Luckett v. Hammond

124 N.E. 675, 188 Ind. 484, 1919 Ind. LEXIS 68
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 17, 1919
DocketNo. 22,959
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 124 N.E. 675 (Luckett v. Hammond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Luckett v. Hammond, 124 N.E. 675, 188 Ind. 484, 1919 Ind. LEXIS 68 (Ind. 1919).

Opinion

Myers, J.

— This was a suit brought by appellee Hammond on January 13, 1911, in the Crawford Circuit Court against appellant Luckett, and one Funk, then sheriff of CrawfordT county, to enjoin the latter from selling certain pieces of real estate in that county on the ground that they were not subject to levy and sale on execution. Steps additional necessary to secure the issuing of a restraining order were not taken, and on January 14, 1911, the sale was had and the property sold to Luckett, who was the judgment creditor. Thereafter from time to time various amended and additional paragraphs of complaint'were filed by both Hammond and McCoy, the latter having been admitted as a party plaintiff on March 25,1911. This cause was tried on the issues formed by appellant’s answer in two paragraphs to an amended and supplemental first paragraph [487]*487of complaint, filed March 11,1912, and an amended additional sixth paragraph, filed October 21, 1912. The trial resulted in a judgment in favor of appellees.' For a reversal of that judgment appellant has assigned errors on the rulings of the trial court in overruling his demurrer to each of said paragraphs of complaint, and in overruling his motion for a new trial.

1. 2. Appellant in the trial court challenged by demurrer for want of facts to state a cause of action each paragraph of the complaint on which the cause was tried. The record before us in this case affirmatively shows that the judgment rests upon the amended additional sixth paragraph. We reach this conclusion under the belief that the relief sought under the first paragraph was that the judgment be set aside for fraud in its procurement, while the sixth proceeds under the theory that the lots were exempt from execution sale by reason of the fact that at the time of the sale of the lots by McCoy and at the time of the issuance and levy of the execution and sale thereon the debtor’s property did not exceed in value $600. The finding and judgment was that the sale of the lots by the sheriff be set aside and the sheriff’s certificate of sale and deed made and issued thereunder by the sheriff to appellant be canceled and set aside, all of which is in conformity with the alleged facts and prayer of the sixth paragraph. It will be observed from the substance of the judgment here given that the judgment upon which the execution issued was not canceled or set aside, which under the first paragraph would be the basis for setting aside the sale. If we are correct in our conclusion, the overruling of the demurrer to the first paragraph, though erroneous, was a harmless error, and we will give no attention to the objections urged against that paragraph. Lime City Bldg., etc., Assn. v. Black (1894), 136 Ind. 544, 35 N. [488]*488E. 829; Ervin v. State, ex rel. (1897), 150 Ind. 332, 48 N. E. 249; Bess v. Morgan (1913), 55 Ind. App. 430, 103 N. E. 1086; Laramore v. Blumenthal (1914), 58 Ind. App. 597, 606, 108 N. E. 602; Tracewell, Admr., v. Farnsley (1886), 104 Ind. 497, 4 N. E. 162.

3. The record shows that this suit was commenced on January 13, 1911, by appellee Hammond. But in the paragraph in question Hammond and McCoy appear as parties plaintiff and allege in substance that on October 18, 1901, the appellant recovered a judgment against McCoy and others on a promissory note in the sum of $2,000, and on that date McCoy was the owner of lots Nos. 51 and 52 in the town of English, which he afterwards sold and conveyed to one Thomas, and by various mesne conveyances these lots became the property of Hammond, who'is now the legal owner of the same; that in December, 1910, appellant caused an execution to issue on the judgment, and the same to be delivered to the sheriff of the county who levied the same upon the lots which were sold; that McCoy was not on the day the lots were sold to Thomas, nor-has he been at any time since, the owner of property in value to exceed $600; that by way of excuse on the part of McCoy for his failure to claim the lots as exempt prior to the sale, he shows that at the time of the issuance and continuously thereafter, including the day of sale, he was and now is a resident householder, residing and was present at his home in Orange county, Indiana; that at no time, or in any manner, was any notice of the issuing of.the execution served upon him, nor was any demand made upon him for property; that no opportunity was given him by the sheriff to surrender any property or to claim his exemption as a resident householder, which he desired to do and would have done had he been given such opportunity.; that prior to any notice, knowledge or consent on his part the execution was issued, levy made [489]*489and lots sold. This paragraph is carelessly prepared, and is subject to a motion to make more specific, yet we have concluded to hold it sufficient to admit evidence tending to prove that at the time of the sale of'the lots to Thomas, as well as at the time of the issuing of the execution, levy and sale of the lots, the execution debt- or’s property real and personal did not exceed in value $600. In the present case the property involved is the lots sold to Thomas and, as said in Barnard v. Brown (1887), 112 Ind. 53, 58, 13 N. E. 401, 403: “The material inquiry, therefore, as to the value of Brown’s (here McCoy’s) property had relation to the time of the conveyance, and not to the time of the commencement of this suit.”

4. 5. It is well settled that an execution debtor may, after he has sold property which was subject to a lien of an execution, include it in his schedule and claim it as exempt. So, also, upon well-recognized equitable principles may the purchaser of real estate claim it as exempt from execution sale, if his vendor could have done so. And, if need be, such purchaser may maintain a suit commenced before the execution sale to quiet his title to such real estate as against such lien or to enjoin the sale on the ground that, at the time of his purchase, his vendor was not the owner of property in value to exceed $600. Moss v. Jenkins (1896), 146 Ind. 589, 598, 45 N. E. 789; Godman v. Smith (1861), 17 Ind. 152; Vandibur v. Love (1857), 10 Ind. 54; Kirk v. Macy (1912), 53 Ind. App. 17, 21, 101 N. E. 108; Rich v. C. Callahan Co. (1912), 179 Ind. 509, 101 N. E. 810.

6. In the instant case we know, from the third paragraph of the original complaint, that Hammond commenced this suit prior to the execution sale, alleging therein that McCoy, his remote grantor, had property not to exceed $600 on the day he [490]*490sold the lots to his grantee Thomas. Also, that on the day the judgment was rendered, and continuously thereafter, said lots were, and are at this time, exempt from execution sale, under the exemption laws of the State of Indiana, and prayed that the defendant Luckett and the sheriff be enjoined from selling the lots. The substance of the third paragraph is found in the paragraph in question with the additional facts which occurred after the sale. The sheriff’s sale and the execution of a sheriff’s deed to appellant each occurred after the filing of the original complaint, and were matters clearly proper for a supplemental bill (Patten v. Stewart [1865], 24 Ind. 332; §408 Burns 1914, §399 R. S. 1881), but they were included as a part of the so-called amended pleading.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Tomlinson v. Miller
58 N.E.2d 358 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1944)
Fargo Glass & Paint Co. v. Smith
266 N.W. 100 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1936)
Nesbitt v. Miller
188 N.E. 702 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1934)
State Ex Rel. Hopper v. Board of Election Commissioners
149 N.E. 69 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 N.E. 675, 188 Ind. 484, 1919 Ind. LEXIS 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/luckett-v-hammond-ind-1919.