Daman v. Hunt

191 P. 376, 47 Cal. App. 274, 1920 Cal. App. LEXIS 394
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 30, 1920
DocketCiv. No. 2072.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 191 P. 376 (Daman v. Hunt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daman v. Hunt, 191 P. 376, 47 Cal. App. 274, 1920 Cal. App. LEXIS 394 (Cal. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

HART, J.

Plaintiff brought the action to quiet his title to certain lots in the town site of Howard, in the county of Los Angeles. Judgment was in favor of plaintiff for a portion of said lots and in favor of the intervener as to the balance thereof. Plaintiff prosecutes this appeal from that portion of the judgment which was in favor of the intervener, no question arising herein as to the other lots.

The complaint was filed on September 23, 1915-, and was in the usual form, alleging that defendant, Hunt, claimed some interest in the real property adverse to plaintiff. On February 16, 1916, H. W. Reynolds, as assignee in the matter of Jeremiah W. German, an insolvent debtor, filed a complaint in intervention.

The findings of the court present fully certain facts of the case. They are as follows: (2) That, on the thirty first day of July, 1888, Jeremiah W. German was the owner in fee and was in possession .of the lots in controversy; (3) that on said day said German filed his petition in voluntary insolvency in the superior court of the county of Los Angeles and that he was duly adjudged an insolvent; (4) that at a meeting of the creditors of said insolvent, Jacob Baruch was chosen assignee in said insolvency matter and duly qualified as such assignee; (5) That in the schedule attached to the petition of said insolvent was the real property involved herein; (6) that verified claims were filed against said insolvent estate to the amount of $4,907.09, which were duly allowed by the court and are now unpaid, except that there was paid thereon the sum of 7.1046 cents on each dollar thereof, received from the sale- of the personal property belonging to the insolvent; (7) that, on the 8th of September, 1888, the county clerk deeded said real property to the assignee, Jacob Baruch, and to his successor or successors in office; (8) that said assignee, Jacob Baruch, died about January 1, 1909; (9) that, about the 28th of February, 1912, the court, “without any notice to creditors or to anyone else interested in said insolvency proceedings, made the following order in said proceedings, to wit: ‘This cause coming on to be heard upon the application of Jere *277 miah W. German, the insolvent debtor; . . . for an order dismissing this action for want of prosecution, and it appearing . . . that no proceedings have been had therein for a period of more than twenty years, ... It is ordered that the said action be, and the same is hereby dismissed for want of prosecution’ ”; (10)' that on or about the seventh day of June, 1912, the court, “without any notice to creditors, or to anyone else interested in said insolvency proceedings, made the following order: ‘It appearing to the court’ that said order dismissing the action ‘was inadvertently made in this, that said order does not provide for the disposition of the undisposed property heretofore conveyed to the assignee’ of the estate of said insolvent, ‘It is therefore ordered that the said order of dismissal be and the same is hereby canceled and set aside and the court hereby assumes jurisdiction of said cause for the purpose only of taking such further action therein as may be necessary and proper in the furtherance of justice; and it further appearing to the court that there is certain real esate heretofore conveyed to Jacob Baruch as assignee in this cause . . . and that no disposition has been made of said real estate by the said assignee; . . . that by reason of the death of the said Jacob Baruch ... a vacancy exists and that there is no person qualified to act herein; . . . that no successor to said Jacob Baruch as assignee has been appointed and that by reason of the want of prosecution of said action the said assignor ... is entitled to a dismissal thereof and to a reconveyance of any undisposed of property herein; that said German has conveyed to one A. 0. Daman, by deed dated March 5, 1912, ... an interest in and to the said undisposed of real estate; it is therefore ordered that James H. Blanchard be and he is hereby appointed as assignee in this cause, without bond, for the purpose only, and he is hereby directed to convey to A. 0. Daman, as grantee of Jeremiah W. German, the undisposed of real estate heretofore conveyed to Jacob Baruch,’ ” etc.; (11) that on or about the 28th of February, 1917, said court vacated the portion of the last-above quoted order which appointed said Blanchard special assignee, and appointed H. W. Beynolds as assignee with bond of one thoúsand dollars; (12) that the said German gave a quitclaim deed, dated March 5, 1912, to A. 0. Daman, to the property in question; (13) that on or about the *278 seventh day of June, 1912, the said Blanchard, acting as special assignee, gave a deed to said property to said Daman, purporting to convey the title from the estate of said insolvent, “but the said James H. Blanchard had not qualified as said assignee . . . and never did qualify as such assignee, and no order had been obtained for the making of said transfer, save and except the order” set out in finding 10, “and no notice of sale had been given” or obtained, “and no sale had been made of said property, and no consideration for said deed passed to the said assignee, . . . and the estate of said insolvent and the creditors therein did not ... at any time receive any consideration for the said transfer of said property,” and no notice to creditors was ever given of the intention to make said transfer; (14) that the creditors first obtained knowledge of the making of the orders set out in findings 9 and 10 about the first day of November, 1915; (15) that, about the tenth day of June, 1912, A. 0. Daman gave to Frank P. Stedman a grant deed to said property, the consideration recited in said deed being one thousand dollars; (16) that, about the seventh day of September, 1915, Stedman gave to Daman a grant deed to said property, the consideration recited in said deed being ten dollars; (17) that in the account of the assignee, Jacob Baruch, filed July 9, 1889, said Baruch reported to the court that the real estate in question was undisposed of, for the reason “that the said assignee was unable to find purchasers therefor, and that upon the twenty-second day of July, 1889, this court audited and settled the account of said assignee.”

The points made by the appellant for a reversal are thus specifically stated in the brief of the respondent:

“1. That the demurrer to respondent’s amended complaint should have been sustained; 2. That there is no evidence to show that Jacob Baruch was ever appointed assignee or ever qualified as such in the insolvency proceedings of Jeremiah W. German, or that the property here involved was ever assigned to him, or that respondent was ever appointed assignee in such insolvency matter or ever qualified as such, or that the property in question was ever assigned to him; 3. That the findings of fact and conclusions of law do not support the judgment; 4. That the intervener could not make a collateral attack on the orders *279 made in the insolvency proceedings for the reason that the superior court when sitting as an insolvency court is a court of general jurisdiction; 5. That the order of dismissal made in the insolvency proceedings was a valid order and disposed of all of the interest which the assignee or creditors might or could have had in the property here involved and put the property back in Jeremiah German just the same as if no insolvency proceedings had been had; 6.

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Bluebook (online)
191 P. 376, 47 Cal. App. 274, 1920 Cal. App. LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daman-v-hunt-calctapp-1920.