In re Hoag
In re Hoag
Opinion of the Court
It is not seen how a judgment against Hoag, or any one else, can be extinguished for some purposes, and not extinguished for all. The rights of a creditor of a bankrupt cannot be higher than the right of the trustee for those creditors as well as for the bankrupt. Logically, if the trustee cannot proceed against Hoag’s pension, no creditor of Hoag can do it. Therefore it is well to inquire why the trustee cannot so proceed. As was well held by Judge Hand, it is because the pension is not property of Hoag; it is a bounty or gift. The periodical payments only become property in Hoag’s hands when he actually gets money or money’s worth. The propriety of this holding seems to me plain when the language of section 1391 is examined. What according to that statute may be reached are “wages, debts, earnings, salary, income from trust funds or profits.” A bounty or gift is none of these things.
To me it is perfectly clear that under neither law has the creditor any right to proceed against Hoag’s pension, and the motion is denied.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- In re HOAG
- Status
- Published