Acom v. Ziegler

167 N.W. 461, 102 Neb. 410, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 68
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 12, 1918
DocketNo. 19975
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 167 N.W. 461 (Acom v. Ziegler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acom v. Ziegler, 167 N.W. 461, 102 Neb. 410, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 68 (Neb. 1918).

Opinions

Dean, J.

This is an injunction suit begun by 'Anna E. Acom, plaintiff and appellee, against George Ziegler, William G. Oondit, sheriff of Dodge county, and William A. Johnson; deputy sheriff, defendants and appellants, to enjoin them from advertising and offering for sale an 80-acre tract of farm land in1 Dodge county under an execution issued on a judgment obtained by George Ziegler against James D. Raitt, Gilbert A. Palmer, and Fred R. Acom, husband of plaintiff, on June 3, 1916, in the district court for Douglas county in the principal sum of $12,566.80 and costs of suit taxed at $149.10. The court found that plaintiff, “ever since the 29th day of March, 1916, has been the'absolute owner in fee” of the land involved in this action. The sheriff and his deputy and their successors were perpetually enjoined from advertising or selling the land for the satisfaction of' the judgment sued on. There was no finding nor judgment as to whether the land was or was not a homestead; The decree is silent on that point. From the judgment so rendered in favor of plaintiff, defendant Ziegler appealed.

Plaintiff in her brief contends: ‘‘ The plaintiff claims ownership of the said property by virtue of conveyances in writing executed before the rendition of the judgment, and founded upon a written antenuptial agreement and her marriage in pursuance thereof as the .consideration therefor.” Thé reference to personal property in the record is merely incidental. It is not involved in this action. •

Plaintiff was married to Acom on March 18, 1916. He was a bachelor of 46 years and she was 47 years of age and had been a widow about 2 years. A daughter [412]*41215 years of age, the child of her former husband, lived with her. Acom then owned the land in controversy and about $2,Q00 worth of personal property that plaintiff now maintains she owns. He was acquainted with plaintiff from childhood. Before her marriag'e to Acom, plaintiff and her daughter made their home with Ed Ives, a brother at North Bend, for whom she had been keeping house' for a little more than 2 years. Ed was married on September 8, 1915, and plaintiff testified that his marriage necessitated the procuring by her of another home for herself and daughter. When she married, Acom it appears that she had very little if any property.

Plaintiff’s petition charges that the Douglas county judgment obtained by Ziegler against Raitt, Palmer and her husband was “for damages on account of an alleged fraudulent transaction.” The transaction to which she refers in her petition was had between the parties in the early part of July, 1914, or about that time. She testified that she never heard of Ziegler, nor of the facts connected with the Douglas county suit for fraud, nor the judgment, until Ziegler undertook to have the 80-acre tract levied on. She says she married Acom mainly to get a home for herself and daughter. She also testified that she married him in consideration of a voluntary promise made by him to her that was afterwards executed by him, without requester demand by her, to convey to plaintiff all of the property that he owned,- namely, the 80-acre tract and all of his personal property, worth about $2,000. It appears from plaintiff’s testimony and from Acorn’s that he did not reserve so much as a dollar’s worth of his property for himself. All was gratuitously and voluntarily bestowed by him upon plaintiff that he might gain her hand in wedlock. And this too in the absence of demand or even request by her that he give to her any property. In support of her contention she produced the following two letters:

[413]*413“North Bend, Nebraska, Ang. 20, 1915.
“Mrs. Anna Hasting
Bolder Col
“Dear Anna Yonr most welcome letter received this morning’ I have some news for you your Brother Edd is going to be married some time in September I do not know the date yet, he told me he was going to give his Bride a deed to the house in town for a wedding present. Now I have not got a house in town but I will give you a deed to the 80 acre east of town for a wedding present. The place is rented for this year but we will get poseen the first of March but we will talk that over when you get home you let me know what train you will be on and I will meet you in fremont I can drive down any time You did not say how the Bolder friend were geting along I will close hoping to see you in a few days
“With Love Res.
“Fred R. Acorn.”
“'North Bend, Nebraska Sep 6 1915
“Dear Anna I would like to know for certain how I stand with you I wrote you a Bolder that I would give you the 80 acres east of North Bend if you would marry me now I will transfer .all my Personal Property So you see that all I can do. Pleas be reddy to give me a final Answer on the day of the Wedding a David City We have to start about 8 o’clock in the morning Its about 40 miles to David City
“With Love
“Fred R.' Acorn”

These letters considered together constitute “the written antenuptial agreement” for the transfer of the land in suit from Acorn to plaintiff, to which repeated reference is made in her brief as “being amply sufficient to comply with all the requirements of the statute of frauds.” She said that she received both letters in due course of mail within a day or two after their respective dates, the first one at Boulder while visiting there and the second at North Bend while she [414]*414was yet living at her brother’s home and at a time when Aeom lived in the same village and only two blocks away. No envelopes were produced. She said she carried the letters “in the front of her dress” until the envelopes were almost worn out and then destroyed them.

Plaintiff testified that her husband and her brother Ed were g-ood friends. Aeom testified that he called on her frequently at Ed’s home as a suitor. Living as he did in the same village and only two blocks away, we will not assume without proof that Acorn’s courtship would be any different from that which ordinarily prevails elsewhere under like circumstances. Without more extended discussion, it appears to us that both letters were fraudulently conceived and antedated by plaintiff’s husband in an attempt to bolster up a fraudulent transfer of his property. Apparently they were not written for an honest purpose, and in view of the record we decline to hold that plaintiff was an innocent recipient of either letter. Even if plaintiff in good faith contemplated marrying Aeom in consideration of the conveyance by him of his property to her, she was not therefore relieved from making such inquiry as a reasonably .prudent person would he required to make in an ordinary business transaction. Sufficient appears in the.record to have caused inquiry by plaintiff respecting the bona fides of the transaction on the part of Aeom, even though she did not have actual knowledge of the fraud. Following are some of the circumstances that indicate the conveyance was fraudulently contrived by plaintiff and her husband:

Aeom testified that he had a diamond ring mounted for plaintiff as long ago as July, 1915, and that on September 8, 1915, he presented it to her as a wedding ring.

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Bluebook (online)
167 N.W. 461, 102 Neb. 410, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acom-v-ziegler-neb-1918.