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Bankruptcy - Corporate Reorganization - Limitation On The Right To Appeal From An Order For The Allowance Of Compensation In A Corporate Reorganization Under The Chandler Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A petition for reorganization was approved by the district court, and members of a bondholders' committee were granted an allowance for services. As the award was much less than the amount sought, the committee asked leave to appeal of the circuit court of appeals. Leave was granted and the allowance increased. In the Supreme Court the petitioner claimed that the circuit court of appeals had no jurisdiction on the theory that the committee was confined to an appeal as of right, which could only be taken by filing notice of appeal in the district court. Held, the circuit court …

Bankruptcy-Corporate Reorganization-Publicly Held Securities As A Test Of Availability Of Relief Under Chapters X And Xi Of The Chandler Act, Edward S. Biggar

Michigan Law Review

Chapter X of the amended Bankruptcy Act of 1938 was mainly the product of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission of reorganization practices under the old equity procedure and under section 77B. The chief aim of the sponsors of this new chapter was to preclude the control of reorganization proceedings by "inside" groups, and thereby more adequately protect the interests of investors. Contemporaneously with the overhauling of section 77B, however, other sections of the old Bankruptcy Act were being revised. Among the changes effected, old sections 12 and 74, dealing with extensions and compositions, were remodelled and combined …

Trusts - Constructive Trusts - Preferential Claim Against Bank's Assets For Deposits Made After Hopeless Insolvency, James W. Deer

Michigan Law Review

On proclamation by the governor of the so-called bank holiday, the Union Guardian Trust Company was closed as of February 11, 1933. The evidence showed that within nine months of closing the company had made provision for obtaining $2,500,000 by pledging assets, had received loans amounting to $12,000,000 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and was conferring frequently with the officers of· that agency to negotiate an additional $44,000,000 loan. Under the authority of emergency legislation passed after the bank holiday, a conservator was appointed. By the plan of reorganization all the assets of the company were set aside in a …

Some Problems Arising Out Of Deposits To Pay Principal And Interest On Bonds, Paul P. Lipton

Michigan Law Review

Since Lawrence v. Fox contracts students have been puzzled by the numerous and varying relations that may arise when A, the debtor, delivers money to B to pay C, his creditor. Equally puzzling and much more complicated are the rights and relations of the obligor, trustee and bondholders with respect to sums deposited with the trustee to pay principal and interest on bonds.

The insolvency during recent years of many large trust companies that had been named as trustees in indentures securing corporate bonds, having on hand at the time of their failure large sums of money which …

Contracts - Sales - Effect Of Reasonable Belief In Buyer's Insolvency On Seller's Duty To Perform, W. Wallace Kent

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff ordered goods from the defendant, for immediate delivery, terms $1,500 down, balance covered by notes of three and six months. The check given for the down payment was dishonored because of insufficient funds but was subsequently honored. On investigation the defendant discovered that there were unpaid judgments outstanding against the plaintiff, some of which were upwards of three years old. Inferring that the plaintiff was insolvent, the defendant refused to deliver the goods unless cash was paid therefor and when plaintiff refused this offer defendant attempted to return the down payment. Held, plaintiff's affairs were in such …

Corporations - Limitation Of Actions - Nature Of Directors' Statutory Liability For Illegal Loans To Stockholders, Oscar Freedenberg

Michigan Law Review

The creditors of a bankrupt corporation sued its directors under a New Jersey statute that made the directors liable for all corporate debts to the extent of loans illegally made to stockholders. The decision hinged on the nature of the directors' liability with respect to the New Jersey statute of limitations. The directors maintained that the action was either for a contractual debt or else for a penalty, and that in either case it was barred by limitations. Held, that the liability of the directors was neither for a simple debt nor for a penalty within the meaning of …

Corporations - Reorganization - Effect Of Forfeiture Of Charter, Edward S. Biggar

Michigan Law Review

The charter of a Michigan corporation was forfeited for nonpayment of franchise fees. The statute provided conditions upon the fulfillment of which a forfeited charter might be reinstated. Without fulfilling the conditions and after the expiration of the statutory period during which it was allowed to continue in existence for the purpose of winding up its affairs, the corporation petitioned for reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act. Held, that the petitioner had no corporate existence under the laws of Michigan, and that, therefore, it could not invoke the jurisdiction of the federal bankruptcy court. In re Columbia Hotel Co. of …

Trusts - Spendthrift Trusts - Beneficial Interest Held Not Attachable To Make Good Liability As Trustee, W. Wallace Kent

Michigan Law Review

Janet Jones was an inactive trustee and one of the beneficiaries of a spendthrift trust. Because of lack of good judgment on the part of her co-trustee, and without any moral fault on her part, Janet was charged with liability for a large sum. Her surety, who paid the succeeding trustee, took an assignment of the rights of the trust estate against Janet Jones and demanded that the trustee pay to it all the income, past, present and future, which the trust instrument gave to such beneficiary. The trustee brought this action for instructions. Held, as the trust estate …

Corporations - Reorganization- Fair And Equitable Plan, G. Randall Price

Michigan Law Review

Both section 77 B of the federal Bankruptcy Act and chapter X of the Chandler Act provide that the judge shall find the plan of reorganization to be "fair and equitable" before he approves it. This and similar expressions had acquired a well-recognized content in equity reorganization before the statutes were enacted. Congress probably intended to enact the Boyd case rule. Several lower court decisions have expressed doubt as to just what the phrase "fair and equitable" means under the federal Bankruptcy Act. To find the meaning of the phrase "fair and equitable," it is necessary to look back to …

Taxation - Federal Income Tax - Distinction Between Sale And Tax Exempt Reorganization Under Section 112, Henry J. Merry

Michigan Law Review

The recent Supreme Court decision in Le Tulle v. Scofield, disapproving the views of four out of five circuit courts of appeals, appears to add a new and more specific requirement to the already complex law on the subject of statutory reorganization under the Revenue Act of 1928 -- that the consideration received by the transferor corporation include some stock of the transferee corporation. In the subject case, the Gulf Coast Irrigation Company transferred substantially all its assets to the Gulf Coast Water Company in exchange for $50,000 in cash and $750,000 in mortgage bonds, four-fifths of which matured …