196 A. 381 | N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. | 1938
The receiver of defendant insolvent corporation asks instructions. He has in his hands two funds, one derived from the general assets of the corporation, the other proceeding from a fire insurance policy. The company was in the express business, a common carrier. The policy in question, though procured by the company, covered the property of its customers, not its own property. The money belongs in equity to the bailors whose goods were destroyed. Williams Co. v. Auto Express Co.,
One of the customers whose goods were destroyed in the fire, Walker-Turner Company, had procured insurance for *50 itself out of which it has been compensated for its loss. It is not entitled to share in the fund. Friedman v. Woods MotorVehicle Co., 123 Fed. Rep. 413; 59 C.C.A. 507. The other participants in the insurance money do not object to the receiver transferring to his general account so much of the special fund as would go to Walker-Turner Company if it had not been insured. Two other bailors, F.C. Kent and Finkelstein Company, are indebted to the insolvent corporation. Their debts will be offset against their shares of the insurance money and will be transferred to the general fund.
Before the appointment of the receiver, this fund, then intact, in the company's bank account, had been attached by a creditor. The receiver succeeded in freeing the money from the attachment. Later he conducted hearings to ascertain who were the bailors interested in the fund and the proportionate amount due each. When a receiver has in his hands two funds arising from different sources, and which are held for separate groups of claimants, the administration expenses, including the compensation of the receiver, should be equitably apportioned between the two funds.Meister v. Meister, Inc.,
Several classes of claims against the general fund have priority in the following order:
First: Wage claims for work done within two months next preceding the filing of the bill. Rev. Stat. 1937 § 14:14-21;Gleason v. Chemical and Dye Corp.,
Counsel for one Stejakowski asserted on the argument that he had been injured November 2d 1936, in an accident in the course of his employment by the company, whereby he became entitled to receive $20 a week for eight and one-half weeks under the Workmen's Compensation law. The entire compensation period was within the two months next preceding the appointment of the receiver. Stejakowski's *51
claim has the same status and priority as a claim for unpaid wages. Rev. Stat. 34:15-29. Steel and Iron Mongers, Inc., v.Bonnite Insulator Co.,
Second: Franchise tax due the State of New Jersey.
Third: Personal property tax due the city of Newark. Spark
v. La Reine Hotel Corp.,
Fifth: Rent for not exceeding one year. Philadelphia DairyProducts Co., Inc., v. Summit Sweets Shoppe, Inc.,