditors' meeting an offer on behalf of the bankrupt of $15,000 was made for the assets of the bankrupt except notes and accounts receivable. The offer, being approved by a majority in number of the creditors, was declared by the referee to be accepted subject to the approval of the District Judge; and contemporaneously a minute was made to the effect that the offer would be sufficient to pay all the creditors in full who filed their claims within the statutory period and to pay all costs of the proceeding and possibly creditors who filed their claims but not within the statutory period in full, unless it should develop that the unsecured creditors were entitled to interest or other unknown objection should arise.

This sale was finally approved by the ...