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Is a Licence an Asset in Bankruptcy ?

13th December 1935
Page 61
Page 61, 13th December 1935 — Is a Licence an Asset in Bankruptcy ?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

An Unusual Point Raised in the Successful Appeal of Mrs. M. Storry

I s a goods-vehicle licence an asset in bankruptcy? This question was raised at a sitting of the Appeal Tribunal, at York, last week, during the hearing of an appeal by Mrs. M. Stony, Rothbury Street, Scarborough, against the refusal of the Yorkshire Deputy Licensing Authority (Sir William Hart) to grant her an A licence for two vehicles. The case for the appellant was that the business was founded in 1922 by Mrs. Storry's mother-in-law, and was afterwards carried on in partnership by the mother-in-law and the appellant's husband. Ultimately, the partners filed their petition, but before this event occurred, Mrs. Stony applied for the transfer to herself of the licence for the two vehicles, and she began to run them under a short-term licence.

The vehicles were seized for rent, but later they were sold to Mrs. Storry, who, in the meantime, had hired two other vehicles to do the work. She claimed that the business was a continuous one, and that she was, therefore, entitled to an A licence.

Mr. B. de H. Pereira, for the London and North-Eastern Railway Co., one of the respondents, remarking that Mrs. Stony was the wife of an undischarged bankrupt, said that, although the application was made in the name of Mrs. Storry, it was perfectly clear the business was being carried on at the time by both Mrs. Storry and her husband.

Declaring that the goodwill of the business belonged to the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, for the benefit of the creditors, counsel alleged that the whole application was "an attempt to defraud the creditors by putting up the wile as the nominal applicant." If Mrs. Stony obtained the licence for the two vehicles, she was securing a valuable asset.

The chairman of the Tribunal, Mr. Rowand Harker, K.C., intervened. to • ask whether the licence was an asset in bankruptcy, and Mr. Pereira replied : "Very definitely."

Bought Goodwill from Receiver. Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for the other respondent, W. P. Newhanas, Ltd., Victoria Road, Scarborough, said that, after the Deputy Licensing Authority refused to grant the licence to Mrs. Stony, his client bought the goodwill from the Official Receiver. He argued that the applicant was no less a newcomer to the industry, because her husband was a haulier who had filed his petition.

Mr. E. Ould, for Mrs. Stony, submitted that, even if the appellant were regarded as a new applicant, she had complied with all the requirements of the Easton judgment, and on that ground she should be granted a licence. She had proved a goodwill of her own.

Announcing that the appeal would be allowed, the chairman said the Tribunal found that Mrs. aorty's application was dot, and could not be regatled as, an application for the transfer to her of the licence previously held by .the partnership firm. She was not a newcomer to the industry, and she had discharged the burden laid upon her to show that there were persons ready

and willing to employ her. ..


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