UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

REED V. MCINTYRE, 98 U. S. 507 (1878)

98 U. S. 507

U.S. Supreme Court

Reed v. McIntyre, 98 U.S. 507 (1878)

Reed v. McIntyre

98 U.S. 507

Syllabus

A., in due course of legal proceedings, recovered, March 14, judgment against B., a merchant who, the preceding day, had made an assignment of all his property for the benefit of his creditors. An execution was forthwith sued out upon the judgment and levied upon certain goods, part of the property so assigned. On the petition of a creditor, filed March 31, alleging that B. had committed acts of bankruptcy by fraudulently suspending and not thereafter resuming payment of his commercial paper due January 1 and by making said assignment, B. was by the proper court adjudged to be a bankrupt, and his estate conveyed in the usual form by the register to the assignee in bankruptcy, who filed his bill against A. to determine the title to the proceeds of the sale of the goods, which by consent had been made without prejudice to the rights, if any, of A. by the levy of the execution. Upon the hearing it appeared by the proofs that the assignment by B. was made in good faith to secure the distribution of his property among all his creditors. Held that A. acquired no priority by the levy, and that the assignee in bankruptcy is entitled to the proceeds.

William H. Shuey, a merchant at St. Paul, Minn., executed, March 13, 1874, a deed of assignment conveying his entire property, including his stock in trade, to William S. Combs in trust, for the equal benefit of all his creditors. Upon the same day, immediately after the acknowledgment of the deed, Combs entered upon the discharge of his duties as assignee and took possession of Shuey's stock. During the succeeding day, Mrs. Reed obtained a judgment in one of the state courts of Minnesota against Barnard and Shuey for the sum of $5,120.45. An execution was immediately issued, and the sheriff forthwith levied it upon the same goods of which Combs had taken possession. Upon the occasion of the levy, the officer was notified of the assignment and Combs' possession. On the 31st of March, 1874, Mrs. Sanderson, a creditor of Shuey, by petition filed in the proper court, prayed that he might be declared a bankrupt, upon two grounds: 1st, that being a merchant and trader, he had, Jan. 1, 1874, fraudulently stopped and suspended payment of his commercial paper, to-wit, the promissory note held by her, and had not resumed payment thereof; 2d, that, March 13, 1874, being then insolvent, he made the clubjuris

Page 98 U. S. 508

said assignment to Combs with intent to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors, which she alleged was an act of bankruptcy. Before the return of the rule which issued upon this petition, Shuey, by written stipulation, filed in court, without admitting or denying the alleged grounds of bankruptcy, consented that an adjudication might be entered against him. This was at once done, the order reciting that, in consideration of Shuey's written consent and of the proofs in the cause, the facts set forth in the petition were found to be true, and it was therefore adjudged that he was a bankrupt within the meaning of the act of Congress. McIntyre was duly selected as assignee, and to him the usual conveyance by the register was made. Afterwards, to prevent a sacrifice of the goods at a forced sale and to save expense, a written agreement was made between Mrs. Reed and McIntyre whereby the latter took possession of and sold all the property levied upon, but without prejudice to such rights as she had acquired under and by virtue of her execution or to her right to raise any question in a suit in equity to be promptly instituted which she might have raised if that property had remained in the custody of the sheriff.

The present suit was commenced by a bill in equity filed by McIntyre for the purpose of obtaining a judicial determination of Mrs. Reed's rights in the property levied on, or rather in its proceeds. She claimed that to the extent of the judgment against Shuey, her rights acquired by the levy are superior to those of the assignee in bankruptcy. That view was controverted by him, and a decree having been rendered in his favor, Mrs. Reed appealed. clubjuris

Page 98 U. S. 509


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