In re Montgomery
In re Montgomery
Opinion of the Court
By THEODORE B. GATES, Register:
The facts in the case are as follows: Proof was made by James B. Olney, as attorney for Thomas Montgomery, on the 24th of March, 1869, upon three several notes, amounting in the aggregate to one thousand eight hundred and forty-five dollars and twenty-nine cents, which, with five hundred and fifty-four dollars and seventy-one cents interest, the creditor claims to be entitled to receive dividends upon. Two of these notes are for the sum of seven hundred and eight dollars each, and bear date October 19, 1853, and are made by Montgomery and Griffin. They are both payable to B. P. Cowles, or order, one nine months, and the other one year after date. The notes were not indorsed by the payee. The first note is dated April 1st, 1859, for four hundred and twenty-nine dollars and twenty-nine cents, payable one year after date, to Thomas Montgomery, or bear®:, and is signed by Henry B. Montgomery. About this note there is no question. Indorsements for interest are made from time to time, on these several notes, down to the 1st of July, 1864, but no part of the principal of either appears to have been paid. The two notes, dated October 19, 1853, were given on account of the sale of certain merchandise (not for money lent, as stated by the proof), by said Cowles to Montgomery and Griffin, who were then copartners, but who dissolved in the fall of 1854. Montgomery purchased the stock, and assumed the debts. Thomas Montgomery is the father of the bankrupt, and Griffin and Cowles were sons-in-law of Thomas. Cowles died, leaving his property, including these notes, to his widow, as part of his personal estate. Soon after the widow died, and these notes went to Thomas Montgomery, the present owner. Henry B. Montgomery swears that he had a settlement with his father in the fall of 1864, of all matters between them except the note of four hundred and twenty-nine dollars and twenty-one cents, and found a balance of nine hundred and sixteen dollars due to his father, and gave him a new note therefor, signed by himself alone, and this he thinks was in November, 1864.' That the old notes were not taken up, because his father desired to preserve them a short time, and hold them as memo-randa of the settlement, and that deponent has neglected to take them and cancel the same. Henry B. Montgomery was his father’s messenger to bring these notes with a power of attorney, to Catskill, and placed them in the hands of his father’s lawyer, to be proved in this matter. Indeed, he selected these notes from among the papers of his father, and delivered them to the attorney. Montgomery says he supposed the nine hundred and sixteen dollars was among them. It is a little curious that he did not examine these papers sufficiently to know whether they were the seven hundred and eight dollar or nine hundred and sixteen dollar notes, and it can hardly be credited that he should have picked out not only notes wrong in amount, but also in number, and carried them thirty-seven miles, and placed them in the hands of his father’s attorney for proof, and never have discovered his error. But further on in Montgomery’s affidavit, he says: That deponent, in the haste and confusion at
I cannot reconcile all these circumstances with the statement of Henry B. Montgomery, that he gave a new note for the balance due on the two old ones. If that had really taken place, why should his father have retained the old notes? The reason.given by Henry B. Montgomery is entirely unsatisfactory to my mind. The new note was all the “memorandum” his father required or could have wanted. If he had really given a new note in November, 1864, why should the payment of interest up to July have been indorsed on the old notes on November 1, 1864? If there was a settlement and a new note given in November, 1864, as Henry swears, for nine hundred and sixteen dollars, why should the above pote, dated on the 3d of that month, for one hundred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-one cents, “on settlement,” have been given? and why should the old notes of Montgomery & Griffin have been proved, if there was a note of Henry B. Montgomery’s substituted for them? I think Mr. Montgomery is confused in his recollection of these matters, and that_he is entirely mistaken as to the nine hundred and sixteen dollar note. If such a note was given, there seems to have been no consideration for it. The original notes were not surrendered, but were kept until this application was made to amend the proof. Considering the evidence which has been submitted upon this application, with a view to do exact justice between Thomas Montgomery and the other creditor of his son, Henry B. Montgomery, I am constrained to recommend that the application for leave to amend the proof of claim of Thomas Montgomery be denied..
Dissenting Opinion
The proper course by which to obtain the relief sought by the alleged creditor is not by an amendment of the proof of debt. The amendment sought relates to a new and different claim from any one of those embraced in the existing proof of debt The proper course is for the creditor to prove his newly-discovered debt independently. Then an investigation in regard to it can be had, on the application of the assignee, and also an investigation in regard to the two seven' hundred and eight dollar notes, and the due bill for one hundred and sixty-two dollars and seventy-one cents, and the claims which ought to be rejected can be determined on the examination and cross-examination, as witnesses, of the alleged creditor himself and the bankrupt, and Mr, and Mrs. Griffin, and all others who know anything of the facts. For these reasons the leave to amend the proof of debt is denied.' The clerk will certify this decision to the register, Theodore B, Gates, Esq.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re MONTGOMERY
- Status
- Published