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ARGUE PRIORITY OF CLAIMS
Three Closed Institutions in County are Now Awaiting Ruling.
A third St. Joseph county bank was added to the list of closed banks which are awaiting an important decision by the Indiana supreme court before paying dividends to depositors whose funds have been tied up in the institutions for several months. The petition by the Citizens Trust Savings bank, receiver for the Lakeville State bank. for permission to make blanket distribution of 10 cent, was blocked by objection by Union township and the town of Lakeville, whose total municipal funds make up two-fifths of the entire amount of deposits in the bank. Attorney Roland Obenchain, representing the and town, told Circuit Judge Dan Pyle that while the need their funds as well as the individual depositors, It was their decision await the supreme court's ruling concerning the priority of claims against closed He stated that the municipal funds in the bank total about $20.000 and that the entire deposits tal about $50,000. There is more than $5,000 ready for distribution by the receiver, which would release approximately $2,000 to the LWO government units and $3,000 would divided among the several hundred Due to this state of affairs and additional moving factor in the depreciation of the bank's assets, Mr. said, the municipalities are forced to oppose the pres. ent distribution and await the highor court's ruling. Receivers for the Franklin Trust company of South Bend and the North Liberty State bank signified some time ago that they are ready to make distributions of considerable amounts when the supreme court rules, Miss Ethel Weaver, receiver for the Franklin bank. stated that blanket distribution of 10 per could be made once should the supreme court that public funds do not hold priority over individual depositors. Should the municipal funds be given priority, Miss Weaver said. 20 per cent may be paid. St. Joseph county has about $44.000 tied up in the Franklin bank, while several townships also have smaller amounts in the closed bank. John G. Schurs, receiver for the North Liberty bank, said some time ago that sizeable distribution is ready to be made to depositors. but the Liberty township funds held in the bank make necessary await the supreme court's ruling. The matter has been before the high court for more than year and despite the fact that many receivers for closed banks throughout the state are awaiting ruling before releasing funds, the court justices have failed to make a decision.