Adams v. Wilhite

636 S.W.2d 851, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4805
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 8, 1982
Docket1532
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 636 S.W.2d 851 (Adams v. Wilhite) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Wilhite, 636 S.W.2d 851, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4805 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

McKAY, Justice.

This appeal is from a take-nothing judgment entered against appellant S. M. Adams, Jr., Trustee (Trustee) who sued appel-lee Maida Harris Wilhite (Mrs. Wilhite) to set aside a transfer of property to her from William J. Wilhite (Mr. Wilhite), who had previously received a discharge in bankruptcy. Appellee cross appeals, claiming that the trial court should have granted her collateral estoppel plea.

In 1971 Mr. Wilhite leased 188 acres of land in Nacogdoches County and began operating the Bill Wilhite Dairy upon it. The lease gave Mr. Wilhite an option to purchase the land.

On August 5, 1977, Mr. Wilhite married appellee. Prior to their marriage, they had orally agreed that appellee would purchase Mr. Wilhite’s dairy business. A handwritten document, dated July 28, 1977, reduced this agreement to writing.

On November 3, 1977, Mr. and Mrs. Wil-hite executed numerous documents pertaining to the transfer of the dairy business to Mrs. Wilhite. They both signed a formal “Memorandum of Buy-Sell Agreement” stating they had orally agreed on or about August 1, 1977, that appellee would purchase Mr. Wilhite’s dairy business. 1 In ad *853 dition to the Memorandum of Buy-Sell Agreement, Mr. Wilhite executed a Bill of Sale of personal property used in the dairy business, and assigned his interest in the 188 acre lease and purchase option to Mrs. Wilhite. Mrs. Wilhite executed a Financial Statement and signed two promissory notes totalling $149,661.14 which secured the indebtedness on the personal property and cattle.

In March 1978 Mr. Wilhite filed for bankruptcy. In April 1978 Mrs. Wilhite exercised the option to purchase the 188 acre tract of land. The Trustee, on September 7, 1978, objected to Mr. Wilhite’s discharge in bankruptcy alleging, inter alia, that Mr. Wilhite’s transfer to Mrs. Wilhite of the leasehold interest and purchase option was done with the intent to defraud his creditors. The Bankruptcy Court overruled the objections to his discharge and granted Mr. Wilhite a discharge in bankruptcy, finding that he did not intend to defraud his creditors.

On October 19, 1978, the Trustee filed suit against Mrs. Wilhite in State court to set aside Mr. Wilhite’s transfer of properties to Mrs. Wilhite. The Trustee alleged that, prior to August 5, 1977, and at all times thereafter, Mr. Wilhite was deeply indebted and unable to pay his business debts as they became due; that he owned certain real and personal property connected with his dairy business, including the 188 acre leasehold and purchase option; and that he transferred this property to Mrs. Wilhite on November 3, 1977, without fair or adequate consideration and with the intent to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors. The Trustee further pleaded that following Mr. Wilhite’s transfer of this property he remained in possession of the property; that Mrs. Wilhite knew of Mr. Wilhite’s intent to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors; and that at the time of Mr. Wil-hite’s transfer to Mrs. Wilhite he had no property subject to execution and that she also knew this fact. By trial amendment the Trustee limited his suit to seeking recovery of the leasehold interest and purchase option. The Trustee prayed that Mr. Wilhite’s transfer of this property to Mrs. Wilhite be set aside.

Mrs. Wilhite filed a plea in abatement, a general denial, and a special denial. She then filed a “Plea of Collateral Estoppel” alleging that the prior bankruptcy proceeding resulting in Mr. Wilhite’s discharge settled the issue of whether Mr. Wilhite fraudulently conveyed property to Mrs. Wilhite.

The trial court overruled Mrs. Wilhite’s collateral estoppel plea, and the case was tried before a jury. The jury found that Mr. Wilhite’s transfer to Mrs. Wilhite was made with the intent to defraud a creditor existing at the time of the transfer; refused to find that Mrs. Wilhite acquired the property with notice of Mr. Wilhite’s fraudulent intent; refused to find that the transfer from Mr. Wilhite to Mrs. Wilhite was not made for a fair consideration; found that Mrs. Wilhite had made payments on the purchase price of the 188 acre tract of land; found that these payments were made from her own separate funds; found that she had paid $18,080 as the purchase price of the land; found that she has made improvements on the land with her separate funds; found that she made these improvements in good faith and with the belief that the land was her separate property; and found that the enhanced value of the land was $35,000.

Based upon the jury verdict, the trial court entered a take-nothing judgment against the Trustee.

*854 We first address appellee’s contention the trial court should have granted her collateral estoppel plea because the bankruptcy court had previously ruled upon the same issue that was involved in the State court suit. Appellee raises this issue by a “counter point.”

The correct title for a point of error brought by an appellee appealing an adverse ruling of the trial court is a “cross-point of error.” The Basic Brief and Its Parts, in State Bar of Texas, Texas Appellate Practice Manual § 1.47, at 57 (1974). Rule 422 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, however, mandates a liberal construction of the rules governing appellate briefs. We, therefore, will consider appellee’s complaint concerning the trial court’s action overruling her collateral estoppel plea.

Whether the trial court acted correctly in overruling appellee’s collateral estoppel plea depends upon whether the prior judgment in the bankruptcy court decided the same issue as that presented in the subsequent state court suit. Windmill Dinner Theatre of Dallas v. Hagler, 582 S.W.2d 585, 586 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1979, writ dism’d).

In the bankruptcy proceeding the Trustee was seeking to deny the bankrupt a discharge in bankruptcy. To deny the bankrupt his discharge, the Trustee had to prove that the bankrupt actually intended to defraud a creditor. 11 U.S.C.A. 727(a)(2) (1978); In re Adlman, 541 F.2d 999, 1003-04 (2nd Cir.1976). The suit in state court was brought by the Trustee to set aside the bankrupt’s transfer of property to appellee. Setting aside a transfer of property is governed by Article 24.02 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code (Vernon 1968). It provides:

(a) A transfer of real or personal property, a suit, a decree, judgment, or execution, or a bond or other writing is void with respect to a creditor, purchaser, or other interested person if the transfer, suit, decree, judgment, execution, or bond or other writing was intended to
(1) delay or hinder any creditor, purchaser, or other interested person from obtaining that to which he is, or may become, entitled; or
(2) defraud any creditor, purchaser, or other interested person of that to which he is, or may become, entitled,

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Bluebook (online)
636 S.W.2d 851, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4805, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-wilhite-texapp-1982.