Legal Subject: Trustee

Case Date Legal Subject Abstract
Ferrier v. Grant, and Others 1780 Trustee, Ranking and Sale, Title to Pursue This case was about the standing of an individual creditor to raise objections regarding a judicial sale, where a trustee had been appointed to act for the creditors' common interest. Thomas Fairholm and Adam Fairholm became bankrupt and conveyed their estate to Ludovick Grant, who was appointed trustee for the Fairholms’ creditors. All of the creditors acceded to this arrangement. Grant then obtained a heritable bond over lands belonging to Samuel Garbet, Francis Garbet, and Charles Gascoigne, who were Fairholm’s major debtors, and pursued a judicial sale based on that bond. However, Helen Ferrier, a creditor of the Fairholms, objected that certain lands had been omitted from the sale. In particular, Ferrier argued for the inclusion of lands to which Gascoigne had renounced his liferent rights after the proceeding commenced. In response, Grant and the other creditors claimed that the disputed lands were of no value. They also argued that Grant, as trustee, held all rights to the creditors’ debts and to the bond upon which the sale was based, and therefore that he was the only person entitled to take action on them. Similarly, they argued that only Grant, as pursuer of the sale, had standing to object to the omission of the lands. Ferrier responded that Grant held the debts and the bond for the benefit of the creditors, and that she, as a creditor, was also entitled to rely on them.
Wilkie creditors v. Wilkie 10 Mar 1802 Bankruptcy, Creditor, Trustee When Alexander Wilkie was declared under the bankruptcy process, John Hill was appointed as the trustee for all his creditors. At first, Mr. Wilkie denied to be insolvent, so he refused to comply with the trustee's instructions and asked for a second examination. (It seemed to be the first time that someone refused to obey an order from the Court regarding the bankruptcy act.) After a second examination, the Court granted a reasonable indulgence. However, Wilkie's creditors (Sir William Augustus Cunninghame of Livingstone, Boronet; James Chalmer, Esq. of Abingdon Street, London; Mr. George Wilkie, Merchant in Dundee; and Thomas Martin, writer in Edinburgh), submitted a petition to remove John Hill, the previously appointed Trustee for the bankruptcy process.
Wylie v. Duncan 8 Dec 1803 Bankruptcy, Deposition of land, Trustee In 1800, the pursuer granted some rights to Robert Archibald over certain lands in Glasgow. A considerable time after this transaction, Mr. Archibald fell into bankruptcy, so the trustee for his creditor, the defender, received Mr. Archibald’s properties, including the piece of land Mr. Archibald had received by pursuer. Pursuer brought an action to alter the interlocutors that included such land as a part of Mr. Archibald estate. He argued that the disposition over that land was not intended to be a sale, but rather, a security for a loan. Therefore, he was entitled to redeem the property upon payment of the credit. Trustee opposed the petition on the grounds that Mr. Archibald acquired the completed right of the land which is now vested in his creditors.