Marks Ribbon Co. v. Pilsbury
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from an order in fav- or of the appellee, the trustee of the estate of Philip Da Costa, a bankrupt, who attacked as voidable preferences two payments made by the bankrupt to the appellant, Marks Ribbon Company, a partnership, one of $500, made on February 20, 1918, by means of a certified check of the bankrupt, and the other made on February 21, 1918, by the bankrupt assigning an open account for $1,553.28, dué to him from a mercantile firm .in New Orleans. The voluntary petition under which the bankruptcy was adjudged was filed on February 23, 1918. When' the payments were made, the bankrupt was indebted to Marks Ribbon Company, for merchandise sold, in the sum of $2,522.62; that debt not being due when the payments were made. The making of those payments resulted from insistent demands made on the debt- or by a member of the creditor firm.
The evidence disclosed that payment was demanded before the debt was due, because circumstances of which a member of the creditor firm was-apprised led him to believe that the debtor was dishonest, and was going to run away after converting, as far as possible, his assets-into money, with intent to conceal it from his creditors. On February 20th the creditor firm had its lawyers prepare a petition for a writ of attachment against the debtor’s property. That petition, which was sworn to by a member of the creditor firm, contained the following:
“Now your petitioner sliows unto this honorable court that the defendant debtor is about to leave the state permanently without there being a possibility, in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, of obtaining or executing judgment against him previous to his departure; and your petitioner further shows that the defendant has converted or is about to convert his property into money or evidence of debt with the intent to place it beyond the reach of his creditors.”
“A person shall be deemed insolvent within the provisions of this act when- ’ ever the aggregate of his property, exclusive of any property which he may have conveyed, transferred, concealed, or removed, or permitted to be concealed or removed, with intent to defraud, hinder, or delay his creditors, shall not, at a fair valuation, be sufficient in amount to pay his debts.”
The evidence adduced well warranted the conclusions that the appellant firm exacted the payments in question before the "debt owing, to it was due because it believed that there was danger that the debt,
It follows that the decree appealed from was not erroneous. That decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MARKS RIBBON CO. v. PILSBURY. In re DA COSTA
- Status
- Published