Godfrey v. White

69 N.E. 688, 32 Ind. App. 265, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 85
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1904
DocketNo. 4,267
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 69 N.E. 688 (Godfrey v. White) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Godfrey v. White, 69 N.E. 688, 32 Ind. App. 265, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 85 (Ind. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

Henley, C. J.

This was an action originally commenced by James B. White to revive a judgment entered in his favor in the Allen Circuit Court on October 25, 18^6. The judgment was on four notes executed to him by James E. Godfrey and Archange Godfrey, and for the foreclosure of four mortgages given to the said White by James E. Godfrey and Archange Godfrey, his wife, on real estate owned by the wife, whifch mortgages were [266]*266given to secure the/ payment of the above-mentioned notes. The mortgagors above named were the sole defendants in the action which resulted in the judgment and decree of foreclosure. This judgment remained dormant without any effort being made to collect it by execution or order of sale, until January 8, 1890, when this action was commenced 1;o revive it. Prior to the last mentioned day, Archange Godfrey died, and her heirs were made defendants to the action to revive, as were also all other persons who held liens on the real estate affected by the decree of foreclosure. After the action to revive was commenced, the original plaintiff, James B. White, died, •and John W. White, the administrator of his estate, was substituted as plaintiff. James E. Godfrey, one of the defendants, also died, and the administrator of said Godfrey’s estate and his heirs at law were substituted in his place as defendants in the action. It is shown by the complaint that James B. White, on February 3, 1882, sold and assigned twelve-fifteenths of the judgment rendered in his favor to twelve different'persons who were grandchildren of James E. and Archange Godfrey, assigning and transferring to each one-fifteenth part of the judgment, and that afterward eight of such purchasers sold and assigned their interests in the judgment to one Carrie S. Alden, and four of them, through their guardians, and acting under the order of the Allen Circuit Court, sold and assigned their interests in the judgment to James B. White, thereby vesting in White the ownership of seven-fifteenths of the judgment, being the three-fifteenths which he had not sold, and the four-fifteenths which he had purchased.

The appellants answered the complaint in three paragraphs. The first paragraph of answer was a general denial. The second alleged, in substance, that Archange Godfrey, deceased, who was the owner of the real estate described in the mortgages, executed them as security for [267]*267her husband, James E. Godfrey, and that she was not served with summons in the original action, and had not appeared thereto, and that the decree of foreclosure against her was void. The third paragraph alleged,, in addition to the averments contained in the second paragraph, that the said Arcliange Godfrey was an Indian; that she derived her title to the real estate so mortgaged by descent from one John B. Eichardville, to whom the same had been granted by the United States under a treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, of which tribe he was a member, and that the mortgages had been executed by her and her husband without the consent of the President of the United States, and that the execution of the same had never been approved by the President; and that the decree of foreclosure had been rendered without the court having jurisdiction of her person, by reason of her not having been served with process therein, and not having appeared to the action.

A reply of general denial was filed by the appellees. A cross-complaint was filed by Carrie S. Alden, in which the same averments were made, as constituting a ground for revival of the judgment, as were stated by the appellee "White in his complaint. The answers filed by appellants to the cross-complaint of Carrie S. Alden were, with the exception of the fourth, the same as were filed to the complaint of the appellee "White. The fourth paragraph of answer to appellee Alden’s cross-complaint averred that the assignment of the interests set up in the cross-complaint were procured to be made to her by Samuel E. Alden, her husband, and that he paid the only consideration that was ever paid the assignors, or either of them, therefor, by rendering services as their attorney in transactions between them and said Archange Godfrey in her lifetime, and the further payment by said Alden to each of them of the amount of $50; that said payments were made while the said Samuel E, Alden was acting [268]*268as their attorney, and that he took said assignments in the name of Carrie S. Alden without her having. paid anything therefor, and that the value of each of the interests so assigned was greatly in excess of the amount of the consideration so paid, and the value of the services so rendered; and that each of said interests were worth $800 in excess of the entire consideration received. There was a reply in general denial to each of the affirmative paragraphs of answer to the cross-complaint.

The trial was hy the court, and resulted in a finding and judgment for the appellee White and for- the cross-complainant Carrie S. Alden that they were entitled to a revival of the judgment, and an order of sale for the enforcement of the decree of foreclosure, and that execution issue thereon for the amount of the former judgment and decree, with interest from its rendition; and it was ordered that a copy of the original decree and of tho decree thus rendered be issued hy the clerk, and that the lands described in said decree, containing 320 acres, or so much thereof as might he necessary, he sold, without relief from valuation and appraisement laws, and the proceeds applied in the payment of the costs of the former suit and'of this suit, and of the amount of the judgment and decree so ordered to he revived, together with interest thereon from tho 25th day of October, 1876.

The principal question to be determined in this appeal is whether or not the trial court had jurisdiction of tho defendants in the suit wherein the original judgment was rendered. It is not, of course, denied hut that the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the action; hut the claim of counsel for appellants is that the judgment was rendered without the court having jurisdiction of the defendants, because it is asserted that the record does not show that any summons was ever issued iu the action wherein the judgment was rendered and served on the [269]*269judgment defendants, or that they appeared to the action in person or by attorney; and it- is contended that for this reason the judgment is void. We think the position taken by counsel for appellant can not be maintained, and that the judgment upon such a state of facts as is presented by the answers is, at most, voidable. It is not claimed that the record of the judgment discloses that the court rendering it did not have jurisdiction over the judgment defendants, but, at most, that the record on the subject of jurisdiction, or the acts necessary to confer jurisdiction, was silent. This being true, the firmly established rule must prevail, that where the record of a domestic court of general jurisdiction is silent, jurisdiction is presumed, and that where a court of general jurisdiction is cognizant of the matter in controversy' and of-the parties its decree is binding upon all other courts until it is reversed or set aside by a proper proceeding, and that it can not be attacked collaterally, and that it is conclusive as to all matters therein embraced, Bateman v. Miller, 118 Ind. 345; Anderson v. Wilson, 100 Ind. 402; Dwiggins v. Cook, 71 Ind. 579; McCormick v. Webster, 89 Ind. 105; Sims v. Gay, 109 Ind. 501.

In Castetter v. State, ex rel., 112 Ind.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Keybank National Ass'n v. NBD Bank
699 N.E.2d 322 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1998)
In Re Dunn
109 B.R. 865 (N.D. Indiana, 1988)
Vail v. Department of Financial Institutions
17 N.E.2d 854 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1938)
Sadowski v. Hubbard Steel Foundry Co.
193 N.E. 676 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1935)
Indianapolis Northern Traction Co. v. Long
127 N.E. 565 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1920)
Edwards v. Van Cleave
94 N.E. 596 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
69 N.E. 688, 32 Ind. App. 265, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/godfrey-v-white-indctapp-1904.