Henrietta M. Faucher, Etc. v. Dolores Knoll Lopez, Louise M. Giovannoni, and Joseph E. Hazel

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court following a directed verdict in a jury trial, adjudicating appellant to be a bankrupt. Joseph E. Hazel and others, petitioning creditors, filed an involuntary petition in bankruptcy against the appellant on May 14, 1963. She answered denying, among other things, that she was insolvent at the time the alleged acts of bankruptcy occurred, and demanded a jury trial on the issue. She was ordered by the referee, pursuant to Sec. 3(d) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 21 (d) to appear before him with her books, papers and accounts and submit to an examination and give testimony on the issue of her solvency. She appeared on August 16, 1963 but invoked the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution and refused to testify. Subsequently in 1963 the receiver appointed by the bankruptcy court filed a motion for an order requiring her to turn over all her books, records and documents to him as custodian of her property. She again refused and asserted privileges under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution as justification; a district judge ruled the books and records were privileged.

Similarly again in 1963, she resisted answering…