United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Fisher v. Whiton, 317 U.S. 217 (1942)

Fisher v. Whiton

No. 85

Argued November 16, 1942

Decided December 7, 1942

317 U.S. 217

Syllabus

1. The question as to when the period of limitations begins to run against a receiver's claim upon an assessment levied by the Comptroller of the Currency on stockholders of an insolvent national bank is a federal question, and, in the present case, the question was duly raised and preserved by appropriate exceptions and assignments of error. P. 317 U. S. 220.

2. It is within the authority of the Comptroller of the Currency to extend from time to time the date fixed for payment of assessments against stockholders of insolvent national banks. Nothing in the pertinent legislation, 12 U.S.C. §§ 63, 64, 66, 191, 192, prevents such extension. P. 317 U. S. 220.

3. The receiver of an insolvent national bank did not have a complete and present cause of action to enforce the liability of a deceased stockholder until the date finally fixed by the Comptroller of the Currency, after extensions of dates previously fixed, for payment, and, in this view, the receiver's claim against the stockholder's estate was not barred by §§ 8225 and 8604 of the Tennessee Code. Pufahl v. Estate of Parks, 299 U. S. 217, distinguished. P. 317 U. S. 220.

4. The desirability of closing decedents' estates speedily does not warrant limiting the power of the Comptroller of the Currency to extend the time for payment of an assessment against stockholders of insolvent national banks. P. 317 U. S. 221.

25 Tenn.App. 230, 155 S.W.2d 882, reversed.

Upon a petition for rehearing, an earlier order of this Court denying certiorari, 316 U.S. 691, was vacated, and certiorari was granted, 316 U.S. 707, to review a decree of an intermediate state court which affirmed a decree of the state Chancery Court barring, on the ground of limitations, a claim by the receiver of an insolvent national bank upon a stockholder's assessment. The highest court of the State denied a petition for a writ of certiorari.

Page 317 U. S. 218