Comstock v. Group of Institutional Investors et al. (335 U.S. 211)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 21, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 335 U.S. 211 · 68 S. Ct. 1454
- Docket
- No. 451
- Argued
- March 9, 1948
- Decided
- June 21, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson (R.H.)
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas, Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Jackson delivered the opinion of the Court. Since 1933 the Missouri Pacific, the New Orleans, Texas and Mexico Railway Co. and a number of affiliated railroad corporations have been in reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U. S. C. § 205. A second plan of reorganization, approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, was before the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Comstock then, in 1944, made objection to allowance of a claim of approximately 10 million dollars by the Missouri Pacific, one debtor corporation, against another, the New Orleans, which, during the 10 years of proceedings, had been unchallenged. The issues raised by his objection were severed from other problems of reorganization which do not concern us here. After full hearing the District Court made findings and wrote an opinion, In re Missouri Pacific R. Co., 64 F. Supp. 64, overruling his objections. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed. Comstock v. Group of Institutional Investors, 163 F. 2d 350. The issues of fact, contested in a long hearing, are not before us for review. Petitioner assured us, in support of the petition for certiorari here, that “there is no factual controversy before this Court” and “we assume the findings of the District Court. Our challenge is directed only to the legal import of these unchallenged facts.” Much of…
Excerpt of a 72,415-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.