Linsey v. McGannon

9 W. Va. 154, 1876 W. Va. LEXIS 17
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1876
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 9 W. Va. 154 (Linsey v. McGannon) 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
Linsey v. McGannon, 9 W. Va. 154, 1876 W. Va. LEXIS 17 (W. Va. 1876).

Opinion

Moore, Judge:

Oliver Linsey filed bis- bill in chancery in the municipal court of Wheeling,- at the June rules, 1874; against John McGannon, and others, to enforce the lien of a judgment he had obtained in the -county court of Ohio county, on the seventeenth day of- April, 1874, against Thomas-Seabrook aud said’ John McGannon,partners as [156]*156“Seabrook and McGannon?’ and to procure satisfaction "of his judgment out of certain real estate, alleged to have been conveyed by John McGannon, in trust for bis wife, and in fraud of' his creditors. On the twenty-first day of July, 1874, a decree was rendered, in default of any answer, sotting aside the said conveyance as having been made with intent to delay, hinder and defraud creditors, and as having been made without a consideration' deemed valuable in law; and referring the cause to a commissioner to ascertain what liens existed on the real estate of said McGannon, and the amounts ''and priorities thereof, etc.

On the first day of September, 1874, McGannon and wife gave notice to the plaintiff that they would move the judge of the said municipal court to review and reverse the said'decree, for causes in said notice mentioned. Pending this- motion, on the twenty-first September, 1874, Small, Schoemick, Aick and Clifford, creditors of Seabrook and McGannon, moved the court to admit them as defendants in said suit, and to file their answers, which was then done, their claims being judgments; either before the county court, or of a justice of the peace.

On the twenty-fifth day of January, 1875, the motion to review and reverse the decree of July 21, 1874, was heard and determined, and the decree was reversed, and leave granted the "plaintiff, or any of the creditors of the plaintiff, who have rightly been made parties,” to amend the original bill, on equitable terms, and to prosecute the cause, at their costs, "or the costs that may be adjudged against them.”

The plaintiff,- Linsey, filed his amended bill, March, 1875.

At the March rules, 1875, McGannon and wife demurred to the bill, and-at the April rules, 1875, filed what purported to be their joint answer‘to'said bill, in which they alleged “that on the fourth day of September, 1874, the said John McGannon satisfied the plaintiff of his demand,” and exhibited a transcript from the [157]*157records oí the county court showing that the plaintiff in person, admitted the release in open court, and that he" was satisfied with the same; and that the county court on the fifteenth day of October, 1874, entered of record, satisfaction of said judgment as to McGannon, but not to the prejudice of the plaintiff against the said Scabrook. The acknowledgement of satisfaction of the judgment, as to McGannon, was made, in writing, by Linsey, September 4, 1874.

On March 30, 1875, the affidavit of the plaintiff, Lin-sey, was taken and filed in this cause, then pending in the municipal court, stating that he then had no claim against McGannon ; that it had been, long since, satisfied, and that he had never ordered any suit in that court for the same, and directed the suit to be dismissed.

On May 17, 1875, Joseph Clifford, with leave of court, filed his petition, and the exhibit therewith, to be made a party complainant in the suit, to enforce a judgment obtained by him in the county court, April 8, 1874? against McGannon and Seabrook, for the sum of $79.50. The prayer of the petitioner was granted, and he was made a party complainant.

On the 28 June, 1875, the municipal court' rendered the decree, now principally complained of in this appeal.

The first question, presented for our consideration, is the motion of the appellees to dismiss the appeal, as improvidentlv'allowed. They argue there ivas no decree which came within the terms of the law. Acts 1872-3, chr. 17, sect. 1, p. 56.

The seventh clause of the first section, chapter seventeen, Acts 1872-3, authorizes an appeal, “in a case in chancery, wherein there is a decree or order dissolving an injunction, or requiring money to be paid, or the possession or title of property to be changed.”

The decree of June 28,1875, declares that the conveyance of November 19,1873, made by McGannon and wife to Woods, was made “with intent to delay, hinder and de[158]*158fraud . his creditors, and that the said . conveyance was "made without a consideration deemed valuable in law, and that the said plaintiff, and the said Michael Sehcem-ick, George W. Wilson and others were creditors whose debt.s were contracted before the said fraudulent conveyance was made; it is, therefore, adjudged, .ordered .and decreed, that the said fraudulent conveyance * * ' * * * is declared vqid, and is set aside by this Court.” The decree certainly requires “the possession or title of property t.o. be changed.” I am, therefore,' of opinion the appeal was rightfully allowed, and that,the motion to dismiss it should be overruled.

The first objection, urged by appellant, is the want of jurisdiction in the municipal court to enforce the judgment lien, because, the judgment was obtained in the county court.

Section eight, chapter one hundred and thirty-nine, Code, declares: “The lien of a judgment, may always be enforced in a court of equity.”

Chapter eighty-eight, Acts 1869, p. 51, confers upon the municipal court, “within the city, the same jurisdiction and. powers at law and in equity, in civil suits and proceedings where the amount in controversy exceeds one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, or the possession or title of real or personal estate is"concerned, as the circuit court of Ohio county now has, or may hereafter be vested with, but in the following cases only:

I. Where the defendant or one, of the defendants resides in the city; .

II. Where the cause of action arose in the city;

III. Where the property, real or .personal, the title or possession of which is in controversy, or some part of such property, is in the city;

IY. Where,” etc.

As^the court,is a cou¡rt of equity, and. the defendants are residents, of the city,.-and the pfpperty is alleged to [159]*159be in the city, X can see no good reason why the muriici-pal court should not take cognizance of this case. When a party has a judgment lien to- be enforced, and has, at his election, courts with concurrent equity jurisdiction, it is reasonable to suppose that he would select that tribunal which would give the speediest relief.- As the municipal court holds its terms, “in every month- in which it is not, by law, provided that a circuit court-for Ohio county shall commence,” (Acts 1869, ch. 88, sect. 2,) it certainly affords greater facility for relief than either the circuit, or county court;-and, no doubt, that was one object in its creation, and the' subsequent enlargement of its jurisdiction by the Act of 1869, which conferred upon it equity jurisdiction and powers. I am of opinion, therefore, that the municipal codrt did not err, in taking and retaining jurisdiction of the cause.

The appellants object to the decree of twenty-eighth of June, 1875 : .

First■ — -Because, “ the decree was made in the name of Oliver Linsey, alone, when in fact, he had no further interest in the same, and ought not to be made further liable for the costs of the case.”

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Bluebook (online)
9 W. Va. 154, 1876 W. Va. LEXIS 17, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/linsey-v-mcgannon-wva-1876.