John O. England, Trustee of the Estate of J. J. Kimble, Bankrupt v. American Trust Company

The sole question presented on this appeal is: Is a creditor of a bankrupt estate entitled to reimbursement of his costs and expenses incurred in obtaining the refusal of the bankrupt’s discharge where the creditor did not first request the trustee of the bankrupt estate to oppose the bankrupt’s discharge and did not request or obtain authority from the referee to do so.

The facts are not in dispute. The bankrupt had given a financial statement to the appellee for the purpose of securing a loan. After examination in the bankruptcy proceedings, it appeared that such statement was in some respects false. Appellee thereupon caused specifications of objections to bankrupt’s discharge to be filed and after hearing thereon the referee refused to grant discharge.

Appellee did not, before filing such objections, either request appellant trustee to do so, nor did it seek permission from the referee to file such objections.

In the process of successfully opposing the bankrupt’s discharge appellee incurred an obligation for attorneys’ fees and costs, and filed its proof of claim therefor with the referee. Appellant filed objections for the allowance of such claim, which objections were…