Lane v. Innes

45 N.W. 4, 43 Minn. 137, 1890 Minn. LEXIS 129
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedApril 9, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 45 N.W. 4 (Lane v. Innes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lane v. Innes, 45 N.W. 4, 43 Minn. 137, 1890 Minn. LEXIS 129 (Mich. 1890).

Opinions

Vanderburgh, J.

On the 13th day of February, 1874, one Joseph Hodges, an insolvent, filed his petition in bankruptcy and was duly adjudged a bankrupt by the district court of the United States for the district of Minnesota, and such proceedings were thereupon had in that court that one William B. Hale was duly appointed the assignee of the bankrupt, and the register in bankruptcy, on the 15th day of June, 1874, conveyed and transferred to him all the property, real and personal, that the bankrupt was owner of, or in any way entitled to, on the day his petition was filed; and the deed of assignment was duly recorded. On the 1st day of December, 1873, the bankrupt had filed with the register of deeds of Hennepin county a deed- of the premises in controversy here, duly executed in form, by [139]*139himself and wife, to the plaintiff herein, a relative of his wife, bearing date May 25, 1873, in which the consideration expressed was the sum of one dollar; and such deed was thereupon duly recorded. It is admitted that the title was in the grantor, Hodges, at and prior to the date of the deed. The plaintiff herein, grantee in such deed, was then, and has since continued to be, a non-resident of the state of Minnesota. On the 15th day of August, 1874, Hale, the assignee, commenced an action in the court of common pleas in and for the county of Hennepin, against this plaintiff, for the purpose of setting aside the deed we have referred to, and having it adjudged fraudulent and void as against the assignee claiming title to the property in question in trust for the creditors of the bankrupt; and, among other things, it was alleged and charged in the complaint that the deed was never delivered to the grantee, defendant, until long after it was recorded; that it was made by Hodges in contemplation of his bankruptcy, and when he was insolvent, and was made and accepted with a view to prevent the property in question from coming to the assignee in bankruptcy, and. to prevent the same from being distributed in accordance with the bankrupt act; and for the purpose, and with the intent, of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the creditors of the bankrupt of their lawful claims; and that he was at the date he was so adjudged bankrupt, and long prior thereto had been, the owner of the property, and that by virtue of the assignment it had passed to the assignee, the plaintiff in that action.’ Such proceedings were thereafter had in that action that on the 30th day of June, 1876, a judgment was duly rendered therein in favor of the plaintiff, as assignee, against the defendant, (plaintiff here,) wherein and whereby it was adjudged that the deed from Joseph Hodges to this plaintiff, before referred to, of the premises in question, “be,, and the same is hereby, vacated and set aside, and declared to be null and void, and of no effect, and that the defendant” in that action, “and every person claiming under her subsequent to the recording of the notice of the pendency of the action, be and are forever barred from asserting any title to the premises as against the title of the plaintiff therein.” A certified copy of the judgment and decree was recorded in the office of the register of deeds, on the first day of July, 1876. Upon the [140]*140facts found by the trial court in this action the appellant raises several objections to the validity of the judgment above referred to in favor of the assignee in bankruptcy, under whom the defendant, through several mesne conveyances, claims title.

1. The service of the summons was by publication, and the judgment was rendered upon proof thereof, and upon the plaintiff’s application, in default of any appearance or answer of the defendant in that action. The plaintiff claims that the statutory procedure in the district court was not made applicable to the court of common pleas, and hence that the proceedings for the service of the summons, and the judgment in that court, were without authority of law. But we think otherwise. The requisite authority of the court is clearly implied from the language of the first and ninth sections of the act creating the court of common pleas of Hennepin county, (Sp. Laws 1872, c. 177,) by which it is given equal and concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in all cases arising or triable in Hennepin county; and the court, judge, and clerk are given like jurisdiction, power, and authority in all proceedings therein, and shall perform the same duties as the district court, judge, and clerk. These provisions are to be liberally construed so as to give them full effect in their practical operation, which could only be under the same statutory procedure provided for the district court in both civil and criminal cases; none being specially provided for in the common pleas. No other construction would be reasonable or tolerable. The common pleas as well as the district court would acquire jurisdiction of a defendant, under Gen. St. 1878, c. 66, § 69, when the summons provided for in that chapter had been served either personally or by publication. And, in like manner, a plaintiff would be entitled to apply for judgment in the court of common pleas under section 210, and that court would have the same power to act as the district court, and under the same statutory procedure.

2. It is also claimed that the court had no jurisdiction of an action brought by an assignee in bankruptcy to set aside a fraudulent conveyance of his land by a bankrupt. The action is not in contravention, as we understand it, of any United States statute; and we are unable to discover any valid reason why the assignee claiming [141]*141the property may not bring such action in the courts of the state within whose jurisdiction the property is situated. Such an action presents no federal question. Mann v. Flower, 25 Minn. 500; Kidder v. Horrobin, 72 N. Y. 159; McKenna v. Simpson, 129 U. S. 506, (9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 365.)

3. By section 5046, Rev. St. U. S., all property conveyed by the bankrupt in fraud of his creditors shall, by virtue of the adjudication of bankruptcy and the appointment of his assignee, be at once vested in such assignee. A judgment creditor claiming a lien upon the real property of his debtor may bring an action to remove the obstruction caused by a fraudulent conveyance before selling the property, or he may acquire title by execution sale, and then bring his action. Jackson v. Holbrook, 36 Minn. 494, 499, (32 N. W. Rep. 852;) Wadsworth v. Schisselbauer, 32 Minn. 84, (19 N. W. Rep. 390.) The object is to remove the obstruction, or uncover the property, so that it may be disposed of at the best price, and the proceeds appropriated to the satisfaction of the demands of creditors. That is substantially the nature of the action brought by the assignee against this plaintiff. Heidritter v. Elizabeth Oil-Cloth Co., 112 U. S. 294, 300, (5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 135;) In re Gurney, 7 Biss. 414; Rinchey v. Stryker, 28 N. Y. 45, 31 N. Y. 140. The action was not then an action in personam, but must be classed with actions in rem. The judgment sought to be recovered therein affects the land only, and it was an action where service by publication upon the non-resident defendant was proper, and one which falls within the provisions of Gen. St. 1878, c. 66, § 64, subd. 5. Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 733. See

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 N.W. 4, 43 Minn. 137, 1890 Minn. LEXIS 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lane-v-innes-minn-1890.