Bettandorff v. Chronister

41 P.2d 337, 2 Cal. 2d 425, 1935 Cal. LEXIS 343
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 14, 1935
DocketSac. No. 4846
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 41 P.2d 337 (Bettandorff v. Chronister) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bettandorff v. Chronister, 41 P.2d 337, 2 Cal. 2d 425, 1935 Cal. LEXIS 343 (Cal. 1935).

Opinion

SEAWELL, J.

For a better understanding of the issues involved in this appeal it is necessary to state briefly the facts which constitute its background. On February 17, 1932, plaintiffs Bettandorffs instituted an action against appellant O. B. Chronister (husband of Erma Chronister, also appellant herein) and E. L. Hill for the recovery of certain moneys alleged to be due upon contract. Upon the filing of the action an attachment was issued, and to prevent the levying of said attachment one Jack Hill and J. E. Brown executed a joint and several undertaking conditioned that if said O. B. Chronister should fail to pay the full amount of whatever sum might be recovered against him, they would [427]*427pay the same. The case went to judgment on July 21, 1932, in favor of the Bettandorffs and against Chronister and E. L. Hill in the sum of $1147.46 and $40.95 costs. On July 23, 1932, execution was issued against the property of defendants in said judgment and was returned satisfied to the extent of $83.08. An alms execution was issued on November 23, 1932, which was returned partially satisfied to the extent of $220.35, leaving an unpaid balance on said judgment in the sum of $884.98 with interest from July 21, 1932.

Plaintiffs thereupon instituted this present action against the defendants Chronister and wife and Jack C. Mitchell to obtain a judgment setting aside a certain conveyance of real property made by said O. B. Chronister to his wife Erma, and also a certain mortgage of automobiles to said Mitchell, on the ground that said instruments were made for the purpose of delaying and defrauding plaintiffs, creditors of said O. B. Chronister, were without consideration, and were therefore void as to plaintiffs.

The action was dismissed as to Jack C. Mitchell. Judgment went for plaintiffs on the issue of fraudulent transfer, and it is from this judgment that the appeal is taken. Erma Chronister was by said judgment enjoined from transferring or encumbering said real property and from collecting or in any manner disposing of the rentals arising therefrom. The judgment also directed that all moneys resulting from the rentals of said real property since the institution of the action over and above the rentals which were not theretofore applied to the satisfaction of a certain promissory note, the payment of which was secured by a deed of trust executed on said real property, be applied upon the payment of plaintiffs’ judgment.

Negotiations for a settlement of the judgment followed its entry. On July 29, 1932, appellants herein applied for and were granted a stay of execution which continued until September 19, 1932, on which day it was vacated on motion of plaintiffs. On the thirteenth day of September, six days before the stay of execution expired, O. B. Chronister took steps to strip himself of all of his property, personal and real, by sale, deed and mortgage. The wife during this period filed a homestead on the family residence, situate in the city of Merced, valued by the husband at $4,000. He deeded to his wife his interest in the south half of lot No. [428]*42815, city of Merced, valued by him at $13,000, encumbered with a trust deed to the extent of approximately $3,200, and he gave notice of his intention to dispose of his meat market by sale to his wife, and other property. The values placed on the meat market by Chronister’s witnesses varied widely, from $4,000 to $8,000. Upon sale i't brought $554. Another parcel or lot of land of small value, situate in the city of Fresno, was conveyed by Chronister to his sister in settlement of an alleged preexisting indebtedness incurred more than three years before the transfer was made. The consideration for this transfer was claimed to be on account of said sister paying his portion of the burial expenses of his mother. Four auto trucks used in the butcher business were mortgaged by him to Mr. Mitchell, his wife’s sister’s husband. The consideration therefor was claimed at the outset to have been the cancellation of a preexisting indebtedness in the sum of $3,000. An investigation of the account showed that said alleged indebtedness could not have exceeded $1,000. This amount was accepted by Mr. Mitchell in full.

The consideration for the conveyance made to the wife was alleged to have consisted of moneys loaned her husband many years prior to the transfer sought to be invalidated, in two sums of $1,000 each. One of said loans was made some eight years before the conveyance and the other nine years prior to the execution of said deed. No promissory note or memoranda was made evidencing the transaction nor was any book of accounts produced showing its entry. The sum of $3,500, which constituted the balance of said consideration, was computed upon salary which her husband claimed he agreed to pay her for services rendered as his clerk and bookkeeper, at the rate of $5 per week for a portion of the period she was thus employed and $10 per week for the other period of employment. During her long services he had paid her but some $700 on account at various times, of which he had no record. The husband alone testified to this arrangement and the wife gave no testimony on the subject. All of these transfers and attempted transfers of real and personal properties to the relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Chronister were consummated on the same day, to wit, September 13, 1932, and during the period when the stay of execution was operative in defendants’ [429]*429favor. During this period all bills payable to Mr. Chronister, aggregating approximately $400, were assigned by him to the board of trade for the benefit of his creditors. If his sales and conveyances were permitted to stand for- said alleged past indebtedness, the greater portion of which was barred by the statute of limitations, there would have been nothing left for the judgment creditors. The meat market which was noticed for sale by Chronister, together with his other property, and upon execution issued, was afterwards purchased by his landlord and by him transferred to Mrs. Mitchell, Chronister’s sister-in-law, who continued to conduct the business. Chronister continued to run said business as her employee for a time thereafter.

Upon the foregoing facts the trial court found that said conveyances were made without any consideration passing from Erma Chronister to her husband, O. B. Chronister, and said conveyance sought to be set aside was made for the purpose of delaying and defrauding plaintiffs as creditors of O. B. Chronister, and that his wife accepted the conveyance with knowledge of the fraudulent intent of her grantor and with intent to assist him in the perpetration of said fraud. It further found that neither O. B. Chronister nor E. L. Hill, defendants’ judgment debtors, had at the time said conveyance was executed, nor has either since had or possessed, any other property than that so conveyed, out of which execution could or can be satisfied in whole or in part, other than already partially satisfied, unless said real property, fraudulently conveyed, can be applied to the payment of said judgment and said indebtedness will remain as to the balance wholly unpaid; that the issuance of another or alias execution would be useless and of no effect for the reason that neither O. B. Chronister nor E. L. Hill has any property upon which an execution could be levied unless said conveyance be set aside; that the equitable title to said real property attempted to be conveyed remains in O. B.

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Bluebook (online)
41 P.2d 337, 2 Cal. 2d 425, 1935 Cal. LEXIS 343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bettandorff-v-chronister-cal-1935.