In Re Newark Shoe Stores, Inc.

COLEMAN, District Judge.

The question here presented, which arises on petition of the managers of numerous chain stores operated by the defendant bankrupt companies, is whether these managers may claim priority in the bankruptcy proceedings for the repayment of money deposited by them with these companies, their employers, as a condition precedent to their employment as such store managers.

The material facts as disclosed by an agreed statement entered into between the trustees in bankruptcy and the claimants, are as follows: Each store manager — there having been about three hundred in all,…