Kelley v. Everglades Drainage Dist., 319 U.S. 415 (1943)
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Kelley v. Everglades Drainage District
No. 935
Decided June 1, 1943
319 U.S. 415
ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. The record in this case lacks the findings of fact which § 83(e)of the Bankruptcy Act and No. 37 of the General Orders in Bankruptcy require, and which are necessary to enable this Court to determine whether the plan under Chapter IX of the Bankruptcy Act for composition of the debts of a Florida drainage district discriminates unfairly in favor of a particular class of creditors. P. 417.
2. That only a very small minority of creditors have objected to the plan does not relieve the courts of the duty of appraising its fairness, and of making the findings necessary to support such an appraisal.
3. The nature and degree of exactness of the findings required in proceedings under Ch. IX depends on the circumstances of the particular case.
4. Where future tax revenues of a drainage district are the only source to which creditors can look for payment of their claims, considered estimates of those revenues constitute the only available basis for appraising the respective interests of different classes of creditors. P. 419.
5. In order that a court may determine the fairness of the total amount of cash or securities offered to creditors by the plan, the court must have before it data which will permit a reasonable, and hence an informed, estimate of the probable future revenues available for the satisfaction of creditors. P. 420.
6. Where different classes of creditors assert prior claims to different sources of revenue, there must be a determination of the extent to which each class is entitled to share in a particular source, and of the fairness of the allotment to each class in the light of the probable revenues to be anticipated from each source. P. 420.
To support such a determination, there must be findings, in such detail and exactness as the nature of the case permit, of subsidiary facts on which the ultimate conclusion of fairness can rationally be predicated.
7. In a Ch. IX proceeding, it is not the function of this Court to analyze the evidence in order to supply findings which the trial court failed to make; there must be findings, stated either in the trial court’s opinion or separately, which are sufficient to indicate the factual basis for its ultimate conclusion. P. 421.
132 F.2d 742 vacated.
Petition for writ of certiorari to review the affirmance of a decree confirming a plan under Chapter IX of the Bankruptcy Act for the composition of indebtedness of the drainage district. The writ was granted, and the judgment below was vacated.