E. R. Artman & Co. v. Truby

Citations

• 130 Pa. 619
• 18 A. 1065
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1075

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. When an agreement of composition with creditors stipulates that it shall not be binding unless signed by all the creditors except certain named holders of liens, it is incumbent upon the party setting it up as a release of their claims by those who sign it, to show that the condition on which they consented to be bound has been fully complied with.</p> <p>2. The fact that such agreement recites that the subscribers have little prospect of realizing anything on their claims and that the composition is made in order to secure something thereon out of the debtor’s property, will not justify the importation into it, by construction contrary to its express language, of an intention that other secured creditors than those named shall not be required to sign.</p> <p>3. The filing of a mechanics’ lien for work or materials furnished upon the order of the owner of a building, does not release the owner from personal liability for such labor or materials, or take away from the person so furnishing the same the character of a creditor, within the meaning of a stipulation for the assent of all the creditors of such owner to the composition agreement,</p> <p>á. When, in pursuance of such agreement, the debtor has placed property in the hands of a trustee for sale and distribution among the signers, one of these is not estopped from treating the agreement as void for non-compliance with a condition precedent, by his mere omission to give notice before the sale of the property that he would so treat it, although third persons have given releases of liens to enable the property to be sold.</p>