In re Benjamin

Citations

• 140 F. 320
• 1905 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90

Syllabus

<p>1. Frauds, Statute of — Parol Sale of Standing Timber.</p> <p>A sale by parol of standing timber, to be immediately cut, is good in law.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see vol. 23, Cent. Dig. Frauds, Statute of, § 86.]</p> <p>2. Bankruptcy — Injunction—Right of Referee to Award.</p> <p>The right of a referee to award an injunction cannot be regarded as finally settled. But where, on an application for an injunction, the parties have gone before the referee and submitted the question at issue between them, inasmuch as it might have been referred to him by the court in the first instance, this will be regarded as an equivalent by which the parties are bound.</p> <p>3. Same — Fraudulent Sale of Property by Bankrupt — Purchaser How Affected.</p> <p>Up to the moment of bankruptcy a party may make a valid disposition of his property, where it is done for a fair consideration and with an honest motive; and even where there is a fraudulent intent, in order to affect the purchaser, collusion must be shown.</p> <p>4. Same.</p> <p>Where, on a sale of standing timber to be immediately cut, it was shown that the price was inadequate; that the sale was made when the bankrupt was under execution, and had the effect of taking away that much from the value of the farm, which was heavily incumbered, to the known detriment of those who had liens upon it; that there was a secret additional price for the benefit of the bankrupt from that which was openly spoken of; that the purchaser paid almost nothing down, and at once stopped payment on a check given for the balance on a mere rumor of trouble, as though conscious of its possibility, and in the meantime was ' cutting down and taking off the timber as rapidly as possible — a decision by the referee that the sale was fraudulent will not be disturbed. '</p>