Bell v. Radcliff

32 Ark. 645
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 32 Ark. 645 (Bell v. Radcliff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Radcliff, 32 Ark. 645 (Ark. 1878).

Opinion

Turner, J.:

This is a bill in equity brought by Thomas D. Radcliff as trustee, against W. F. Owens, as trustee.

It appears that in the year 1873, Tate & Faulkner, who were-cultivating a plantation in Lincoln County, made application to Sledge, McKay & Co., of Memphis, Tenn., for supplies to enable them to cultivate said plantation for that year. That to-secure Sledge, McKay & Co. in making them advances, they executed for their benefit a deed of trust bearing date the 22d of April, 1873, whereby they conveyed to M. Cheatham in trust for the benefit of Sledge, McKay & Co., all of one-half interest in all the cotton crop then being planted, and to be grown by the said Tate & Faulkner, and all their employees during that year on the plantation, more particularly known as the property of the Clay estate, and also all the interest that might accrue to Tate & Faulkner during that year in all the remaining one-half of all the said crop by advancing supplies, or otherwise, and also all the mules then on said plantation, and being used to grow said crop, making forty-three head in all, reciting further that said deed was made in trust for the following purposes, to-wit i That whereas the said Tate & Faulkner were justly indebted, or to become indebted during that year unto the said Sledge, McKay & Co., in the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars ($3500) for supplies already advanced, and supplies, cash and merchandize to be advanced during that year to enable them to raise and grow a crop on said plantation, all of which said indebtedness w;as due and payable on the first day of November thereafter; said deed of trust provided further, that in the event the said Tate & Faulkner should fail to pay all or any part of said indebtedness on the day it becomes due, then the said Cheatham, trustee as afoi’esaid, was thereby empowered to take into his possession all the aforesaid property, all the mules and crops, and after advertising the same for public sale twenty days at the court house door of Lincoln County, giving time, terms and place of sale, sell to the highest bidder for cash all the aforesaid property, and out of the pi-oceeds pay. first all cost of executing said deed, and apply the residue, so far as is necessary, to the payment of all of said indebtedness, and the remainder, if any, to go to the said Tate & Faulkner, or their representatives.

It further appears that at the same time another deed of trust was prepared and soon afterwards executed by Tate & Faulkner to Thomas D. Eadcliff, in trust for the benefit of Thomas 8. Tate for the same property embraced in the first deed, reciting that it is a second deed of trust and is in no manner to interfere with the deed given to Sledge, McKay & Co., and should in no manner be considered a claim until the said first deed should be fully satisfied, and was made in trust for the following purposes, to-wit: That whereas the said Tate & Faulkner were justly indebted to the said Thomas S. Tate in the sum of $4000 or thereabouts, the said Thomas S. being endorser on a certain note due from Tate & Faulkner to Lane, Moore & Co., and now held by the Merchants’ National Bank of Memphis, and being anxious to secure the said Thomas 8. as endorser on said note, the said Tate & Faulkner did for that purpose execute said deed of trust all of which said indebtedness was due the first of January, 1874, • and providing that if the said Tate & Faulkner failed to pay said indebtedness on the day it became due, then the said trustee was empowered to take into his possession all the said property and make such disposition of it as was provided in the first deed.

The said bill after setting forth the execution of the said deeds of trust, alleges that the said second deed of trust was executed and delivered with the full understanding of all parties, that Sledge, McKay & Co. should advance in the way of goods, supplies, etc., to Tate & Faulkner only to the amount specified in the first deed of trust, to-wit: the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars ($3500) and no more, and that under such agreement and understanding Tate & Faulkner executed and 'delivered, and the said Thomas S. Tate accepted the second deed of trust for the purposes therein stated, and that but for the said understanding and agreement the said apuellee would not have accepted and taken the second deed of trust. That Sledge, McKay & Co. advanced other sums in the way of goods, supplies, etc., above the sum of $3500 without the consent of the said T. S. Tate, and was a violation of the agreement between the parties and a gross fraud upon the rights of the said Thomas S. That Tate & Faulkner shipped and delivered cotton covered by said first deed of trust to Sledge, McKay & Co., to the amount of $4700, in the fall of 1873, it being more than was necessary to pay off and discharge said deed of trust. That W. F. Owen, as trustee under said deed of trust, had advertised for sale the 3d day of May, 1874, at the store of Taylor & Taylor, at South Bend, for ' cash in hand, thirty-seven of the mules on the plantation before mentioned, and about twenty bales of cotton, to satisfy a pretended debt under said deed of trust, when the same was actually paid off. That the said sale if permitted to be made, would cause great and irreparable injury to the said Thomas S. Tate, wherefore appellee prays that the appellant be restrained from selling or disposing of said property in any way.

On the 29th of April, 1874, the injunction prayed for was granted by the judge of the Circuit Court.

At the October Term, 1874, of the Lincoln Circuit Court, appellants filed their demurrer to the appellee’s complaint, assigning the following causes:

First — Because said complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

Second — Said plaintiff has as appears a full and adequate remedy at law.

Third — Said plaintiff has not made said Sledge, McKay & Co. parties to his bill, when by said bill they are necessary parties defendants.

At the April Term, 1875, of the Circuit Court, said demurrer was sustained by the court, and leave was granted the appellees to amend their bill.

And at the same term of the court, the death of W. F. Owens, trustee in the first deed of trust, having been previously suggested and shown, the cause was revived in the name of M. L. Bell, as trustee of Sledge, McKay & Co., and thereupon the appellees filed their amended complaint. And the said defendant M. L. Bell filed his answer to said complaint and amended complaint, and entered the appearance of the appellants N. R. Sledge, A. H. McKay and "W. M. Sledge, partners under the name and style of “Sledge, McKay & Co.”

The amended bill alleges, that on the 31st of March, 1874, "W. F. Owens, then trustee for Sledge, McKay & Co., commenced in the Lincoln Circuit Court, an action of replevin for the cotton and mules in the oi'iginal bill mentioned; that the sheriff of Lincoln County executed the writ of replevin by taking into his possession the said cotton and mules out of the possession of Thomas G. Tate and L. Guy Faulkner, against whom the action was brought; that said sheriff turned said cotton and mules over to the agent of W. F.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 Ark. 645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-radcliff-ark-1878.