Lowden v. Northwestern Nat’l Bank & Trust Co., 298 U.S. 160 (1936)

Lowden v. Northwestern National Bank & Trust Co.

No. 743

Argued April 3, 1936
Decided April 27, 1936
298 U.S. 160

CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. The Court will not answer on certificate questions unrelated to the pending controversy, or questions unnecessarily general, or questions which admit of one answer in one set of circumstances and a different answer in another, the differentiating circumstances being imperfectly disclosed. P. 162.

2. The question whether and to what extent a bank owing money to a railway and owning some of the railway’s bonds may be allowed to set them off in an action on the debt brought by trustees appointed for the railway in reorganization proceedings under § 77 of the Bankruptcy Act is not a question that can be answered on certificate without full knowledge of all the relevant particulars of the situation. P. 164.

Certificate dismissed.

Questions certified with relation to an appeal to the court below from a judgment, 11 F.Supp. 929, allowing a setoff in favor of the Bank, in an action by the trustees appointed for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company in reorganization proceedings.