Mr. J. A. Tellier, of Little Rock, Ark., for petitioners.
Petitioners filed a creditors' petition under section 77B of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C.A. 207) proposing the reorganization of White & Black Rivers Bridge Company, a corporation. The debtor answered, seeking approval of the petition. Members of a bondholders' protective committee, holding bonds issued by the corporation, filed a response to the petition, alleging that it was not filed in good faith and asking that it be disapproved and dismissed. Petitioners replied. After allowing thirty days to afford an opportunity to ascertain the possibility of the submission of a feasible plan of reorganization, the District Court, upon hearing, dismissed the petition as insufficient to meet the requirements of section 77B.
The District Court allowed an appeal upon the giving of a bond and the appeal was perfected accordingly. The appellees moved to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that it was unauthorized by law as it had not been allowed by the Circuit Court of Appeals. That court granted the motion and the appeal was dismissed. We issued a writ of certiorari ( 299 U.S. 536 ) November 16, 1936.
Paragraph (k) of section 77B (11 U.S.C.A. 207(k) provides that the other sections of the Bankruptcy Act shall apply to proceedings under section 77B, unless inconsistent with it, and that 'the date of the order approving the petition or answer under this section shall be taken to be the date of adjudication, and such order shall have the same consequences and effect as an order of adjudication.' The effect of this provision is to make sections 24 and 25 of the Bankruptcy Act, as amended (11 U.S.C.A . 47, 48) applicable to appeals from orders and judgments entered in proceedings under section 77B.
The instant case is not one where the petition had been approved and the appeal was from a subsequent order denying an application to dismiss the proceeding or from an order confirming or refusing to confirm a plan of reorganization. See Meyer v. Kenmore Hotel Co., supra, 297 U.S. 160 , at pages 161, 162, 164, 166, 406, 407. Humphrey v. Bankers Mortgage Co. (C.C.A.) 79 F.(2d) 345, 349, 350. The appeal is from a judgment which disapproved and dismissed the petition and should be treated as in the same category as an appeal from a judgment refusing to adjudicate the defendant a bankrupt and hence as appealable under [300 U.S. 26 , 29] section 25(a). The Circuit Court of Appeals should have entertained the appeal and disposed of it upon the merits.
The order of the Circuit Court of Appeals is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.