Fels v. Lueders
Opinion of the Court
The bankrupt had been engaged in putting up and selling “Maraschino” cherries. In the distribution among creditors of the assets of owners or operators of manufacturing establishments, section 2487. of the Kentucky Statutes gave to those who had furnished materials or supplies for the carrying on of the business a lien “upon so much of such property and effects as may have been involved in such business, and all the accessories connected therewith.”
In Central Trust Co. v. Lueders, 221 Fed. 829, 137 C. C. A. 387, this court held the statute constitutional, and the bankrupt’s business that of operating a “manufacturing establishment,” and affirmed the order of the District Court adjudging the claim of Rueders & Co. a prior claim upon the property and effects of the bankrupt involved in its business. An application for writ of certiorari to, review that decision was denied. 238 U. S. 634, 35 Sup. Ct. 938, 59 L. Ed. 1499. As against general creditors, the liens of Leuders & Co., Nicholas & Co., and others similarly situated must be held established.
The present appeal involves only the claimed priority (over the liens for materials and supplies on the part of Lueders & Co., Nicholas & Co., and others similarly situated), of the asserted lien of Fels & Co. upon certain of the bankrupt’s running accounts receivable, created in the course of business, under a pledge thereof to secure loans of money.
The books of account were in fact retained by the debtor, who made, in the course of its business, all collections of assigned accounts, using the proceeds thereof in its business, as seems to have been contemplated, and rendering to the pledgees, usually at intervals of from one to two weeks (extending over a period of nearly seven months), new lists of pledged accounts and assignments thereof, accompanied by lists of “accounts released,” which covered accounts collected by the pledgor— the last list having been rendered but five days before the petition for adjudication of bankruptcy.
In disposing of the case, we assume that the transaction constituted a valid pledge of the accounts assigned as of the date of delivery of the various instruments of assignment and lists of accounts. We think it clear, however, that all the assigned accounts (thus including those embraced in the list furnished five days before bankruptcy) were “involved in the [debtor’s] business” within the meaning of the statute. They were surely so involved before they were pledged; they were never, in a proper sense, withdrawn from the' business; while in form there was an assignment, as matter of fact the assignment was merely a security, and was so definitely expressed in the instrument of assignment. Home Bond Co. v. McChesney (C. C. A. 6) 210 Fed. 893, 127 C. C. A. 552. Indeed, the attitude of Fels & Co. as creditors down to the end of the debtor’s business life is definitely admitted by their presentation and allowance, as a claim against the bankrupt estate, of the notes secured by the accounts receivable. In no view which can be taken of the case were the pledgees’ rights, in our opinion, any stronger than if, in place of a pledge of accounts receivable, there had been a mortgage of tangible personal property duly filed. In the latter case,
The order of the District Court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FELS v. GEO. LUEDERS & CO. In re J. RHEINSTROM & SONS CO.
- Status
- Published