Acme Distributing Company v. John Collins

247 F.2d 607 ACME DISTRIBUTING COMPANY, California Beverage & Supply Co., and Young's Market Company, Appellants, v. John COLLINS, doing business as Stan's Stage Coach Stop, alleged bankrupt, Appellee. No. 15234. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. July 8, 1957. Craig, Weller & Laugharn, Thomas S. Tobin, C. E. H. McDonnell, Frank C. Weller, and Hubert F. Laugharn, Los Angeles, Cal., for appellant. Grainger, Carver & Grainger, Los Angeles, Cal., Patricia Hofstetter, Whittier, Cal., and A. O. Carver, Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee. Before LEMMON, CHAMBERS, and BARNES, Circuit Judges. LEMMON, Circuit Judge. In at least three recent decisions, 1 this Court has stressed the principle that a court of bankruptcy is a court of equity. If this pronouncement is to amount to more than a mere succession of words making grammatical sense, it means that the parties in a bankruptcy proceeding should act with uberrima fides. In other words, the participants in a bankruptcy suit are to be judged, to borrow the classic prose of Mr. Justice Cardozo, according to standards that are "stricter than the morals of the market place". 2 1 In the instant case, we do not believe that…