Hogan v. Piggott

56 S.E. 189, 60 W. Va. 541, 1906 W. Va. LEXIS 65
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 20, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 56 S.E. 189 (Hogan v. Piggott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hogan v. Piggott, 56 S.E. 189, 60 W. Va. 541, 1906 W. Va. LEXIS 65 (W. Va. 1906).

Opinions

Poffenbarger, Judge:

On the 10th day of October, 1905, the circuit court of Wood county dissolved an injunction, previously awarded to John Hogan, suing as administrator of the personal estate of Laura Layne, deceased, and as special commissioner, appointed in a certain chancery cause, on his bill against J. T. Piggott and James A. Watson and others, the object of which was to set aside a tax deed, made by the clerk of the county court of said county to said Piggott and Watson, conveying to them part of a certain lot in the city of Park-ersburg, known as Lot No. 76, on Market street, pursuant to a sale thereof made by the sheriff of said county, for nonpayment of city taxes thereon for the year 1899, and to restrain said Piggott and Watson from prosecuting an action of unlawful detainer for the recovery' of the possession of said lot, and dismissed the bill. upon final hearing. From this decree, the plaintiff has appealed.

[544]*544In the year 1899, said lot belonged to the estate of J. B. Gould, deceased, and was charged with taxes by the city of Parkersburg as the property of said estate. Later, in a chancery cause instituted by Edward McCrary, executor of the will of Gould, against Ella M. Gould and others, it was sold to John Hogan, who conveyed it to Laura Layne. In the year 1902, Laura Layne died intestate, leaving a large amount of indebtedness unpaid, and Hogan was appointed her administrator. It being necessary to sell the real, estate in order to pay her debts and liabilities, the administrator instituted a chancery suit for that purpose, in which such proceedings were had that said lot was, on the 28th day of July, 1904, decreed to be sold, and the plaintiff was appointed a special commissioner to make sale thereof. After having advertised the lot for sale, he discovered that Piggott and Watson claimed it-under a deed made by the clerk of the county court, pursuant to a sale of the lot made on the 12th day of July, 1903, under a return of delinquency of said lot for the city taxes thereon for the year 1899. Thereupon the court directed Hogan, as such special commissioner, not to sell under said decree, and, as administrator and special commissioner as aforesaid, to institute a suit to set aside the tax sale and deed, which was accordingly done with the result above stated.

All these facts are alleged in the bill and not denied by the answer. In response to the allegations setting them up, the respondents Piggott and Watson, say, for the most part, that they are not advised as to whether they are true or false. Such of them as are favorable to the defendants are admitted. Belying upon section 36 of chapter 125 of the Code, providing that “every material allegation of the bill not controverted by an answer * * * shall, for the purposes of the suit, be taken as true,” and no proof thereof required, the plaintiff introduced no evidence to sustain the allegations not denied. If the protestations of want of knowledge of their truth had been accompanied by a general denial, it would have devolved upon the plaintiff to prove the facts, but a mere averment of want of personal knowledge is not a denial of the allegations. A general denial of all material allegations will be sufficient, if not excepted to. Richardson v. Donahoe, 16 W. Va. 686; Warren v. Syme, 7 W. Va. 475; [545]*545Fleming v. Holt, 12 W. Va. 143, 160. This liberality in favor of the respondent, however, does not go so far as to enable him to put the complainant to the proof of an allegation without denying it all. Dent v. Pickens, 53 S. E. 154.

The attempt of counsel for the appellees to sustain the decree on the ground of want of power and authority, in the plaintiff as administrator and special commissioner, to maintain a suit for the purpose of setting aside the tax deed makes some of these facts very important and material. It thus appearing that the plaintiff’s decedent, by successive conveyances from the Gould estate, owned the lot at the time of her death, which occurred before the sale thereof, and that the personal property of which she died possessed was insufficient to pay her debts, in consequence whereof her general creditors, by virtue of section 3 of chapter 86 of the Code, making the real estate of decedent’s assets for the payment of their debts under such circumstances, could have charged her real estate for their debts, had it not been sold, and, .at any time within one year after the sale, could have redeemed, as persons having the right to charge the lot for debts, by virtue of section 15 of chapter 31 of the Code, it is insisted by counsel for the appellant that he, being authorized by section 7 of chapter 86 of the Code to institute a suit in equity to subject the real estate of his decedent to the payment of her general debts, has sufficient interest to entitle him to sue for the cancellation of the tax deed which constitutes a cloud upon the title, if invalid. In a sense, he has the right to charge the real estate of his decedent for a debt. He sues to subject it to the payment of the debts of all the creditors. He does not sue on account of any debt he has against the estate, but for the purpose of administration of the real, as well as the personal, assets of his decedent. Though he does not sue to charge it with his debt, he charges it with a debt, nevertheless. He has a double duty to perform, one of which is to discharge the valid indebtedness of his decedent, and the other to resist all invalid claims against the estate. Though in respect to claims of the latter class he defends and resists payment, in respect to the former he prosecutes and charges the land. In doing so he virtually ties the hands of the creditors; for, after the commencement of any such suit, if any creditor commence another, either [546]*546at law or in equity, upon any claim against the estate, no costs shall be recovered in such last mentioned suit. Section 10, chapter 86, Code. Every creditor of the decedent may present his claim against the estate in a suit brought by^ the administrator and upon such presentation is deemed to have been made a party to the suit and to have been served with process therein. Section 1 of chapter 86 of the Code. As the real estate is made assets for the payment of all the debts of the estate, when the personal property is insufficient to discharge them, the administrator and the heirs are necessary parties to a suit brought by a creditor, and such créditor would be compelled to sue on behalf' of himself and all other creditors. Poling v. Huffman, 39 W. Va. 320; Duval’s Exrs. v. Trent’s Devisees, 6 Munf. 29; Clark v. Webb, 2 H. & M. 8; White v. Banister, 1 Wash. (Va.) 168; 2 Tuck. Blk. Comm. 425; Story’s Eq. Pl., sections 99, 102. Hence, the same result is attained, and practically the same procedure is had, whether the suit be brought by a creditor or the administrator. In either case, it is a suit to charge the land with the payment of debts. Having the right to institute such suit and cause such disposition of the real estate, we conclude that he may, when the personal estate is insufficient to pay the debts of his decedent, redeem his decedent’s real estate from a sale thereof for non-payment of taxes under section 15 of chapter 31 of the Code.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 S.E. 189, 60 W. Va. 541, 1906 W. Va. LEXIS 65, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hogan-v-piggott-wva-1906.