Baker v. Baker

296 F. 961, 54 App. D.C. 214, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3446
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 3, 1924
DocketNo. 3928
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 296 F. 961 (Baker v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Baker, 296 F. 961, 54 App. D.C. 214, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3446 (D.C. Cir. 1924).

Opinion

SMITH, Acting Associate Justice.

This is an appeal from a final decree dismissing plaintiff’s amended bill of complaint. It appears from the amended bill that Charles W. Baker and Effie I. Baker were married in September, 1912, at Chambersburg, Pa., and immediately thereafter took up their residence in Martinsburg, W. Va. There the husband purchased and equipped out of his own means a hotel, which in conjunction with a confectionery and restaurant business was thereafter operated by himself and wife. The moneys and profits derived from the hotel, restaurant, and confectionery business were deposited in bank to the joint credit and in the joint names of plaintiff and defendant.

From time to time the wife, without the knowledge of her husband, withdrew funds from the joint account and deposited them in her own name in a bank other than that in which the funds were originally placed. Subsequently she used the funds so withdrawn and redeposited, together with the additional sum of $7,680 advanced to her by her husband, for the purchase of certain real estate, the deeds for which were to be taken in her name and that of her husband as co-owners.

Charles W. Baker and Effie I. Baker continued to live together as husband and wife after their marriage, and until the purchase of said real estate had been concluded, and until after Tanuary, 1921, when the wife informed the husband that she had obtained a divorce from him and drove him from the family home. The husband sought to have an adjustment of their property rights, especially in the properties purchased by the wife in her own name, and paid for in whole or in part out of joint funds and moneys advanced by the husband, but the wife denied that he had any right or interest in any of the properties so purchased, and refused to make any adjustment. Whereupon the plaintiff commenced a suit in equity, designated as No. 39239, for the enforcement and preservation of his rights in the .properties purchased, and to compel a settlement and accounting by his wife. After the commencement of the suit, the wife threatened to kill her husband unless he dismissed his suit, but finally proposed that, if he would dismiss and discontinue his equity suit, she would complete the sale or exchange of property on Rhode Island avenue, paid for in part out of joint funds, and would thereupon pay fo plaintiff the sum of $3,000 in cash and employ him for the period of one year at $70 per month.

The plaintiff, in so far as the complaint discloses, freely and voluntarily accepted the proposition of his wife, and thereupon entered into an agreement in which she agreed to pay him the sum of $3,000 and to employ him for one year from the 20th of August, 1921, at the rate of $70 per month. In consideration of that agreement plaintiff consented to dismiss, and did dismiss, his equity suit upon the merits. According to the bill, and after the dismissal of the equity suit, the wife conveyed away all her right, title, and interest in the Rhode Island ave[963]*963nue property, and received to her own use the entire purchase price thereof. She refused, however, to carry out her agreement with the plaintiff, in consideration of which he had dismissed his suit, and refused to pay him the sum of $3,000, or any part thereof, or to employ the plaintiff as agreed. Wherefore plaintiff prayed for the appointment of a receiver for the properties purchased by Effie I. Baker, the discovery and disclosure by her of all property purchased by her out of joint funds, an accounting of the profits, rents, and issues thereof, the annulment of the decree dismissing the equity suit, and for such other and further relief as the nature of the case might require.

The defendant Effie I. Baker moved to dismiss the amended bill Of complaint on the ground, first, that said amended bill did not differ materially from the original bill; second, that the plaintiff, if entitled to any equitable remedy, was bound to seek it in the original equity cause, No. 39239; third, that there was no allegation in the bill of complaint of any newly discovered evidence, which could not have been discovered by the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time of the institution and pendency of the original action in equity No. 39239; fourth, that the subject-matter of the action as stated in the bill of complaint was amicably adjusted between the plaintiff and his wife, and that the subsisting contract fixed and determined the liability of Effie I. Baker; fifth, that the cause of action stated in the amended bill of complaint was prior to the filing thereof adjudicated by the decree of dismissal in suit No. 39239, and that there were no facts and circumstances averred in the bill which would warrant the setting aside of that decree; sixth, that the plaintiff had a complete and adequate remedy at law upon the contract of settlement as stated in the bill of complaint as amended; seventh, that it. did not appear from the bill that Effie I. Baker was insolvent at the time the decree was filed, or that she could not respond to any judgment which might be recovered-against her upon the contract of settlement.

The court below granted the motion, and dismissed the bill of complaint, upon the ground that the plaintiff was not without an adequate and complete remedy at law upon the contract in consideration of which he dismissed his original equity suit on the merits. From the dismissal of his amended bill of complaint plaintiff took this appeal, and now asks for reversal on the ground that the court erred in so ruling, and in holding that the plaintiff had an adequate and complete remedy at law. In support of the appeal and the assignments of error, it is contended, first, that the dismissal of the original equity, suit on its merits was obtained by fraud; second, that the consent decree in the original equity suit was nothing more than a contract between the parties, and that it may be avoided for fraud.

It does not appear from the bill that equity suit No. 39239 was dismissed under duress, or that the plaintiff entered into the contract of settlement because of the threats alleged, or because plaintiff feared bodily harm. The original equity suit was dismissed in consideration of the contract of settlement entered into between husband and wife, and because of the wife’s promise to pay to the husband the sum) of $3,000 and to employ him for one year at $70 per month. It is [964]*964alleged that that contract was made by the wife without any intention on her part to keep or perform it, and that it was made for. the Sole purpose of fraudulently and deceitfully procuring a dismissal of the original equity cause; but it is not alleged that the contract was executed under duress, or because of the threats made by the wife prior to its execution. As a general rule, actual actionable fraud is the concealment of a fact which should have been disclosed, or is the representa» tion of the existence of a material fact which did not exist. That representation must be positively made knowing it to be false, or recklessly and positively made without knowledge of its truth. The party to whom the representation is made must not only be warranted in accepting it, but he must actually accept it, and, relying on its truth, act as contemplated by the party making it. Ming v. Woolfolk, 116 U. S. 599, 602, 6 Sup. Ct. 489, 29 L. Ed. 740; Marshall v. Hubbard, 117 U. S. 415, 416, 418, 419, 6 Sup. Ct. 806, 29 L. Ed. 919.

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Bluebook (online)
296 F. 961, 54 App. D.C. 214, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-baker-cadc-1924.