224 Pa. 586 | Pa. | 1909
Opinion by
We think the learned court below was right in discharging
The right to the set-off depends upon the provisions of the bankruptcy act of 1898 relative thereto. The part of the act controlling the question is sec. 68, which provides, inter alia, as follows: “ In all cases of mutual debts or mutual credits between the estate of a bankrupt and a creditor the account shall be stated and one debt shall be set off against the other, and the balance only shall be allowed or paid. A set-off or counterclaim shall not be allowed in favor of any debtor of a bankrupt which is not provable against the estate.” Is the counterclaim or set-off of the defendants in this action allowable under this provision of the bankruptcy act? It is strenuously contended by the plaintiff that the defendants’ claim was contingent, uncertain, was not provable against the bankrupt at the date of the adjudication in bankruptcy and, therefore, cannot be allowed as a set-off. This view, however, we think, entirely overlooks the nature and character of the defendants’ claim as well before as at the time it was interposed as a set-off. At the date of the adjudication, the bankrupt was indebted to the subcontractors on the claims which were subsequently .paid by the defendants. The primary
Is the proposed set-off “provable against the estate” of the bankrupt within the meaning of sec. 68 of the act? This question must receive an affirmative answer unless we interpret the section differently from the decisions of two courts of the highest respectability, one of which is a federal court whose construction of an act of congress we must accept. After a very careful consideration of the bankruptcy act we are satisfied that the conclusion of those courts is correct, and that a counterclaim “provable against the estate” of the bankrupt by his debtor in an action brought by the trustee, is such claim as is provable in its nature at the time the set-off is sought to be enforced. The status of the claim at that date
It follows from what has been said that the judgment of the common pleas should be affirmed.
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.