This United States Supreme Court case involved the assignees of John Stouffer, Andrew Hack, Thomas Sewall and James Wilkes Jr. The plaintiffs in error were the United States who argued that a judgment against Stouffer should be enforced against his assignees as well. The defendants claimed that they had no knowledge of any debt owed by their assignor when they accepted the assignment and thus could not be held liable for it. After much deliberation, the court ruled in favor of the defendants on grounds that an innocent purchaser or holder is not responsible for debts incurred prior to taking possession of property from another party. This decision established important precedent regarding liability for debts assigned to third parties without their knowledge or consent.

The United States brought a suit against Andrew Hack, Thomas Sewall, and James Wilkes Jr., assignees of John Stouffer. The case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1834. The majority opinion held that the assignees were not liable for debts incurred before they became such; however, Justice McLean dissented from this decision. He argued that when an assignment is made to secure creditors it should be considered as if the debt had been paid at once and therefore any subsequent assignments would be void because there would no longer be any debt due on which to make them valid. Furthermore, he asserted that even though an assignment may have been made with good faith intentions it does not necessarily mean those who are assigned can escape liability for prior debts since they must still answer for all obligations contracted by their predecessor in interest regardless of whether or not they knew about them beforehand.