John V. Farwell Co. v. Dickinson
John V. Farwell Co. v. Dickinson
Opinion of the Court
1. There is no provision in the law under which these ■proceedings were instituted (Gr. S. 1894, § 4249) permitting a creditor to share in the proceeds of the estate of an insolvent debtor,
2. By the second assignment the question is raised whether, upon the evidence, the petitioner is entitled to participate in the distribution of the assets, without filing a release, on the ground that the insolvent firm failed to keep books of account or records from which its true condition could or can be ascertained. Section 4249, supra.
The facts bearing upon this question are as follows: The insolvents, copartners, — two general, and one special, — commenced to do business about May 20, 1893. A short time before, for the purpose of raising money to put into the concern, as part of its capital, these general partners borrowed $4,000 at a bank, giving their joint note for the same. The firm opened an account at the bank, and on said May 20 had the sum of $15,050 on deposit, and in this was included the $4,000 borrowed as before stated. The account books kept by the firm contained proper entries as to this deposit; the deposit account, as it appeared in the ledger, debiting the bank in the sum of $15,050, May 20. From day to day deposits were made, so that up to June 24 the total deposits, as shown by the ledger, had been $17,214.24. At this time two items only appeared on the credit side of the deposit account in the ledger, one of date May 31, for $1,882.87, the other of date June 23, for $10,136.34; a total credit to the bank of $12,019.21, the-balance on deposit being $5,195.03,. according to these figures. The firm kept a cash book, and, while its contents are not before us, we must assume from the statements of the bookkeeper, who testified that it was correctly kept, that, as to the balance in the bank, it corresponded with the ledger. It is obvious that the firm books disclosed the0 true state of this deposit account, and showed that on June 23 the firm had in the bank a trifle less than $5,200. Now, as a matter of fact, one of the general partners paid the joint note on June 23 by a firm check, thus applying $4,000 of the firm cash on hand to the liquidation of a debt incurred by the general partners, and the amount of this check was included in the total of $10,136.34 credited to the bank in the ledger account' of the date last mentioned. In passing, we remark that
Order affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- JOHN V. FARWELL COMPANY v. FRANK E. DICKINSON and Others
- Status
- Published