DeWalt v. Doran

21 D.C. 163
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 7, 1892
DocketNo. 11,642
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 21 D.C. 163 (DeWalt v. Doran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeWalt v. Doran, 21 D.C. 163 (D.C. 1892).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Hagner

delivered the opinion of the Court:

This case was argued at a prior term of this court, which then reversed the decree of the court below, directing that the deed executed by the defendant Doran to the defendant Stewart should be set aside because of its fraudulent character. There was little doubt, as I understand, in the minds of the judges who sat in the case that the proceeding was an extremely suspicious one, and that the deed was; probably fraudulent, but they were not prepared to declare the evidence then presented was sufficient to require a decree to that effect.

The case has been heard anew at this term, and we have examined it with great care. Some matters not then presented or much considered have received further attention, and we have all come to the conclusion that the decree be[165]*165low was correct, and that the former judgment of this court ought not to stand.

The bill alleged that the complainant, on the 14th of November, 1888, recovered a judgment in the Circuit Court against Doran for $650 and costs; that a writ of fieri facias was issued on which only $66.98 was made on execution, and as to the residue the return of nulla bona was made; that Doran at that time was in possession, as he had been for a long time previous, of the land described in the bill; that, in November, 1887, after the suit at law was commenced, he had executed a deed of trust to the defendant building association, to secure $1,500 borrowed by him; that after the verdict had been rendered against him in the Circuit Court, Doran executed the deed of the property complained of to the defendant Stewart for the alleged consideration of $600; that Stewart took no steps to have the title of the property examined, as any prudent bona fide purchaser would have done; that Stewart was an intimate acquaintance and associate of Doran, and was well awar.e of the rendition of the verdict against Doran, and of the fact that Doran intended by that deed to convey the property with the purpose to hinder, delay and defraud the complainant in the collection of his judgment, and that the property was conveyed to Stewart upon a secret trust; that ever since the conveyance Doran has been in the possession of the property, using it as his own, and has been paying money to the building association upon the deed of trust which he had previously executed, and that the purpose of the entire proceeding was to defraud and cheat the complainant. The bill contained very searching interrogatories in the exacting terms of the older forms, demanding that specific answers should be made by the two defendants according to the best and utmost of their several and respective corporal oaths, and concluded with the prayer that the deed should be set aside as fraudulent.

THe dates are of importance. The suit at law, commenced on the nth of December, 1886, was an action for [166]*166false imprisonment brought by the plaintiff against -the defendant Doran. The defendant Doran in liis answer to this bill, in speaking of this judgment, declares he does not now owe, and never did owe, a single dollar to the plaintiff on that judgment, or in any other way; that the plaintiff’s claim was fictitious and he, the defendant therein, was altogether innocent of the charges therein made and should be so considered, notwithsanding the verdict found by the jury and affirmed by the court.

In less than a year after that suit was brought, and after issue had been joined and when a trial was imminent, Doran executed this deed of trust to the building association. There is no explanation given why he, who up to that time had been apparently in prosperous circumstances, should then find it necessary to encumber his property to the extent of $1,500. . On the 14th of November 1888, judgment was given on the verdict, and on the same day a motion for a new trial was interposed. It is particularly alleged in the bill, and appears from the evidence, that Doran procured a promise from the plaintiff’s counsel that no execution should issue on the judgment until the motion for a new trial should be disposed of and that motion was not decided until January, 1889; but just before that time, while the counsel were still withholding an order for an execution in compliance with their promise, they discovered that on the 28th of November, 1886, only fourteen days after the judgment had been rendered, this deed was executed to Stewart. The deed recited that in consideration of $600, in hand paid to Stewart by Doran, all the right and title of Doran was conveyed to Stewart subject to the charge upon the property of $1,500 due to the building association which Stewart stipulated to pay. That deed was recorded on the 30th of November, and on the 20th of February following the present bill was filed. Doran and Stewart neglected to answer, and a decree pro confesso was obtained against them in March. That decree was stricken out and their answers were filed on the 2d of April, 1887, to which exceptions were at once filed for [167]*167insufficiency in various respects. On the 8th of May counsel who had filed these answers, and who had defended Doran in the suit at law, withdrew from the case. Nothing further was done, although there was a motion made to compel Doran to employ new counsel, until June 1889, more than a year afterwards, when new answers were filed in their behalf.

When the case was before the .court at a former term much reliance was placed, as we see from the briefs, upen the assumption of fact that in the answers each of these defendants had sworn away the equities of the bill. An examination at the present hearing of the first so-called answers disclosed that they were never entitled to be considered as answers at all. The paper which was filed and relied on as the answer of Patrick Doran to the original bill we find was never signed or sworn to by Patrick Doran at all. It is signed and sworn to, in fact, by Thomas W. Stewart. The answer which is entitled and purports throughout to be the answer of Stewart in a similar way was signed by Patrick Doran, and professed to have been sworn to by him. The verification made by the defendants to the wrong papers is not in the form required by the 88th equity rule, but is as far from a compliance with its requirements as it is possible for a verification to be. It is perfectly plain there could be no indictment for perjury against Doran or Stewart on either of these answers, and that these papers were not answers at all. So far, therefore, from the supposed answers having sworn away the equity of the bill, it was not answered at all at that time.

It is stated, however, in argument by the counsel who now represent Doran and Stewart, that complainant’s counsel : agreed this, fatbal fault should be overlooked. The opposing counsel deny this was the understanding, but only admit that when the attention of the new counsel was called to this admission, accidental or intentional, they only said the parties might swear to them then, but not consenting to waive the objections . to their defects. We are for[168]*168bidden by our rules, to notice such verbal agreement. While it is possible the present condition of the papers may have been the result of accident, there is no allegation or proof that such was the case.

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Bluebook (online)
21 D.C. 163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dewalt-v-doran-dc-1892.