Kester v. Helmer

16 F. Supp. 260, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1988
CourtDistrict Court, D. Idaho
DecidedApril 9, 1935
DocketNo. 1856
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 16 F. Supp. 260 (Kester v. Helmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Idaho primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kester v. Helmer, 16 F. Supp. 260, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1988 (D. Idaho 1935).

Opinion

CAVANAH, District Judge.

The nature of the action was stated in the opinion of the court when ruling on the demurrer to the amended and supplemental complaint [Hendrickson v. Helmer (D.C.) 7 F.Supp. 627, 628], and from an analysis there made the plaintiff as trustee in bankruptcy seeks to cancel two warranty deeds executed by the bankrupt to his wife and that the property covered by them be declared to be community property so that the bankrupt’s interest may be decreed to the bankrupt’s estate.

The answer of the defendants presents the issues, first, as to whether the two deeds executed by the bankrupt to his wife on May 31, 1927, and September 26, 1928, were fraudulent and made with intent to enable the bankrupt to avoid and escape his stockholder’s liability of the First National Bank of Twin Falls, and, second, whether the property involved is the community property of the defendants and the bankrupt’s interest therein should be decreed to the bankrupt’s estate.

At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, defendants moved for nonsuit and dismissal of the action upon the grounds that the bill and the evidence do not show the elements necessary to constitute fraudulent conveyance by the deeds; (a) That there was no existing creditor at the time the deeds were executed and particularly the creditor forming the basis of this suit; (b) that there was no fraud in fact or intent to defraud in the execution of the deeds; and (c) that after the conveyances were made by the bankrupt he retained sufficient assets to meet his demands, including a possible assessment on his shares of stock held by him in the bank.

The bill alleges that the deeds were fraudulently given by the bankrupt to his wife without consideration, for the purpose of attempting to escape and avoid his liability as a stockholder of the bank, and by them he conveyed properties to his wife to be her sole and separate property, and that the deeds were executed and recorded [262]*262fraudulently for the purpose of defeating and defrauding his creditors; that the bankrupt in January, 1925, became a stockholder of the bank, and prior thereto he and his wife acquired the property involved as their community property; that on the 31st day of May, 1927, and September 26, 1928, he executed the deeds, and that they were recorded on December 4 and 5, 1931, after the bank had closed its doors on December 3, 1931, that in his schedules filed in the bankruptcy proceedings the bankrupt did not include the property involved as assets of his estate; that the receiver on July 18, 1932, recovered a judgment on the assessment made against his stock by the Comptroller of $41,024.49.

The bill tenders the issue that the deeds were executed and recorded fraudulently and for the purpose of defeating and defrauding creditors of the bankrupt, and that was sufficient to require the taking of proof as to whether there was a creditor existing at the time the deeds were executed, although it is claimed that the bank, by reason of the assessment on the stock, did not. become a creditor of the bankrupt’s until the Comptroller had acted. As was said by the court in the opinion on the demurrer: “The liability of a shareholder in a national bank to respond to an assessment in case of insolvency as prescribed by section 64, title 12 U.S.C.A., is statutory, and, upon the failure of the bank, the rights of its creditors intervene and attach. Scott v. Deweese, 181 U.S. 202, 21 S.Ct. 585, 45 L.Ed. 822; Concord First National Bank v. Hawkins, 174 U.S. 364, 19 S.Ct. 739, 43 L.Ed. 1007; Salter v. Williams et al. (D.C.) 219 F. 1017. It is for the benefit of the bank’s creditors represented by the receiver of the bank, and is conditional and contingent, and the right to sue does not obtain until the Comptroller has acted, which is the basis of the suit. McClaine v. Rankin, 197 U.S. 154, 25 S.Ct. 410, 49 L.Ed. 702, 3 Ann.Cas. 500. The bank being insolvent and having creditors at the time it closed, the individual liability of its stockholders existed to such debts, contracts, and engagements of the bank.”

The statute of Idaho requires that before the conveyance of property is fraudulent as to creditors there must appear that there was an existing' creditor at the time of the alleged fraudulent transfer and that the transfer was made with the intent to delay and defraud such creditor, as section 54-906 provides: "Transfers in Fraud of Creditors. — Every ' transfer of property, or charge thereon made, every obligation incurred, and every judicial proceeding taken, with intent to delay or defraud any creditor or other person of his demands, is void against all creditors of the debtor arid their successors in interest, and against any person upon whom the estate of the debtor devolves in trust for the benefit of others than the debtor.” This takes us to a consideration of the evidence as to whether there existed a creditor of the bankrupt at the time the deeds were given, and whether the transfers were made with intent to delay or defraud such creditors. Prior to the time the bankrupt became a stockholder in the bank, he and his wife acquired the real property involved as their community property, and the deeds in question were executed more than four years before the bank was closed and more than five years before the Comptroller acted in levying the assessment on the bankrupt’s stock. The basis of the claim that there existed creditors of the bankrupt at the time the deeds were executed by reason of his liability and the assessment on his shares of stock in the bank is not tenable under the evidence, for such liability arises solely out of the act of the Comptroller in making the assessment and at the time he makes his order. Salter v. Williams (D.C.) 219 F. 1017; McClaine v. Rankin, 197 U.S. 154, 155, 25 S.Ct. 410, 49 L.Ed. 702, 3 Ann.Cas. 500; Delano v. Butler, 118 U.S. 634, 635, 7 S.Ct. 39, 30 L.Ed. 260. “Individual liability of a stockholder can only be enforced by his [Comptroller’s] order. * * * It is indispensable to the bringing of a suit against a stockholder. In other words, the liability dates from the order of the Comptroller.” Rankin v. Barton, 199 U.S. 228, 232, 26 S.Ct. 29, 30, 50 L.Ed. 163. While it is alleged generally in the complaint that the deeds were given to defraud creditors of the bankrupt, no other creditor of his appears from the evidence to have been in existence at the time the deeds were executed, except the claim that his stock liability by some future assessment made the bank a creditor of his at the time the deeds were executed, but, as the conclusion is reached that the stock liability dates from the date of the order of the Comptroller, neither creditors of the bank or the bank was a creditor of the bankrupt at the time of the execution of the deeds, and the offer of plaintiff of evidence as to the in[263]*263solvency of the bank at the time the conveyance was made would not create stock liability under the rule thus announced, but, however that may be, the evidence fails to establish insolvency of the bank or that the bankrupt had knowledge of or believed it at the time the deeds were executed.

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Related

Commissioner of Banking v. Berry
183 N.W.2d 436 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1970)
Kester v. Adams
85 F.2d 646 (Ninth Circuit, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 F. Supp. 260, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kester-v-helmer-idd-1935.