In the Matter of Charles H. And Betty W. Sporleder, Bankrupts v. Stanley M. Swaine, Trustee

The Referee in Bankruptcy ordered the bankrupts to turn over certain assets to the trustee which the bankrupts contended were proceeds from personal earnings after bankruptcy pursuant to a contract of employment. The district court denied review of the referee’s or der and an appeal has been taken to this court. We affirm.

The appellants are husband and wife but the business transaction at issue involves the husband only who is herein sometimes referred to as the bankrupt. He had for many years been engaged in the food brokerage business acting as a sales representative for manufacturers of food and related products. The net income from this individual enterprise had decreased to the extent that in the latter part of 1967 he had to do something “to salvage myself.”

In early 1968 the bankrupt and one Ed Ryan entered into a written agreement as of January 1, 1968, which provided in part:

(Finding of Fact Number 9.)

Ryan testified in the bankruptcy proceeding that it was also his understanding that the bankrupt’s furniture and fixtures consisting of six or seven desks, two IBM typewriters, a calculator, an adding machine, a safe and other items belonged to him as a part of the…