Supreme Court Dispute On Rejection Of Proof Of Debt

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 7

Supreme Court Dispute On Rejection Of Proof Of Debt

Mr Justice Richmond reserved his decision in the Supreme Court yesterday on a motion by Leo George Stopforth, a sawmiller, of Kokatahi (Mr P. P. J. McMenamin), to have the Official Assignee’s rejection of proof of a £l4O debt by Ernest Reid Cook, a scrap-metal dealer, of Hokitika, set aside. Mr C. M. Roper represented the Official Assignee (Mr O. T. Grattan). Mr McMenamin said that Cook had been adjudged bankrupt three times—on May 26, 1949, September 18. 1957, and November 30, 1960. He had been discharged from the first bankruptcy on September 2, 1955, but he had not been discharged from the subsequent bankruptcies. | Cook bought scrap iron from Stopforth in 1957, for which Cook owed him £l4O. Stopforth called at the Official Assignee’s office in November, 1957, and was told that the case was hopeless and that any action to recover the debt would be a waste of time. Mr G. Brown, the Official Assignee at the time, denied meeting Stopforth, but, said Mr McMenamin, it was true that at that time there was nothing in Cook’s estate. Full Dividend

A full dividend was paid later when Cook came into a legacy. In May, 1960, Stopforth’s wife told their solicitor that she believed a dividend had been paid, but the Official Assignee told the solicitors he could do little about the debt to Stopforth. Stopforth obtained a proof-of-debt form, but his claim was rejected early in 1961. The grounds of the rejection were that the debt was incurred before the previous bankruptcy, the proof of debt was three years out of time, and that the debt was outside the jurisdiction of the 1960 bankruptcy. Mr McMenamin said the

date the debt was incurred was of no significance, and he quoted an authority to show that assets obtained after the second bankruptcy by a man not discharged from his first bankruptcy belonged to the creditors of the first bankruptcy in preference to those of the second. On the lapse of time, Mr McMenamin said that special circumstances obtained, because Stopforth had been told there were no assets in 1 the estate. “Inference Disputed** M Roper said he disputed! the inference that an Official Assignee of Mr Brown's experience would have tried to influence a creditor one way or the other. Stopforth’s whole conduct suggested that he had no: pursued the matter with enough diligence, and he had not made out a case to cover the whole period of the long delay. If the proof of debt were allowed it should be on the terms that Stopforth be treated equally with the proved creditors of Cook’s third bankruptcy Mr McMenamin replied that he doubted whether the Court had jurisdiction to impose any special terms. His Honour said the most puzzling feature of the case was that, having been told there were no assets in Cook’s estate, Stopfortn should have sent his wife to make inquiries about Cook's whereabouts after a number of years.

Driver’s Appeals Dismissed Mr Justice Richmond, in the Supreme Court yesterday, dismissed appeals by Frederick Maxwell Singer, aged 42, a workman (Mr R. G. Blunt), against conviction on two charges of driving while disqualified on February 8 and February 9. His Honour said there was enough evidence in each case to identify Singer as the man driving the car. Singer withdrew his appeals against the sentence of two months’ imprisonment.