186 F. 629 | 8th Cir. | 1911
This case is presented by a petition to revise an order of the District Judge, which affirmed an order of the referee that the claim of W. A. Paterson Company, a corporation, for $17,017.45, which had been allowed, be expunged unless the] Paterson Company should pay to the trustee $1,004.45, the adjudged value of certain vehicles of William C. Manley, the bankrupt, which the company had seized and converted to its own use after the Paterson Company and others had filed a petition in bankruptcy against Manley upon which he was subsequently adjudged a bankrupt. The Paterson Company was a manufacturer of vehicles at Flint, M'ich. Manley was engaged in selling vehicles at St. Louis, Mo. Elder & Wood, who were engaged in a like business at Mammoth Spring’s, Ark., ordered a car load of vehicles from Manley in September, 1908. Manley thereupon ordered these vehicles from the Paterson Company, and directed it to ship them to Elder & Wood at Mammoth Springs, Ark. After-wards, on September 17, 1908, Manley directed the Paterson Company to ship these vehicles to him at St. Louis, Mo. On October 3, 1908,
On October 10, 1908, Manley made a general assignment for the benefit of his creditors. On October 13, 1908, the Paterson Company and other creditors of Manley filed an involuntary petition in bankruptcy against him upon which he was subsequently adjudged a bankrupt. On the same day the Paterson Company telegraphed from Flint, Mich., to the agent of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company at Detroit, Mich., .to hold the car of vehicles for it, and at some time after October 14, 1908, the railroad company returned the vehicles to that company. The Paterson Company filed a claim against the bankrupt for $17,017.45 for the purchase price of the vehicles which it had sold to, Manley prior to the transaction which has been detailed, and this claim was allowed. Thereafter a motion was made by the trustee to expunge this claim, unless the Paterson Company would pay back to the trustee the value of this car load of vehicles, which it obtained after the petition in bankruptcy was filed. The referee and the court below were of the opinion that this motion should be granted. Counsel for the Paterson Company insist that their view of the law was erroneous: (1) Because the Paterson Company had the right of stoppage in transitu on October 13, 1908, when it gayé the railroad company,.which was in possession of the goods at Mammoth Springs, notice of their recall; (2) because- the purchase of the goods by Manley.was made with the intent never to pay for them.; and (3) because the court below was without jurisdiction summarily to hear the motion to expunge the claim, on the ground that the Pátera-son Company had taken the vehicles without right, after the filing o.f the petition in bankruptcy.
Whether or not Manley intended to pay for the vehicles when he bought them of the Paterson Company is a question of fact, and the evidence upon this issue is not presented by the petition to revise. The referee has reported a summary of the evidence; but both he and the court below have failed to find that Manley intended not to pay for the vehicles when he bought them, and there was no evidence of any fraudulent misrepresentation of his financial standing, or of any other facts to induce the Paterson Company to make the sale. Under these circumstances, we cannot find that the sale was fraudulent or voidable.
It is so ordered.