In re Kellett
In re Kellett
Opinion of the Court
A creditor of the bankrupt objects to the bankrupt’s discharge, assigning the ground that the whole of the debt due this creditor was “created by fraud, embezzlement and misrepresentation while acting in the fiduciary capacity as provided by section seventeen of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 as amended,”' and alleging that this creditor, on June 13, 1908, had as surety for P. D. Kellett, Jr., guardian of Kan Yee, a minor, in a matter pending in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit,
The creditor’s objections have been argued orally, and in briefs, on the question of the bankrupt’s right to a discharge solely on the merits of the above facts. See Halliburton v. Carter, 55 Mo. 435 (1874); also Cromes v. Crome’s Adm’rs., 29 Gratt (Va.) 280 (1877).
A reading of the statute, section 17, makes it very clear that the objections are vain at this time, and do not entitle the creditor to an order denying the discharge. Section 17 has declared what debts are not to be “affected by a discharge,” and no order of mine could add anything to it: if this debt is “provable” and is “created by the bankrupt’s fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, or defalcation while acting as an officer or in any fiduciary capacity,” then the law ipso facto operates to except it from the discharge, just the same as it does in case of taxes, alimony, etc., specified in the same section. Moreover, it will be noted, as leading to this conclusion, that section 14 of the act, in specifying the facts for which the judge shall deny a dis
Let the petition for discharge be granted.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IN THE MATTER OF P. D. KELLETT, JR., A BANKRUPT
- Status
- Published