Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/642

 G2£r rBDSBAt» BSPOSTBRi �The prima facîe caBemade agaînst the ven3ee here cannot be said to have been met by any evidence which, fairly con- Bidered, rebuts the pi'esumptiôn made by the law. It may be said that it is a hard case against Billings, because he bas paid the full value of the gooda which he obtained; but the supreme court has declared, as already stated, that he cannot escape by showing that he paid the full value of the property in ignorance of the insolvency of the debtors. �The bill was filed in this case in the district court by the assignee of the bankrupts, in the early part of 1871, to set aside the sale as fraudaient; and the prayer of the bill is that the sale to Billings be declared void by the order of the court, and that he be decreed to deliver the goods and fixtures to the assignee, and to account to bim for the value of such goods and fixtures as he may bave disposed of since the sale made to him. This is followed by the prayer for general relief. Answers were made by Billings and the bankrupts denying the allegations of fraud charged in the bill, on which issue was taken, and proofs; and the original records of the oase having been destroyed by the fire of 1871, were restored, and the case heard by the district court. That court, im- pressed, perhapsi by the fact that Billings had paid a full consideration for the goods, and the deniai by him of ail knowledge, at the time of the sale, of the insolvency of the bankrupts, dismissed the bill ; but I feel constrained, not- ■withstanding the apparent hardship of the case as to Billings, to dissent from the opinion of the district court. It seems to me that the sale cannot be sustained consistently with the express declarations of the bankrupt law, and the opinion of the supreme court as to a sale of this character. I think the proof is satisfactory that it was a sale made not in the usual and ordinary course of business of the debtors, and, there- fore, I shall reverse the decree of the district court, and hold that the plaintiff is entitled to a decree in bis favor as assignee of the estat©. ����