113 F. 974 | W.D. Pa. | 1902
The scope of the certificate has, by consent of counsel, been enlarged so as to raise the question whether the petitioning creditors have standing as such. Their claim is based upon a certain written contract for the sale of gas, and it is assumed, for present purposes, that the rights of the parties of the first part to said contract have been assigned to the petitioning creditors, and the obligations of the parties of the second part assumed by the Big Meadows Gas Company. Thij answer of that company, amongst other things, denied the company was “engaged principally in manufacturing, trading, printing, publishing, or mercantile pursuits”; averred that, as unliquidated claimants, the petitioners had no standing to file an involuntary petition against it; and alleged the petitioners were, under the contract, indebted to it in the sum of $6o,ooo. This answer was adopted by the Union Trust Company, a judgment creditor of the Big Meadows Gas Company. Thereupon the court, without prejudice to the right of the Big Meadows Gas Company to question its jurisdiction, appointed the referee a special master to take the testimony, and report to the court findings of fact and law. On the hearing, a question arose as’ to the production by the Big Meadows Gas