Clark v. Reiniger

24 N.W. 16, 66 Iowa 507
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 11, 1885
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 24 N.W. 16 (Clark v. Reiniger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Reiniger, 24 N.W. 16, 66 Iowa 507 (iowa 1885).

Opinion

Eeed, J.

1. executioníeyy'forwant ?ugnuoiS“l£y" same'prop-1 peif' estop I. Plaintiff filed a reply, in which he alleged that after the executions came into defendant’s hands he levied upon the property in question, and retained possession of the same during one day, and that he then released the levy .and returned the property to plaintiff, and returned the writs to the office of the clerk, and that this was done after written notice of plaintiff’s ownership of the property had been served upon defendant, and he had demanded of tjie plaintiff in execution bonds indemnifying him against liability on account of the levy, and they had refused to give the same; and plaintiff alleged that defendant and the judgment creditors were estopped by these facts from again taking possession of the property on said judgments, and that they thereby forfeited all rights to claim the property on the judgments. On defendant’s motion this reply was stricken from the files, on the ground that the matters pleaded therein did not constitute an estoppel, nor did they avoid defendant’s claim, but w'ere irrelevant and redundant. This ruling is clearly right. On the failure of the plaintiffs in execution to give the sheriff indemnifying bonds, it was his right to decline to proceed further under the levy, and lie might properly restore the property to the person from whose possession it was taken. [510]*510Code, § § 3056, 3057. But the release of the levy and the return of the writs had no effect upon the judgments on whicli they were issued; nor were the rights or liabilities of the parties thereto affected in any manner by what was done. The plaintiff in the judgments had the right, on the return of the writs, to have other executions issued, (Code, § 3025,) and upon these writs any property belonging to the defendant in the judgments might be seized and sold in satisfaction of the judgments. If, then, the property in question belonged to E. M. Clark, or if it had been transferred by him to plaintiff in fraud of the rights of his creditors, the right of the plaintiffs in the judgments to have it seized on the second execution, and appropriated in satisfaction of their judgments, was not at all affected by the proceedings which were had under the former writs.

2. VRATOUí?iP’.eR7ey" tnde in cross-examination. II. Plaintiff was examined as a witness in his own behalf, and testified that he purchased the property of E. M. Clark, (who is plaintiff’s father,) and that he derived the ' 1 V means with which he made the purchase from the sa^e °*' a P’acf of land which he and his father jia(j owne(j jointly. On cross-examination he was asked whether, at the time he purchased the property, he did not have knowledge of certain judgments against his father, and of suits which had been instituted by the judgment creditors for the purpose of subjecting certain property to said judgments, and whether he supposed, when he made the purchase, that his father was solvent, and whether he did not know that his father’s personal property was covered .by chattel mortgages. Plaintiff objected to all of these questions, on the ground that they were not proper on cross-examination, were immaterial and incomjietent.

The objection was overruled, and jdaintiff was required to answer the questions. This ruling is assigned as error. Under the issue it was material to inquire as to the financial condition of E. M. Clark at the time of the sale; and whether plaintiff had knowledge of that condition when he made the [511]*511purchase was also a material inquiry. The materiality of the facts sought to be elicited by the questions objected to cannot be doubted, and we also think they were properly allowed on cross-examination. On his examination in chief, it is true, the witness had been examined only as to the transactions of the purchase of the property, and that in which he claimed to have obtained the means with which he made the purchase. But under an issue of this character a good deal of latitude is allowed in the cross-examination of the parties to the transaction in question, and they may be inquired of concerning matters which relate to the transaction, and which tend to show the motives of the parties in entering into it, even though no inquiry was made in the examination in chief with reference to them.

3._. eviott”éraud 0 ances°iSreievant: cross-examination. III. E. M. Clark was also examined as a witness for plaintiff. In his examination in chief he testified simply that he had no interest in the property in question, and that it belonged to plaintiff. On cross-examination he detailed the transaction of the saie of the property hy him to plaintiff substantially as plaintiff had done. Tie was then asked a number of questions with reference to a transaction between him and one Grove, in which it was claimed hy defendant that Clark purchased certain real estate from Grove, and had the title thereto conveyed to another son, who held it for a number of years, when it was sold, and the proceeds applied to Clark’s benefit. Plaintiff objected to these questions on the ground that they were irrelevant and immaterial; but the objection was overruled, and the witness was required to answer the questions, and his answers had some tendency to establish defendant’s claim with reference to the transaction. lie was also asked with reference to his interest in a certain farm which he occupied, but the title to which was held by a brother-in-law of his. Plaintiff objected to all questions asked the witness with reference to this subject on the same ground; also on the further ground that they were not proper on cross-[512]*512examination; but this objection was also overruled, and the witness testified that his brother-in-law had held the title to said farm for about eighteen years, but that he (the witness) had occupied and cultivated it during the time, and that he had an interest in it. Tie was not ashed any questions, however, as to the extent of his interest, nor was he asked to explain the object for which the title was placed in his brother-in-law, and retained by him. The objection urged against the questions with reference to the transaction with Grove is that the facts sought to be elicited are immaterial and irrelevant. The objection makes no question but that defendant, if he was entitled to prove the facts under the issue, was entitled to prove them by the cross-examination of the witness.

Defendant’s claim is that Clark procured the title to the real estate purchased from Grove to be conveyed to his son for the purpose of covering the property from his creditors. The question, then, which was raised by the objection is whether the fact that Clark, in the transaction with Grove, caused the property which he purchased from him to be conveyed to his son with intent thereby to cover it from his creditors, is admissible as evidence that the transfer of the property in question was made with a like fraudulent intent. It will be observed that the transactions are entirely distinct. The one with Grove occurred years before the occurrence of the one with plaintiff. They relate to different properties and were between different parties. The facts of the transaction between the witness and Grove were not relevant to the issues in the case. Nor were they relevant to the facts which were put in issue by the pleading. We think, then, that, under the elementary rule “ that the evidence must correspond with the allegations and be confined to the point in issue,” the evidence in question should have been excluded. 1 Greenl. Ev., § 50; Stevens, Dig. Ev., a. 1.

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Bluebook (online)
24 N.W. 16, 66 Iowa 507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-reiniger-iowa-1885.