Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co., 282 U.S. 734 (1931)

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Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co.

No. 72

Argued January 23, 26, 1931
Decided February 24, 1931
282 U.S. 734

CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. Upon an adjudication of bankruptcy, the title to and constructive possession of land belonging to the bankrupt and situate in another state vest in the trustee as of the date of the filing of the petition; jurisdiction to determine the validity and amount of a lien upon the land, and to decree the method of it liquidation, cannot be taken thereafter by a state court. P. 737.

2. When a suit to foreclose a mortgage on land was begun in a local state court after the owner had been declared bankrupt in the bankruptcy court in another state, and the trustee in bankruptcy, made a party to the suit, removed it, upon the ground of diversity of citizenship, to the federal court of the district in which it was brought and set up the bankruptcy adjudication, held:

(1) A valid defense, since the state court was without jurisdiction to proceed to foreclosure and sale, and the federal court, upon removal, had no higher or different right than the state court had had to interfere with the bankruptcy administration. P. 738.

(2) The trustee did not, and could not, waive the lack of jurisdiction in the state court by removing the case; because he was powerless to surrender the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of bankruptcy. P. 739.

District court reversed.

On certificate of a question of jurisdiction in a suit to foreclose a mortgage on land owned by a bankrupt. The suit was removed from a state court. This Court brought up the entire record from the circuit court of appeals, 281 U.S. 703.