Deering v. Holcomb

67 P. 240, 26 Wash. 588, 1901 Wash. LEXIS 692
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 13, 1901
DocketNo. 4048
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 67 P. 240 (Deering v. Holcomb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deering v. Holcomb, 67 P. 240, 26 Wash. 588, 1901 Wash. LEXIS 692 (Wash. 1901).

Opinion

The opinion of the court ivas delivered by

White, J.

In 1887, in Minnesota, the appellant recovered a judgment against George U. Holcomb and his father, S. Holcomb, for $445.66. On this judgment, on the 18th of November, 1893, in the superior court- of Washington, for the county of Pacific, judgment was recovered against said George H. Holcomb for $766.08, on which there was due and unpaid at the time this action ivas brought the sum of $1,142. Execution Avas not issued on this judgment until August 9, 1898, and it was returned unsatisfied September 13, 1898. This judgment has been renewed. Ida Holcomb Avas the wife of George H. Holcomb at the time said judgment was recovered against him in Minnesota, and lived there with him until April, 1886, when he abandoned her and their infant child and came to this state. In 1889 he wrote to the respondent, Ida Holcomb, that if she would come and live Avith him, he would never abandon her again, but Avould provide for, and make suitable provision for her and her child. Under this promise she rejoined her husband in this state in 1889. In 1889-1891, George U. Holcomb and respondent lived at South Bend, Washington; and George U. Holcomb was the general manager and a director of the South Bend Land Company, a corporation largely engaged in dealing in real estate and town lots. He Avas very influential in the management of the company, and Avas one of its promoters. In 1890 the value of the holdings of this company Avas $50,000, and on April 26, of that- year, [590]*590George U. Holcomb owned 699 out of 2400 shares of the capital stock of the company. On that day he surrendered to the company the said 699 shares, and there was reissued by the company in lieu thereof 399 shares to respondent, and 300 to said George H. From that time said respondent held and claimed to own said 399 shares, with the exception of one share, which she transferred to Mr. Stratton, who acted as her attorney from 1895 or 1896 in the affairs of the company. On July 5, 1893, George H. sold and transferred his 300 shares, except one share, to the First National Bank of South Bend. From March 2, 1891, to October 4, 1893, dividends on the capital stock of said company amounting to $201,300 were paid. The first three dividends amounted to $120,000, and the share of the respondent in this, as shown by the books of the company, was paid to her, and her share of the balance, as shown by the books of the company, was paid to George U., who was also paid the dividends on his own stock. In 1891-1893, George H. had on deposit, in his own name, in the banks of South Bend large sums of money, and, until the latter part of 1893, he was solvent,— had more than sufficient money to pay his debts. In April, 1890, certain lots were conveyed to respondent by the South Bend Land Company for the consideration of $1,500, as expressed in the deed, and the deed for these lots was recorded in the auditor’s office of Pacific county April 21, 1890. In 1890, while respondent and her husband were living together, there was constructed on this property a residence costing $6,000, in which George H. and the respondent resided until George H. left the state, in 1894. Various other lots in South Bend were conveyed to the respondent by the South Bend Land Company. The deeds for the same were recorded in the auditor’s office of Pacific county immediately after the [591]*591conveyances were made, generally at the request of the South Bend Land Company. Three of these deeds were recorded April 14, 1890, one August 8, 1891, one November 12, 1891, one September 4, 1896. " Lots in South Bend by another grantor were conveyed to respondent. The deed for the same was recorded in the auditor’s office of Pacific county on February 13, 1890. The residence of George TJ. Holcomh and wife was well and expensively furnished, the furniture being bought in 1890. In 1890 thirty-five shares, of the par value of $100 each, of the capital stock of the First National Bank of South Bend, were issued to the respondent, and the same were, in May, 1894, transferred to George TJ. Holcomb, who afterwards sold the same. In May, 1894, George H. Holcomb and respondent were divorced. The transfer of the bank stock was made while the divorce proceedings were pending, the said George H. then agreeing that all of the property mentioned in the complaint was the separate property of the respondent. The appellant was ignorant of the whereabouts of George H. Holcomb after he left Minnesota until October, 1891. When, in October, 1891, he found out that George H. Holcomb was at South Bend, he at once commenced efforts to realize on the Minnesota judgment and made arrangements with M. D. Egbert, an attorney at South Bend, to look after his interests, and since 1891 M. D. Egbert and Hewen & Stratton, attorneys at South Bend, under the employment of appellant, have been looking after the interest of the appellant in his claim against George H. Holcomh. The attorneys named were the attorneys who recovered the judgment in 1893 in the superior court of Pacific county. The present action was commenced October 18, 1898, by H. W. B. Hewen, Esq., of Hewen & Stratton, as attorney for the appellant.

[592]*592The appellant alleged in his complaint that respondent claims all of the above mentioned property as her separate property, and not as community property. This the respondent admits in her answer. The appellant further avers that, after the contraction of the debt on which the aforesaid judgment was recovered, George IT. TIolcomb and the respondent fraudulently confederated and conspired together for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the appellant in the collection of his said debt, and for the purpose of defeating and preventing its collection, by the transfer, without any consideration, of said property to said respondent, and that all of the aforesaid property, in pursuance of said conspiracy, was put in the name of the respondent, but that at all times George H. Holcomb was, and still is, the true and beneficial owner of said property. Appellant further alleges in his complaint that he was ignorant of the fraudulent agreement and the frauds alleged in making said conveyances until about July, 1897, and he has used and needed the time since July, 1897, in fully investigating the same. It is further alleged that he was ignorant of the whereabouts of said George H. Holcomb from 1887 until 1891, although he made diligent efforts to discover the same. The appellant prays that the aforementioned shares of stock in the South Bend Band Company, the real estate conveyed to the respondent, and the furniture and house, be charged with the payment of his judgment. The answer denies the frauds alleged, and alleges that the property mentioned in-the complaint was and is the separate property of the said respondent. [Respondent claims to have paid her husband in 1890 $1,000 for the 399 shares of stock in the South Bend Land Company, and for the five lots where the residence was erected; and she further claims that the other property was property purchased [593]*593with the dividends from the stock of the South Bend Land Company owned by her and — a small .portion of it —out of the allowance made for family support. She claims to have earned part of the money with which she bought the stock as a school teacher in Minnesota when she was abandoned by her husband, and to have received a part of it as a gift from her mother and brother. She further pleads that the debt upon which the judgment was recovered was the separate debt of George U. Holcomb, and not a community debt. She also alleged that in 1894 she was divorced from George H.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 P. 240, 26 Wash. 588, 1901 Wash. LEXIS 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deering-v-holcomb-wash-1901.