People v. Cole
People v. Cole
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
Defendant was charged by information with grand theft, a violation of Penal Code section 487, subdivision 1. Defendant and all counsel waived a jury trial and the cause was submitted on the transcript of the preliminary hearing along with additional evidence and exhibits presented by the defense. Defendant was found guilty and a motion for a new trial was denied. The court ordered the defendant to undergo a 90-day observation period pursuant to section 1203.03, Penal Code. Following this period defendant was returned to the trial court, proceedings were suspended and probation granted. The appeal is from the order granting probation, deemed to be a final judgment. (Pen. Code, § 1237).
Defendant concedes that on a conflicting record there is substantial evidence to support the conviction of grand theft. His only contention on appeal is that the prosecution was collaterally estopped from presenting
By the prosecution evidence the following was proved: that defendant, an equipment dealer, took a used fork lift valued at $10,900
Defendant filed a voluntary bankruptcy proceeding. U.M. & M. was scheduled as a creditor. On March 29, 1967, at the first meeting of creditors, defendant was interrogated by counsel for U.M. & M. and Wilmington.
The criminal complaint (which led to the instant trial) was issued against defendant. After a preliminary hearing he was bound over to superior court for trial on an information filed January 2, 1968.
On January 24„ 1968, a hearing of the bankruptcy trustee’s objections to discharge was conducted. Our record consists only of the referee’s findings and conclusions and the Order of Discharge of Bankrupt. The findings indicate that the objection to discharge had to do with defendant’s maintenance of business records such as sequential invoices. The court found that defendant had kept sufficient books of account from which his financial condition and business transactions might be ascertained (11 U.S.C. § 32(c)(2)), and that the objectors had failed to prove business record inadequacy. From those findings the court concluded that there had been no offense or acts committed by defendant which would bar his discharge; that defendant had met the burden of countering the Specification of Objections to Discharge; and that he had satisfactorily explained all matters in connection with the objections.
The necessary affinity of interest which would lead the interrogators at the bankruptcy session to adequately substitute for the nonparticipating People (the practical type of privity which was found to exist in People v. One 1964 Chevrolet, 274 Cal.App.2d 720 [79 Cal.Rptr. 447]) is not present here.
Counsel for U.M. & M. and Wilmington did not have the same position or incentive in the bankruptcy proceeding as did the People in the criminal
Equally as important, the issue of false representation by defendant on the security agreement was not adjudicated or even litigated in the bankruptcy proceeding.
There is nothing in the record to indicate that a ground of objection was that defendant had committed an offense punishable under 18 United States Code, section 152 (making of false account in relation to- a bankruptcy proceeding)
Apparently the interrogation of defendant by counsel for U.M. & M. and Wilmington on the subject of the basis for his possession of the fork lift, the conditional contract, and the disposition of the funds received Was never pursued. So no intra-bankruptcy proceeding ensued on this subject and no adjudication was made with respect to it. The People should not be precluded from prosecuting defendant for that because U.M. & M. failed to file and press what might have been an appropriate objection to the discharge. Thus, no collateral estoppel of a reverse nature to that found in Teitelbaum Furs, Inc. v. Dominion Ins. Co., 58 Cal.2d 601 [25 Cal.Rptr. 559, 375 P.2d 439] (prior criminal conviction binding in later civil action) could pertain.
The decision of In re Bailleaux, 47 Cal.2d 258 [302 P.2d 801], cited by defendant is of no comfort to him because in that case the Adult Authority of California was party to both the earlier Washington State decision by which the subject’s probation had been terminated and the later proceeding in which it was sought to revoke probation despite the earlier ruling of termination.
The judgment (order granting probation) is affirmed.
Kaus, P. J., and Stephens, J., concurred.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied October 1, 1970.
At the outset of the trial defendant made a motion to bar the admission of all evidence to be offered by the People.
This and other amounts are given in round figures approximating the actual.
The standing of Wilmington, which apparently was not a listed creditor, as an interrogator is not made clear.
Defendant was not asked if he had signed the conditional sale contract.
In People v. One 1964 Chevrolet where the conviction of a son for possession of marijuana in his father’s car was held to have established the issue of knowledge in the succeeding vehicle forfeiture suit, the law that the entruster is held accountable for the entrustee’s knowledge created the close relationship and the son in the criminal action had the incentive and opportunity to adequately represent the father’s interest as a prospective defendant in a forfeiture suit.
As the Attorney General suggests, this does not seem to be pertinent.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.