Johnson v. Stebbins-Thompson Realty Co.

66 S.W. 933, 167 Mo. 325, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 129
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 25, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 66 S.W. 933 (Johnson v. Stebbins-Thompson Realty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Stebbins-Thompson Realty Co., 66 S.W. 933, 167 Mo. 325, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 129 (Mo. 1902).

Opinion

BURGESS, J.

This is a suit in equity by plaintiff, a judgment creditor of the defendant Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company, a corporation, to set aside a deed to a tract of land therein described, from said corporation to the defendant Judson Thompson, upon the grounds that it was a voluntary conveyance and a fraud upon the creditors of the realty company and especially the plaintiff.

The petition alleges that the plaintiff on November 25, 1896, obtained a judgment in the circuit court of the city [330]*330of St. Louis against the Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company, for the sum of $1,936.21 on which judgment and execution were issued and returned nulla bona February 1, 1897; that at the time said execution was issued and returned, the realty company was the owner of certain parcels and lots of land in said St. Louis county, in the petition described; that on February 20, 1897, the realty company, with the intent to hinder, delay and defraud its creditors and especially the plaintiff, conveyed said lands to defendant, Judson M. Thompson, for tire pretended consideration of $1,000, and that the said J. M. Thompson thereupon took possession of said property; that in fact no consideration was paid and the deed was purely voluntary; that the said J. M. Thompson was at the time president of the realty company, and as such conveyed the land to himself, without authority from the board of directors; that in March, 1897, an alias execution was issued on said judgment of tire plaintiff to the sheriff of this county and the lands aforesaid were sold at public sale under said execution and purchased by plaintiff on June 25, 1897, and on September 23, 1897, the said J. M. Thompson filed his affidavit, stating that the realty company by a majority vote of its stockholders has been dissolved as a corporation. The bill asks that the conveyance aforesaid to J. M. Thompson may be adjudged fraudulent- and void and that the same be set aside, and that defendant may be enjoined and restrained from selling and disposing of the property.

The answer of Judson M. Thompson and Frank C. Thompson, two of the trustees of the former realty company, sets forth that said realty company was dissolved in September, 1897, and then admits the judgment obtained by plaintiff, and the conveyance- to- J. M. Thompson, and states that the latter was made for a full and valid consideration; that defendant, J. M. Thompson, had advanced to the realty company the purchase price for the land, and that at the time the plaintiff obtained his judgment, the realty company was [331]*331indebted to L M. Thompson for the purchase price of the land, and said realty company was at that time not indebted to any other person except J. M. Thompson, and he and his eo-defendants, Erank 0. Thompson, were then and there the owners of all the stock in said realty company, and the plaintiff’s judgment against said realty company was obtained by fraud and surprise, and there was no obligation or honest indebtedness to pay the same.

Further answering and by way of cross-bill defendants allege in detail and quite elaborately that the note upon which the aforesaid judgment was obtained was a fraud on the realty company and other indorsers, as well as the original maker of the note; that the note was in fact stolen by defendant Stebbins, and wrongfully and without authority indorsed by him for and in behalf of the Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company, and without their knowledge or consent; that when plaintiff bought this note he knew all these facts and did not pay full consideration for it; that suit was brought on this very note by the plaintiff against the Suburban Realty Company, the original maker, and Parker and Thompson, as indorsers, and also against the Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company as indorsers, but dismissed as to the latter before trial, and that in said suit judgment was rendered for the defendants in said cause, upon showing these facts upon the trial in court, and the same was afterwards affirmed in the St. Louis Court of Appeals on' the fourth day of May, 1895, and by reason of said trial and judgment the Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company was completely discharged and released and the same became adjudicated as to said realty company.

For a further defense these defendants allege that the 'plaintiff obtained the aforesaid judgment against the StebbinsThompson Realty Company by deceit and false and fraudulent-contrivances ; that plaintiff’s attorney by cunning and false representations deceived the attorney for the defendants, he also being then and there the attorney for the realty company [332]*332in said suit, and obtained a judgment upon said note during Ms absence from tbe city of St. Louis.

The allegations of new matter are generally denied by the plaintiff in his replication herein filed.

Although the defendant Stebbins entered his voluntary appearance he did not answer. Judson M. and Frank C. Thompson, answered jointly, and Judson M. Thompson also filed a separate answer. Judson M. Thompson, and Frank C. Thompson his son, and Stebbins, composed the board of directors.

The trial resulted in judgment for defendants, from which plaintiff appeals.

The salient facts are about as follows: On November 25, 1896, in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff, and against defendant Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company, for the sum of $1,936.20, and execution was issued out of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, and directed to the sheriff of the city of St. Louis, which was returned “no property found.” At the date of said judgment Stebbins-Thompson Realty Company was the owner-of certain property situated in the county of St. Louis, and on February 20, 1897, this company caused a deed to be recorded purporting to convey said real estate from said corporation to Judson M. Thompson, president of the corporation, the deed being executed by Thompson as. president. On February 20, a record of a meeting was entered in the minute book of the corporation, wMch is spoken of as a special meeting of the directors, at which were present Judson M. Thompson and F. C. Thompson, and the deed was authorized by Judson M. and F. C. Thompson. The third member of the board of directors was not present nor was he notified.

On March 18, 1897, execution was issued out of the circuit court of the city of St. Louis upon said judgment, directed to the sheriff of the county of St. Louis, under which [333]*333execution the property was sold and purchased by the plaintiff. On September 23, 1897, Judson M. Thompson, defendant, made an affidavit that said corporation was dissolved by a majority vote of its stockholders, which was filed with the Secretary of State.

At the time of signing the note upon which the judgment was rendered under which the land in question was sold, there was another company, called the Suburban Eealty Company, of which the defendant E. C. Thompson was secretary, Lovell W. Stebbins, treasurer, and George T. Parker, president. This company, on April 17,1893, made its note for $1,525, payable ninety days after its date to the order of Stebbins as treasurer, which was indorsed by Parker and E. C. Thompson conditionally, and by Stebbins individually. The note was never delivered by the Suburban Eealty Company to any other person, and while it remained in the possession of Stebbins as the treasurer of the company he wrote the name of the Stebbins-Thompson Eealty Company on the back of the note and sold it to the plaintiff James B.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 S.W. 933, 167 Mo. 325, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-stebbins-thompson-realty-co-mo-1902.