Western, Inc. v. United States

• Decision Date: 20 June 1956
• Docket Number: No. 15470.,15470.
• Citation: Western, Inc. v. United States, 234 F.2d 211 (8th Cir. 1956)
• Parties: WESTERN, Inc., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

234 F.2d 211 (1956)

WESTERN, Inc., Appellant, v.UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 15470.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

June 20, 1956.

Robert J. Gaddy, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Alan S. Rosenthal, Atty., Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (Geo. S. Leonard, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry Richards, U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., Samuel D. Slade, Atty., Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., were with him on the brief), for appellee.

Before SANBORN, WOODROUGH and JOHNSEN, Circuit Judges.

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an order allowing the claim of the Government in the amount of $8,491.55 as a priority claim under a Plan of Reorganization confirmed in a proceeding for the reorganization of Western, Inc.(appellant), under Chapter X of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. A. § 501 et seq.

Appellant contends that the District Court erred in determining that it had assumed the indebtedness of a predecessor partnership known as Banfield Packing Company of Miami, Oklahoma.If there was an adequate evidentiary basis for that determination, the order appealed from must be affirmed, since it is undisputed that the partnership was liable to the Government for subsidy overpayments made to the partnership in 1945 in the amount of $8,491.55.

Originally, Banfield Packing Company of Miami, Oklahoma, commenced business as an Oklahoma corporation organized in January, 1943.It was engaged in the meat packing business at Miami, Oklahoma.In August, 1943, it transferred all of its assets and business to a partnership, of the same name, composed of the stockholders of the corporation with one addition.The partnership continued the same meat packing business at Miami, Oklahoma, from August, 1943, until January 1, 1946, when it transferred its assets and business back to the Banfield Packing Company of Miami, Oklahoma, a corporation.In December, 1948, the stockholders of the corporation, who had been the partners while the business was conducted as a partnership, sold their stock to Harry C. Bass, Jr.For a short time thereafter the corporation continued the business under its original name.On July 1, 1949, its name was changed to Western, Inc.On March 17, 1952, Western, Inc., filed a petition for reorganization in the District Court under Chapter X of the Bankruptcy Act, and on November 28, 1952, the Government filed proof of its claim.The trustee filed objections to the claim.

The issue whether Western, Inc., the debtor corporation, had assumed the indebtedness of the partnership was tried to the court.The contract and bill of sale whereby the Banfield corporation had succeeded to the assets and business of the partnership were not produced, and apparently were unavailable.The Government served a subpoena duces tecum on the Trustee of the debtor, on its President, and on its attorney.Each responded that he was not in possession of the proposal of the Banfield corporation to purchase the assets and business of the partnership or the bill of sale from the partnership to the corporation.There was evidence...