McFadyen and Brown v. Masters

1901 OK 39, 66 P. 284, 11 Okla. 16, 1901 Okla. LEXIS 2
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 6, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 1901 OK 39 (McFadyen and Brown v. Masters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McFadyen and Brown v. Masters, 1901 OK 39, 66 P. 284, 11 Okla. 16, 1901 Okla. LEXIS 2 (Okla. 1901).

Opinion

Opinion of the court by

BüRROKd, C. J.:

This cause was decided in this court in February, 1899, and is reported in 8 Okla. 174; subsequently a rehearing was ordered, and the case is now before us on review. The record discloses this state of facts:

In May, 1895, John A. McFadyen and Sarah Brown, as partners, brought an action in replevin against H. 0. Masters, as sheriff of Nay County, to recover a stock of goods and merchandise which the sheriff held by virtue of certain writs of attachment, issued at the instance of certain creditors of one P. I. Brown, who was the vendor of the stock of goods. The plaintiffs, McFadyen and Brown, contracted to purchase from P. I. Brown his stock of goods for the sum of $4000. They were to pay him $1100 cash and convey to him certain real estate representing the balance of the pur *18 chase price of the stock of merchandise. In part performance of this agreement they paid Brown $80, and took possession of the goods. Brown was insolvent and some of his creditors immediately brought suit and levied attachments upon the stock. These writs were levied and the sheriff took possession of the stock the same night that McFadyen and Brown took possession. The sheriff defended against the re-plevin action under these writs of attachment The contention of McFadyen and Brown was that they were Iona fide- purchasers for value without any notice of fraud on the part of their vendor. The sheriff defended upon the ground that the sale of P. I. Brown to McFadyen and Brown was fraudulent for the purpose of defeating his creditors, and that the vendees had notice of the fraud; or, if they purchased in good faith, that notice of the fraud was brought to them before they had parted with the purchase money, and therefore they could only claim remuneration for the $80 paid, as against the creditors of Brown. The case was tried to a jury and a verdict returned that McFadyen and Brown were entitled to possession, and that their interest in the goods was of the value of $80. Judgment was rendered on this verdict, and the plaintiffs appealed. Their theory is that if they were entitled to possession and a return could not be had, they were entitled to an alternative judgment for the full value of the goods, $4,000.

This court in the former opinion held to that view and ordered a reversal of the judgment, but on more careful research and deliberation came to the conclusion that a rehearing should be granted.

This cause is now before us for final determination. It was urgently contended in the original brief for defendant *19 in error, that the casemiade is so defective and incomplete that the court cannot properly review the errors complained of, and this contention is again urged in the brief on petition for rehearing. There is considerable force in this contention. The record does not contain the instructions given by the trial court, nor does it contain all the evidence that was submitted to the jury. The case-made contains the stenographer’s transcript of the testimony and also contains a statement that “this was all the evidence introduced on the trial of the cause.” Notwithstanding this statement, it is apparent from this transcript that certain exhibits which it purports to contain are in fact absent. A contract was introduced in evidence by which there was some agreement to the effect that the balance of the unpaid purchase money and the deeds for the land which McFadyen and Brown were to convey to P. I. Brown, were being held in escrow until the results of the litigation between McFadyen and Brown and the creditors of P. I. Brown should be determined. Also a number of letters from P. I. Brown to some of his creditors relating to his financial condition were omitted from the record. But inasmuch as the result must, be the same, in the present condition of the record, and the question involved on the merits is one which has not been passed upon by this court, we will consider the ease upon the merits, in so far as the incomplete record will permit.

It is a well settled rule of practice that in order to, reverse a judgment of a court of general jurisdiction, error must be made to affirmatively appear by the complaining-party. The appellate court will presume that the trial court has done everything proper and necesary to have been done to support its judgment, unless the contrary ' affirmatively appears. And where the cause was tried to a jury, and the *20 instructions are omitted from the case-made and record,, the appellate court will presume that the trial judge gave to the jury such instructions as were applicable to the issues and the evidence, and if there is any state of facts deducible from the evidence, applicable to the issues, which under any theory of the law will sustain the verdict and judgment, such judgment will not be disturbed.

This was a replevin action; McFadyen and Brown alleged that they were the owners and entitled to the possession of the stock of merchandise in question; the sheriff was made the defendant; he answered by general denial. The plaintiffs showed that they had purchased the goods from one P. I. Brown, and agreed to pay therefor the sum of four thousand dollars.. This consideration was to ■ be paid part in cash, and the remainder by conveying certain real estate in Oklahoma county, to Brown. They paid $80 •on the 12th of May and took possession of the goods on the evening and night of that day. They were to pay $1,020 cash, and deliver the deeds to the real estate on or about the 15th of May. The balance of this money had not been paid, or the real estate conveyed at the time of the trial. A few hours after McFadyen and Brown got possession of the goods, and before daylight the next morning, the sheriff levied several writs of attachment on the goods in favor of certain creditors of P. I. Brown, and took possession of the stock. These facts were practically uncontroverted.

The sheriff defended on behalf of the attachment creditors, and introduced evidence tending to show that P. I. Brown was largely indebted to numerous creditors; that he had asked extensions of time' on some of his indebtedness; that he had transferred a portion of the goods after night, *21 and had executed a chattel mortgage on some other personal property during the night that the attachments were levied; that McEadyen and Brown had withheld payment of the entire consideration, except the $80 paid on the day of the transfer, and had declined to make any further payments or transfers of real estate until the attachment suits were determined. It was also shown that P. I. Brown was indebted to each of the attaching creditors, and that he was unable to pay them at the time that the attachments were issued.

The plaintiffs, McEadyen and Brown, also showed that they had paid about $180 in taxes on the goods, and had accepted an order given by P. I. Brown for $100 payable to the agent who negotiated the deal as his commission; but these payments were shown to have been made about ten days or two weeks after the attachments were levied.

Upon these facts we are informed in the brief of counsel for McEadyen and Brown, that their theory before the trial court was that McEayden-and Brown were bona fide purchasers of the stock of goods for a valuable consideration, without any notice of P. I.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1901 OK 39, 66 P. 284, 11 Okla. 16, 1901 Okla. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcfadyen-and-brown-v-masters-okla-1901.