McAllester v. Adams (In re Adams)

57 B.R. 1, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4826
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedDecember 19, 1983
DocketBankruptcy No. 182-00502; Adv. No. 183-0454
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 57 B.R. 1 (McAllester v. Adams (In re Adams)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McAllester v. Adams (In re Adams), 57 B.R. 1, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4826 (Tenn. 1983).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

GEORGE C. PAINE II, Bankruptcy Judge.

This cause came on to be heard on December 14, 1983, before the Honorable George C. Paine, II, Judge upon the Complaint of the Trustee, Answer of the Defendants, Motion for Summary Judgment and Brief filed on behalf of the Trustee, Motion for Summary Judgment and Brief filed on behalf of Michael J. Poling and Teresa L. Poling, Stipulation of Facts, argument of counsel and from the entire record, from all of which the court finds that there are no questions of fact and that there is a proper proceeding for Summary Judgment; that the lis pendens filed by the Defendants, Michael J. Poling and wife, Teresa L. Poling, on May 20, 1981, of record in Book 8, page 589, Register’s Office for Maury County, Tennessee, was not filed upon property that was subject to the Complaint filed in the Chancery Court for Maury County, Tennessee, and, therefore, was not a valid and proper lien lis pendens under the laws of the State of Tennessee against the real estate of the Debtors and that the Trustee’s interest, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 544, is superior to the rights or interests of the improper and invalid lien lis pendens of Michael J. Poling and Teresa L. Poling.

[2]*2The following shall constitute Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law as required by Rule 7052 of the Bankruptcy Rules of Procedure:

Robert Jones Adams, a/k/a Mike Adams, and Jean Adams filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition in bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on or about February 19, 1982.

One of the assets listed by the Debtors was a five-acre tract of real property located in Maury County, Tennessee. Said real property was acquired by Mike Adams and wife, Jean Adams, by a Deed, of record in Book 625, page 691, Register’s Office for Maury County, Tennessee. Mike Adams and Robert Jones Adams are one and the same person.

Sam J. McAllester, III is the duly appointed and presently acting Trustee for the Debtors, Robert Jones Adams and Jean Adams. Robert Jones Adams, a/k/a Mike Adams, is now deceased.

Michael J. Poling and wife, Teresa L. Poling, filed a Complaint in the Chancery Court for Maury County, Tennessee, on May 20, 1981, Docket No. 81-233, styled Michael J. Poling and wife, Teresa L. Poling v. Mike Adams and wife, Jean Adams, seeking a judgment for the Plaintiffs in the total amount of $4,182.04. Said complaint did not seek to fix a lien lis pendens on any real estate and did not describe the five acre tract of real property of the Debtors.

The unimproved five-acre tract of real property owned by Mike Adams and Jean Adams is not the subject matter of the Complaint filed in the Chancery Court for Maury County, Tennessee. The Chancery Court Complaint involves a sales contract on a house and lot in Columbia, Tennessee, completely unrelated to the five acre tract.

Simultaneously with the filing of the Complaint in the Chancery Court for Mau-ry County, Tennessee, Frank K. Dale, attorney for Michael J. Poling and wife, Teresa L. Poling, executed a lis pendens against the five-acre tract of real property owned by Mike Adams and wife, Jean Adams. Said lis pendens was filed for record on May 20, 1981, of record in Book 8, page 589, Register’s Office for Maury County, Tennessee.

A Judgment oh the complaint of the Plaintiffs Michael J. Poling and Teresa L. Poling against the Debtors was entered in the Chancery Court for Maury County, Tennessee, on January 8, 1982 by the Honorable Robert L. Jones, Circuit Judge. A copy of said Judgment was filed for record with the' Register of Deeds for Maury County, Tennessee, on January 11,1982, of record in Lien Book 8, page 780, said Register’s Office. Said judgment does not describe the five acre tract nor does the judgment seek to fix a lien upon the five acre tract.

The recording of the Chancery Court Judgment with the Register of Deeds for Maury County, Tennessee, on January 11, 1982 was a preference as defined by 11 U.S.C. § 547(b).

The parties to the adversary proceeding stipulated that the issue to be resolved is whether the use of a lien lis pendens to establish a lien on certain real property which is not the subject matter of the lawsuit is a valid and proper use of a lis pendens under the laws of the State of Tennessee and whether such lien lis pen-dens is superior to the title and interest of the Trustee under 11 U.S.C. § 544.

COMMON LAW OF LIS PENDENS

Resolution of this case requires a clear understanding of the doctrine of lis pen-dens. Most of the litigation cited herein revolves around the question of whether a lien lis pendens provides “notice to all the world.” As will be shown, its purpose is not so much to give notice as to restrict third party rights. The true purpose for liens lis pendens is to prevent third parties from meddling with property in litigation before the court. In the opinion of French v. The Loyal Company, 5 Leigh 646-648, 32 Va.R. 627 (1834), are found the following passages showing the doctrine’s true function at a time when our country's common law was relatively pure.

[3]*3The rule as to the effect of a lis pen-dens, is founded upon the necessity of such a rule, to give effect to the proceedings of courts of justice. Without it, the administration of justice might, in all cases, be frustrated by successive alien-ations of the property, which was the object of litigation, pending the suit, so that every judgment and decree would be rendered abortive, where the recovery of specific property was the object.

Id., at 681.

The French court noted the doctrine’s effects as used in England:

In Gaskell v. Durdin, 2 Ball & Beat. 169, the lord chancellor says, — “The rule of this court undoubtedly is, that any interest acquired in the subject matter of a suit, pending the suit, is so far considered a nullity, that it cannot avail against the plaintiffs title.”

Id., at 646.

In the French case, the survivors of the Loyal Company brought suit based on the misconduct of some of the company’s set-tlors. They further sought and were granted an injunction to prevent further patents from issuing for land surveyed by the company.

In the present case, there is no foundation for the application of the doctrine of the lis pendens.... The survey claimed by Johnston was not a part of the corpus which constituted the subject of that suit.... and I am at a loss to conceive how the lis pendens can apply, where the property purchased is not demanded, and can neither be decreed, nor in any wise affected by the determination of the case.

Id., at 684.

The first considered Tennessee opinion on lis pendens appears to be Shelton v. Johnson, 36 Tenn. 672 (1857). There the Supreme Court considered whether the doctrine of lis pendens provided Tennessee slave purchasers with notice of litigation pending in Virginia concerning claims to the slaves.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 B.R. 1, 1983 Bankr. LEXIS 4826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcallester-v-adams-in-re-adams-tnmb-1983.