Gillespie v. Cooper

55 N.W. 302, 36 Neb. 775, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 158
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 26, 1893
DocketNo. 4794
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 55 N.W. 302 (Gillespie v. Cooper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gillespie v. Cooper, 55 N.W. 302, 36 Neb. 775, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 158 (Neb. 1893).

Opinions

Ragan, C.

In 1883 the appellant Sarah Cooper was the owner of lots Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, in block No. 124, in the city of Lincoln, and, together with her husband, the appellant Philip H. Cooper, occupied of said lots as a homestead Nos. 8 and 9. Mrs. Cooper was engaged in the mercantile business, and about October 1, 1884, failed, owing appellees debts contracted on the faith and credit of her property and business. On January 8, 1883, Mrs. Cooper conveyed by quitclaim deed said lots Nos. 8 and 9 to the State National Bank of Lincoln, to secure the payment of a debt she owed it. On January 7, 1884, she was still indebted in the sum of $4,500 to said bank, as an evidence of which said debt she executed and delivered to it her note due in sixty days, on which, prior to October of said' year, there were indorsed $1,300. At this date all these lots were incumbered by a mortgage of $3,500, held by one Bowles. On October 27, 1884, Mrs. Cooper and her husband, by a warranty deed, and for the expressed consideration of $5,200, conveyed to John R. Richards, then president of said bank, four of said lots, namely, Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7. This deed contained this clause: The party [778]*778of the second part, as a part of the purchase money of said premises, agrees to pay and have applied on a certain mortgage executed by the parties of the first part to one Kate Bowles the sum of $2,000, and which said mortgage also covers lots 8 and 9 in said block, and is to secure $3,500, and is recorded in book Y of mortgages, in Lancaster county, Nebraska. The balance of said mortgage, being $1,500 and interest, the parties of the first part are to pay, and if not paid and is enforced by foreclosure, said lots Nos. 8 and 9 are to be first sold and the proceeds to be applied to the payment of said balance of $1;500 and interest.” On the day of the execution of this deed to Richards the State National Bank executed and delivered' to Mrs. Cooper a quitclaim deed for the said lots Nos. 8 and 9 previously conveyed by her to the bank as security.

The deeds of Mrs. Cooper and husband to Richards, and from the bank to Mrs. Cooper were both recorded October 28, 1884. About this last date Mrs. Cooper and husband conveyed said lots Nos. 8 and 9 to one Hyde, and he at once conveyed them to appellant Philip H. Cooper, who thereupon gave his wife a written receipt, or paper reciting that he accepted said conveyance from Hyde in full payment of $1,300 before then loaned by Mr. Cooper to his wife, and agreeing to hold said lbtsas the.homestead of the family. It appears that this $1,300 was the money indorsed on the $4,500 note.

Some time after the date of the deed from Mrs. Cooper and husband to Richards he was succeeded as president of the bank’by one Brown, and at that time Mr. Richards conveyed said lots Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7 to him, Brown. About April 1, 1886, Mr. Brown sold and conveyed two of said lots, namely, lots Nos. 4 and 5, to one Patrick for $4,500; and, on April 14 of the same year, Brown conveyed to appellant Philip H. Cooper the other two lots, namely, lots Nos. 6 and 7, the consideration expressed in the deed being one dollar.

[779]*779The appellees brought this suit, a creditor’s bill, in the district court of Lancaster county, alleging their judgment's against Mrs. Cooper; that the debts on which they were based were contracted while she was owner of the record title of said lots Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and on the faith and credit of the same; her insolvency; that said lots Nos. 3 and 9 were of the value of $9,000, the homestead of herself and husband; that they had conveyed them to Hyde and caused him to convey them to Philip H. Cooper without consideration and for the express purpose of defrauding .the creditors of Mrs. Cooper. As to said lots 4, 5, 6, and 7, appellees in their amended petition alleged that on October 27, 1884, the appellant Mrs. Cooper was indebted to the State National Bank of Lincoln in the sum of $3,200, and to secure the payment of the same she and her husband conveyed all said lots to said Richards, president of said bank, and that it then was, and at all times prior and subsequent thereto continued to be, well understood and agreed by and between the said Coopers and the said Richards and the bank of which he was president that Richards received said deed and the title to said lots in trust only and by way of mortgage to secure an indebtedness of $3,200 from the said Sarah Cooper to said bank, and that upon the payment of said indebtedness, said lots should be reconveyed to the said Sarah Cooper or to such person as she might direct; or that in case said lots should be sold, that the bank should be first paid out of the proceeds of the sale, and the residue, if any, should be paid over to the said Sarah Cooper, or to. such person as she might direct.

Appellees further alleged that some time after that one Brown succeeded Richards as president of said bank, and that thereupon Richards conveyed said lots to Brown on the same terms under which they were conveyed to him by the Coopers, and that, in pursuance of the trust and agreement between the said Coopers and the said Richards [780]*780and Brown and the bank, in April, 1886, Brown sold of said lots Nos. 4 and 5 to one Patrick for a sum of money sufficient to pay the indebtedness of Mrs. Cooper to the bank, and did, with the proceeds of said sale, pay off and discharge Mrs. Cooper’s indebtedness to the bank; and thereupon, on the 14th of April, 1886, at the request of Mrs. Cooper, and with the intention to hinder, delay, and defraud her creditors, and without consideration, conveyed said lots Nos. 6 and 7 to the appellant Philip H. Cooper. The appellees further alleged that they had no knowledge of the facts set fortli in their amended petition as to the fraudulent intent and purpose of the conveyance of the lots by the Coopers until long after said conveyance. The prayer was that all of the conveyances, so far as the same affected said lots 6 and 7, be set aside, canceled, and annulled.

The answer of the appellants alleged that as to lots 8 and 9 they were conveyed to the appellant Philip H. Cooper, in consideration of the $1,300 which he had loaned his wife, and which she had paid on the note held by the State National Bank. As to lots 4, 5, 6, and 7, the answer alleged that the deed made by the Coopers of said lots to Richards on the 27th of October, 1884, was an absolute sale and conveyance of the property, and made in good faith. The appellants also pleaded the statute of limitations, viz., that the cause of action of the appellees accrued more than four years prior to the bringing of this suit.

The judgment of the court, found in the record, makes no disposition whatever of said lots Nos. 4, 5, 8, or 9. The court found and decreed, however, that the conveyance made by the Coopers on the 27th of October, 1884, to Richards of lots 4, 5, 6, and 7 was made to secure the payment of $3,200, then owing by Mrs. Cooper to the State National Bank, and in trust for Mrs. Cooper, with an agreement on the part of Richards that after the debt Avas paid the remaining property, or the proceeds of the [781]*781sale of tlie property, if it should be sold, should be returned to Mrs. Cooper, or to such person as she might designate; and that both the conveyance of October 27, 1884, of Coopers to Richards, and the conveyance of April 14, 1886, of Brown to appellant Philip H. Cooper, were made for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the creditors of Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 N.W. 302, 36 Neb. 775, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gillespie-v-cooper-neb-1893.