Dowell v. Applegate

15 F. 419, 8 Sawy. 427, 1883 U.S. App. LEXIS 2033
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedJanuary 5, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 15 F. 419 (Dowell v. Applegate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dowell v. Applegate, 15 F. 419, 8 Sawy. 427, 1883 U.S. App. LEXIS 2033 (D. Or. 1883).

Opinions

Sawyer, J.

After a careful consideration of the pleadings, evidence, and arguments of counsel in this case, I have reached the following conclusions, which I shall announce without any elaborate discussion of the evidence, or the points presented.

I am not satisfied that Jesse Applegate, or the other defendants, had any actual knowledge of any defalcations of May, prior to the appointment of the investigating committee of the legislature in 1870, or at the date of the execution of the several conveyances sought to be set aside. On the contrary, the evidence largely preponderates in favor of the opposite conclusion. I think those conveyances were made and accepted in good faith, and without any intent to -defraud the state, or to evade the payment of any liabilities of Jesse Apple-gate on the official bond of May, subsequently developed, and on which the judgment sought to be satisfied was afterwards recovered. There 'was, then, no actual fraud in making the conveyances, and they cannot be set aside on that ground.

The conveyances bearing date in April, 1867, I am satisfied were executed in that year. They bear date in April, 1867, and have certificates of acknowledgment appended thereto, which purport to have been made in May of that year, a few- days after tlieir dates; and all the direct testimony is that they were fully executed and delivered as early, at least, as the dates of acknowledgment; and that possession and control were taken in accordance with the conveyances. Conceding them to be voluntary conveyances from a father to his children for the purposes stated by them, they were made before any of the defalcations under the bond of 1866, and before any indebtedness accrued thereby to the state; and Jesse Applegate at the time owed no other debts than those arising upon the official bonds of May, 1862 and 1866, upon which judgments were subsequently recovered. The indebtedness on the bond of 1862 was comparatively small, being something over $1,300. If the defalcations on this bond had already arisen, it was not known to the defendants, and there was ample property of Jesse Applegate left after these conveyances were [421]*421made to satisfy this liability, as it was, in fact, afterwards satisfied out of other property of Jesse Applegate, without even resorting to any of the property subsequently conveyed to his other children by the remaining conveyances now in question. That judgment having been fully satisfied, the liability upon which the recovery was had, arising out of defalcations under the bond of 1862, cannot affect the questions now involved, either as to the conveyance of 1867 or those subsequently made, conceding them to be voluntary.

At the dates of the several conveyances in 1869, and subsequently, I do not think Jesse Applegate had sufficient property left, after making those conveyances, to reasonably satisfy the liabilities at that time accrued and existing on the bond of 1866, which have since passed into judgment against him and complainant, Dowell, and been paid by Dowoll. Those conveyances made by Jesse Applegate of his rights to his children, I am satisfied were voluntary conveyances. The only consideration was a promise of the father to his several children that if they would remain at home with him, and work on the farm till they should, respectively, become of age, or marry, he would do by them as he had done by the older brothers— convey to them a part of his lands, putting them all upon an equality, without agreeing to convey any specific tract. This remaining with him was nothing more than they were bound to do under the law. They, therefore, neither gave nor promised any consideration. They remained, and the father simply fulfilled his promise, but the several conveyances can only be regarded in law as having been made upon consideration of love and affection—a worthy, proper, and lawful thing to do, when the father is free from debt, and able to do it without injury to third parties. But the law does not permit one to take that which really belongs, or ought to belong, to another, or is liable to satisfy another’s demand, and give it to his children upon the consideration of love and affection. Some of these children, in fact, remained until after attaining their majority; but there is no independent additional agreement shown by the evidence, by which they were bound to so remain. There was no further contract for service, or further promise on account of their further services. I think, therefore, that these conveyances were taken subject to the rights of creditors existing at the time; and that the interest in the lands of Jesse Applegate attempted to be conveyed, is liable to be sold for the satisfaction of the judgment in favor of the state, which Dowell has paid; and that Dowell is subrogated to the rights of the state as te one-half of the amount of the judgment paid by him.

[422]*422The conveyancé to CharleB Putnam, the grandson of Jesse Apple-gate, stands upon a different footing. He was under no obligation to serve Jesse Applegate, but he did continue in his service from 14 till over 21 years of age, on a promise made to him and to his father, some years before the execution of the official bond of May, 1866, that Applegate would convey to him a portion of land, in all respects, as he had done and agreed to do to his other children. This service formed a good and valuable pecuniary consideration, and the testimony shows that it was adequate to the value of the land. I think this conveyance valid as against the judgment now sought to be enforced. Jesse Applegate had only a life estate in the south half of the donation claim. The deed of Mrs. Applegate to her husband in the papers is not set up in the bill or pleadings, and is not relevant to any issue made. It cannot be known what defense might have been made to it, had it been alleged and relied on. It is not admissible, and cannot be considered. Mrs. Applegate’s conveyances to her children are, therefore, valid as to her interest; and those interests are not liable to be applied to the satisfaction of the judgment in question.

A question arises on the record as to when the indebtedness to the state attached as against Jesse Applegate and complainant Dowell in consequence of the defalcations of May. Was it as to each embezzlement from the moment the funds were respectively appropriated, or from a demand on the part of the state and a failure to pay over the fund ? Or at the close of the term when he failed to pay over on his retiring from office ? Or when the amount was judicially ascertained by the judgment in the suit of the state against May and his sureties ? These questions, though important, have not been argued by counsel, and no authorities have been cited on the questions. I do not see the bond in the record, but I suppose it contains the usual conditions in official bonds. If so, there must have been a breach at every time when May unlawfully appropriated the money of the state, as to the amount so appropriated, and I am disposed to think that this is the point of time as to each sum appropriated at which the liability or indebtedness of the sureties to the state attached.

Neither the state nor the complainant, Dowell, is entitled to any account of rents and profits of the lands from the dates of the several conveyances to the present time. Dowell has nothing in the land beyond a judgment lien, and this is neither a jus ad rem nor a jus in re, but simply a right to have his judgment satisfied out of the land. There is no trust in his favor, actual or constructive. Had [423]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 F. 419, 8 Sawy. 427, 1883 U.S. App. LEXIS 2033, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dowell-v-applegate-ord-1883.