Bryant v. Browning

576 S.E.2d 925, 259 Ga. App. 467, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 145
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 5, 2003
DocketA03A0571
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 576 S.E.2d 925 (Bryant v. Browning) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryant v. Browning, 576 S.E.2d 925, 259 Ga. App. 467, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 145 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Eldridge, Judge.

On June 24, 1996, Robert L. Browning (“Browning”) murdered William Roger Bryant. On that date he was arrested and jailed. On July 26,1996, while incarcerated, Browning transferred by quitclaim deed real property without any consideration to his wife, Barbara Merleen Browning (“Mrs. Browning”), leaving him only $60,000 in assets. Since July 19, 1974, the real property had been exclusively in the name of Browning and has been free of any liens or encumbrances.

Trade Mays Bryant, widow, individually and as administratrix of the estate of William Roger Bryant, deceased, brought actions for wrongful death and for funeral expenses against Browning and obtained a jury verdict rendered to judgment for $1,100,000. Then, Bryant brought this action to set aside the conveyance and for fraudulent conveyance against Browning and Mrs. Browning. All parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment; on September 16, 2002, the trial court granted the Brownings’ motion for summary judgment and denied Bryant’s motion for summary judgment. Finding that the trial court erred as a matter of law in failing to consider that the unliquidated claims of Bryant, which arose upon the homicide, may have rendered Browning insolvent at the time of the conveyance to Mrs. Browning, we reverse for jury determination of insolvency at the time of the conveyance.

1. Bryant contends that the trial court erred in failing to consider the claims arising from the killing as rendering Browning insolvent at the time of the conveyance without consideration to Mrs. Browning. We agree.

Tort actions for wrongful death and for funeral expenses arose [468]*468immediately at the moment that William Roger Bryant died.1 By statutory scheme in Georgia, the spouse or neárest relative to the deceased or the administrator, if no one was within the statutory relationship,2 was immediately vested at the time of death with the wrongful death claim against the tortfeasor causing death.3 Such wrongful death action constituted an immediate unliquidated claim against Browning, although he did not know who had the right of action, what the full value of the life of the decedent would be, or that someone would sue to collect upon such claim. See OCGA § 18-2-22 (3).4

[insolvency of the debtor is determined by ascertaining whether he retained sufficient assets to satisfy his obligations after the transfer [ ]. [Browning should have been aware that a wrongful death action would probably be filed] against him by which it sought millions of dollars in damages, and he did not retain sufficient assets[, i.e., $60,000,] to satisfy any award against him.

(Citations omitted.) Rolleston v. Cherry, 237 Ga. App. 733, 736 (1) (b) (521 SE2d 1) (1999).

By its specific terms, [OCGA § 18-2-22] applies to “creditors and others.” These “others” include plaintiffs with claims [469]*469against debtors “liable as tortfeasors, or otherwise for an unascertained damage to person or property, so far as fraudulent conveyances are concerned.” In 1895, the legislature put back in the statute the words declaring certain acts to be fraudulent in law against creditors “and others.”

(Citations, punctuation and emphasis omitted.) Id. at 735; see also Bonner v. Smith, 247 Ga. App. 419, 420 (1) (543 SE2d 457) (2000). Thus, whether the unliquidated claim made Browning insolvent at the time of transfer under OCGA § 18-2-22 (3) required no proof of intent to defraud, because the law presumes conclusively a fraudulent intent from such facts and circumstances where there was an indebtedness, insolvency, and no consideration for the voluntary conveyance. See Barclay v. First Nat. Bank of Polk County, 265 Ga. 744 (462 SE2d 374) (1995); Stokes v. McRae, 247 Ga. 658, 659 (1) (278 SE2d 393) (1981). An issue of fact remains for jury determination, whether in fact the unliquidated wrongful death claim at the time of transfer without consideration to the wife rendered Browning insolvent.

2. Bryant contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment under OCGA § 18-2-22 (2), because there existed no material issue of fact as to the intent to defraud creditors. We agree.

The trial court decided this case under OCGA § 18-2-22 (2), requiring proof of the intent to delay dr defraud creditors and knowledge on the part of the recipient of the conveyance, because both Browning and Mrs. Browning denied any fraudulent intent or knowledge of any wrongful death claim. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment under such subsection as well. This was a conveyance without consideration from a husband to a spouse giving rise to a refutable presumption of fraud.

When a creditor attacks a conveyance from a husband to a wife, slight circumstances may be' sufficient to establish the existence of fraud. The burden is on the husband and the wife to show that the transaction as a whole was free from fraud. And it is for the jury to say whether the husband and wife carried their burden in this regard.

(Citations omitted.) Dearing v. A. R. III, Inc., 266 Ga. 301, 302 (1) (466 SE2d 565) (1996); see also OCGA § 18-2-22 (2). When a conveyance without consideration to a spouse is made and when there exists a claim, the plaintiff does not have to prove insolvency and may establish knowledge on the part of the recipient by evidence showing actual knowledge or reasonable grounds to suspect that the conveyance was to delay or hinder the creditor. Dearing v. A. R. III, [470]*470Inc., supra at 302-303 (1), (2). This court on the similar facts and circumstances of a murder held that it was proper for the trial court to deny summary judgment on a fraudulent conveyance where the conveyance, had been by the husband, a murderer, to his spouse without consideration. Bonner v. Smith, supra at 421.

Decided February 5, 2003 Woodard & Butler, Jeffrey M. Butler, Greer, Klosik, Daugherty & Swank, Robert J. McCune, for appellants. Fowler & Wills, Samuel A. Fowler, Jr., for appellees.

Browning, a convicted felon, and his wife, who had a direct financial interest in retaining the property, both testified that they had no intent to delay or defraud any creditors and that they were not aware that Bryant might bring a wrongful death action at the time of the voluntary conveyance; their testimony was a matter of credibility for jury determination, since there existed issues of impeachment. See OCGA §§ 24-9-68

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Bluebook (online)
576 S.E.2d 925, 259 Ga. App. 467, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryant-v-browning-gactapp-2003.