Armstrong v. Keifer

39 Ind. 225
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1872
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 39 Ind. 225 (Armstrong v. Keifer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Armstrong v. Keifer, 39 Ind. 225 (Ind. 1872).

Opinion

Downey, J.

This action was brought by the appellees, Augustus Keifer, Theresa Vinton, and John T, Warren, against the appellants, John S. Armstrong, Sarah C. Arm-' strong, and Robert M. Armstrong. The material facts alleged in the complaint are, that on the 13th day of July, 1870, the said John S. Armstrong and said John T. Warren, as partners, owned a drug store; that on that day, said firm purchased of the said Augustus Keifer and Theresa Vinton a bill of drugs, etc.; that in August, 1870, said John T. Warren sold out his interest in said stock of goods so owned by him and said John S. Armstrong to said John*S. Armstrong and said Robert M. Armstrong, they, the said purchasers, .agreeing to pay said debt to said Keifer and Vinton; that :said purchasers failed to pay said debt, and on the 5th day •of January, 1871, said Keifer and Vinton sued for the same, and on the 24th day of January, 1871, in the common pleas • of Hendricks county, Indiana, recovered judgment therefor against Warren, Robert M. Armstrong, John S. Armstrong, and one James H. Faught, who, in some way not shown, had become liable; that at the time of incurring the said debt to Keifer and Vinton, and at the time said Warren sold out his interest in the drug store, said John S. Armstrong was the owner in fee simple of certain real estate described in the complaint; that on the 27th day of December, 1870, said John S. Armstrong, combining and colluding with said Robert M. Armstrong and Sarah C. Armstrong, the wife of said John S. Armstrong, and with the intent and for the purpose of cheating and defrauding the plaintiffs out of their debt, the said John S. Armstrong and wife conveyed said real estate to said Robert M. Armstrong, and he forthwith conveyed the same to said Sarah C. Armstrong; that said conveyances were without consideration, and to hinder, delay, and defraud the plaintiffs and othe'r creditors out of their debts; that on the 25th day of January, 1871, the plaintiffs Keifer and Vinton caused an execution to be issued on the said judgment; that the defendants to said judgment are .insolvent, and, without the property so fraudulently conveyed, [227]*227they are wholly unable to pay said judgment. Wherefore, the plaintiffs ask the court to declare said conveyances fraudulent and void as to the plaintiffs, and to subject said real estate to sale for the payment of said judgment, and for general relief.

The defendants answered, first, general denia?; second, that the said real estate is not subject to sale, for the payment of said judgment, because it is the separate property of said Sarah C. Armstrong; that the money, with which it was purchased and the improvements made on it, was her separate money; that said John S. or Robert M. Armstrong has not, and never had, any interest in the same; third, the third paragraph sets up more particularly her acquisition and ownership of the land.

The reply was a general denial of the second and third paragraphs of the answer.

The issues were tried by a jury, and there was a general verdict for the plaintiff, and also answers to interrogatories submitted to the jury, at the request of the defendants, as follows:

1. Has John T. Warren any personal property subject to execution? Answer. Yes.

“2. Has James H. Faught any personal property subject to execution? Answer. No.

“ 3. Did the sheriff demand personal property in satisfaction of the judgment, which is the foundation of the plaintiffs’ suit, of either John T. Warren or James H. Faught? Answer. No.

“7. Did the defendant John^S. Armstrong promise to pay the firm debts of the partnership of Armstrong and Warren, at the time Warren sold his interest in the partnership property to Robert Armstrong ? and if so, what was the consideration of that promise? Answer. Yes; consideration, the sale of John T. Warren’s interest in the drug store to Robert M. Armstrong.”

Also, the following, propounded by the court on its own motion;

[228]*228“9. Did Robert M. Armstrong and John S. Armstrong, in consideration of John T. Warren’s retiring from the partnership, agree to pay the debt of the plaintiffs, Keifer and Vinton? Answer. Yes.”

A motion was made by the defendants for a new trial, for the following reasons:

. First. Because, on its own motion, the court wrote and propounded to the jury the above interrogatory number 9, without the request of either party.

Second. The verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence.

Third. It is contrary to law.

Fourth. The court erred in admitting the testimony of John T. Warren to prove the promise of the defendant John S. Armstrong to pay the indebtedness of the partnership of Armstrong and Warren to Keifer and Vinton.

Fifth. In rejecting the evidence offered by the defendants to prove what was said by and between the parties who executed the deeds which are charged in the plaintiffs’ complaint to be fraudulent.

Sixth. In refusing to instruct the jury as requested by the defendants.

Seventh. In giving charges five, six, and seven, as asked by the plaintiffs.

Eighth. In refusing to submit to the jury certain interrogatories asked by the defendants, and in striking the same out.

This motion was overruled, and the defendants excepted, but the evidence is not put in the bill of exceptions.

The defendants then moved the court to render judgment in their favor on the special findings of the jury; but this motion was also overruled, and they again excepted.

They then moved in arrest of judgment, on the ground of the insufficiency of the complaint. This motion, too, was overruled, and the proper exception entered.

The court then rendered final judgment on the verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, declaring the said deeds fraudulent and void, and the land subject to sale for the payment of the [229]*229judgment of the said Keifer and Vinton, and ordering the sale of the same.'

The errors assigned in this court present the following questions: First. Is the complaint sufficient? Second. Should the court have granted a new trial ? Third. Should the court have sustained the motion for judgment on the special findings ? Fourth. Should the court have sustained the motion in arrest of judgment?

We will consider these questions in their order.

First. The objection made to the complaint is, that the execution on the judgment was not returned nulla bona, before the suit was commenced, nor does it otherwise appear •that the defendants had no personal property subject to execution. The insolvency, etc., of the defendants to the judgment is alleged, which, if that allegation be necessary, is equivalent to a statement that they have no property subject to execution. But the rule in such cases as this, as laid down in O'Brien v. Coulter, 2 Blackf. 421, is, that to reach the equitable interest of the debtor in land, it is only necessary that the creditor should have obtained a judgment; while to reach personal property, both a judgment and execution are necessaiy. See, also, Kipper v. Glancey, 2 Blackf. 356, and Shirley v. Shields, 8 Blackf. 273. Much is said in argument about Warren’s being a plaintiff in this action, and it is suggested that the suit is carried on for his benefit.

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Bluebook (online)
39 Ind. 225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/armstrong-v-keifer-ind-1872.