Hodson v. Davis

43 Ind. 258
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1873
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 43 Ind. 258 (Hodson v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hodson v. Davis, 43 Ind. 258 (Ind. 1873).

Opinion

Buskirk, J.

By the original complaint in this action the appellee sought to recover a personal judgment against both the appellants, upon a promissory note executed by them to John W. Miller, and which by successive assignments had become the property of the appellee.

After the issues had been formed, the plaintiff asked and obtained the leave of the court below to file an amended complaint, and thereupon he filed a complaint in three paragraphs, which must be regarded as a substituted complaint.

In the first paragraph, it was alleged that the defendants, by their promissory note, of the 2d day of Feb. 1869, agreed to pay to John W. Miller the sum of one hundred and eighteen dollars, which note had been assigned and was due and unpaid, etc.; that at the time when said note was so executed, the defendants were, and still • are, husband and wife; that at such time Helen Hodson owned certain described real estate, in her own right and as her separate [259]*259property; that the note sued on was given for and in consideration of a certain horse, by the said Miller sold and delivered to Helen Hodson, and which horse was purchased and used for the sole and only use and benefit of the separate estate of the said Helen; and that the said David F. Hodson was at the time of such purchase and ever since had been hopelessly and notoriously insolvent.

The prayer of said paragraph was as follows:

“Wherefore plaintiff demands judgment that the said separate estate of the said Helen Hodson be charged with the payment of whatever is found to be due on said note as principal and interest, and also for the sum of fifty dollars attorneys’ fees as provided in said note, and that the rents and profits arising from said lands be applied to the satisfaction of said debt, and for any and all other relief consistent in the premises.”

The second paragraph of the complaint was the same as the first, except that, in the second, it was averred that the horse, which was the consideration of the note sued on, was sold solely upon the credit of the said Helen ; that by the execution of such note, the said Helen intended thereby to charge her separate, estate; and that'said Miller sold his horse and took the said note expecting and believing that the same would create a lien upon the separate property of said Helen.

The third paragraph was the same as the first, except that it was averred that David F. Hodson was the principal in the said note, and the said Helen was his surety; that the said David F. was and is hopelessly and notoriously insolvent ; that the said Helen was the owner in her own right of certain described lands, which she was engaged in cultivating; that she owned all the live-stock on said farm and received and appropriated to her sole and separate use all the products of the said farm; that the said David F. Hod-son was a mere supernumerary in the household and about the premises of the said Helen, acting as her agent in the -transaction of all her business and working merely for his [260]*260board and clothes; that the said horse was purchased for the purpose of aiding in the cultivation of the said farm of the said Helen, and ever since the purchase of said horse it had been used solely and only for such purpose; that the said Helen and her said separate property had been solely benefited by the said horse, and that when the said Helen executed the said note, she intended to charge her separate estate with the payment thereof.

The prayer of the second and third paragraphs of the complaint was the same as in the first.

The appellants demurred separately to each paragraph of the substituted complaint, but the demurrers were overruled, and they excepted.

David F. Hodson answered separately in three paragraphs. In the first, he attempted to defeat a recovery on the note, upon the ground that false and fraudulent representations had been made by Miller in reference to the horse for which the note was given. In the second, he set out a warranty and its breach.

The third was in denial.

The plaintiff replied in denial of the first and second paragraphs of the separate answer of David F. Hodson.

Helen Hodson answered separately in two paragraphs.

In the first paragraph of the separate answer of Helen, she admitted the execution of the note sued on, but averred that her co-defendant, David F., was the principal, and that she was the surety only; that at the time when said note was executed, she was and ever since had been the wife of her co-defendant, David F. Hodson; that the horse for which the note was given was not purchased for her benefit, or for the use and benefit of her separate estate.

In the second paragraph, she averred that at the time of the execution of the note sued on, she was, ever since that time has been, and still is, a married woman, the wife of her co-defendant, David F. Hodson, and that she signed the said note at the request of her said husband.

The plaintiff demurred separately to each of these para[261]*261graphs. The court sustained the demurrers, and Helen refusing to plead further, the court rendered judgment against her, and she excepted.

The matters in issue between the plaintiff and David F. Hodson were submitted to a jury for trial. The jury returned the following verdict:

“ We, the jury, find there is due the plaintiff on the note sued upon, as principal and interest, the sum of one hundred and twenty-one dollars and fifteen cents, and, also, that there is due the plaintiff the sum of twenty-five dollars as attorneys’ fees. John W. Burk, Foreman.”

The defendants moved the court for a new trial, assigning therefor various reasons, which' motion the court overruled, and they excepted.

The court thereupon rendered the following judgment:

“ It is therefore considered by the court that the said Simon C. Davis do have and receive from the rents and profits of the said separate estate of the said Helen Hodson the sum of one hundred and twenty-one dollars and fifteen cents, as principal and interest of said note, and also the sum of twenty-five dollars as attorneys’ fees in said cause, and that John H. Cochran be appointed a receiver, who in default of payment of said amounts by the said Helen Hodson shall take charge of said separate estate and retain the control of the same until the rents, issues, and profits thereof satisfy the sum so found to be due plaintiff as well as attorneys’ fees and costs herein, to which judgment of the court defendant excepts.”

The appellant David F. Hodson has assigned for error the refusal of the court to grant him a new trial.

We will dispose of this assignment of error before we consider the more important questions presented by the assignments of error of Helen Hodson.

The original and amended complaints are wholly inconsistent. In the first, a personal judgment was asked against both the defendants. In the second, the only judgment .demanded was one in rem against the separate estate of [262]*262Helen. We are of the opinion that the last complaint filed was not an additional, but a substituted complaint, and being such'the appellant David F. Hodson ceased to be a party against whom any relief was demanded.

All the proceedings subsequent to the filing of the substituted complaint, so far as they related to the said David F.

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Bluebook (online)
43 Ind. 258, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodson-v-davis-ind-1873.