McVeigh v. Harrison

194 S.E. 208, 185 Ga. 121, 1937 Ga. LEXIS 694
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedDecember 3, 1937
DocketNo. 11995
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 194 S.E. 208 (McVeigh v. Harrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McVeigh v. Harrison, 194 S.E. 208, 185 Ga. 121, 1937 Ga. LEXIS 694 (Ga. 1937).

Opinion

Russell, Chief Justice.

The entire argument contained in the brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error is made in support of the one contention that the plaintiff in the lower court can not join J. EL McVeigh in her action against Norman S. McVeigh, because the relation of debtor and creditor does not exist between Norman S. McVeigh and Mrs. Harrison until her claim against him has been reduced to judgment.

The rulings in the first two headnotes do not require elaboration.

In Westmoreland v. Powell, 59 Ga. 256, appeared the following: “Willis Westmoreland committed a trespass upon the person of Powell. Powell sued him, and shortly thereafter Willis Westmoreland conveyed his house and lot in Atlanta to John G. Westmoreland for the benefit of his wife and children. The result of Powell’s suit was a recovery of some two or three thousand dollars, the fi. fa. for which sum of money was levied upon the house and lot, which John Westmoreland claimed as trustee; and the question was, is it subject? The jury found it not subject under the charge of the court; whereupon Powell moved for a new trial, which was granted, and Westmoreland, the claimant, excepted.

"1, 2. The main question is, whether the voluntary conveyance by Willis Westmoreland to his family was void as against Powell, if he was insolvent at the time, or if it was intended by him to delay or defraud Powell, the court having charged the jury that Powell’s claim on Westmoreland was not as a creditor and had little to do with the case, and having afterwards granted a new trial mainly, we suppose, on this ground, though also, perhaps, on the further ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. On this latter point the record is silent, the judge having granted the new trial generally. We express no opinion on the weight of the evidence. The question turns in part on the proper construction of the Code, sections 1952 and 1944. Both sections occur in the same title of the Code and in the same [125]*125chapter, the chapter being entitled ‘Debtor and Creditor.’ Section 1944 defines the relation of debtor and creditor, and extends that relation for the purposes, it would seem, of matters embraced in the chapter, to every case where one person is bound to pay another in law any amount of money, certain or uncertain. Section 1952 confines these fraudulent conveyances to creditors, leaving out the words ‘and others,’ which are in the 13 Elizabeth; but it would appear, we think, from the definition of the relation of debtor and creditor in section 1944, that the legislature did not mean, by leaving out these words, to alter the whole law as understood and enforced in England and this country for years, but they meant to treat all people as debtors who were liable as tortfeasors, or otherwise, to pay money to others. The words ‘ liable and bound by law to pay another an amount of money, certain or uncertain,’ certainly are broad enough to embrace a person liable to pay for a trespass, and that before the amount of the trespass, or the extent of the damage, is ascertained; for the words are, ‘ an amount of money, certain or uncertain.’ Construing the two sections together, we all incline to think, and I think with much confidence, that the legislature meant to extend the meaning of debtor to one who owed another for an unascertained damage to person or property, so far as fraudulent conveyances are concerned.”

In the case just cited it was held: “1.- Sections 1944 and 1952, in the same chapter of the Code,- should be construed together, and, construing them together, section 1952 does not contract or limit the statute (13 Elizabeth) against fraudulent conveyances by leaving out the words ‘ and others ’ after ‘ creditors;’ but, in the sense of that section (1952), aided by 1944, the relation of debtor and creditor would seem to exist so far as to make conveyances fraudulent as against the injured party, if so in other respects, whenever ‘ one person is liable and bound by law to pay another an amount of money, certain or uncertain.’ 2. A conveyance, therefore, if fraudulent against a creditor, in the ordinary legal sense of that word, would seem to be fraudulent, also, against any person who had, at the time of the conveyance, a valid, subsisting claim for damages for a trespass upon his person or property, committed by the party making such conveyance.”

In Banks v. McCandless, 119 Ga. 793 (47 S. E. 332), Buck, was one of two sureties on a bail-bond given by Conley in a trover [126]*126proceeding in which he was the defendant. A judgment was rendered on the bond against Conley and his sureties; and Buck, having reimbursed his cosurety, became the assignee of the execution by virtue of his payment of the balance due upon it, and in this way became the creditor of Conley. An action was brought by Buck and another creditor of Conley, seeking to have set aside certain deeds executed by Conley during his lifetime for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding creditors. A verdict was returned, adjudging the deeds attacked to be void. The administrator of Conley made a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and he excepted. In the opinion in this case it was said: “The inculpated deed from John L. Conley to his brother, Morris J. Conley, bears date July 12th, 1883. The bail-bond in the trover suit instituted by Thornton was given in June of that year. It is insisted in the motion for a new trial that though a judgment was had in the trover suit at a later date, yet at the date of the deed the plaintiff in the trover case did not stand to Conley as a creditor, under the statute of 13th Eliz., and that Buck, who subsequently paid a balance due on the execution issued on that judgment, did not, at the date of the deed just mentioned, occupy the relation of a creditor to John L. Conley, within the meaning of that statute. And it is complained that the court- erred in charging the jury as follows: From the ‘date when the bail-bond was given, the principal and sureties were bound to Thornton for the payment of the eventual condemnation-money; and when a verdict was rendered finding that John L. Conley had been guilty of a conversion of Thornton’s property, and a judgment was- taken against John L. Conley and his sureties on the bail-bond, and when execution issued upon such judgment and Buck paid off a balance due on such execution, he was entitled to control such execution, as Thornton could have done before it was paid off, for his, Buck’s, reimbursement; [and] if, after the giving of such bail-bond, John L. Conley made a conveyance, or conveyances, to his brother, Morris J. Conley, for the purpose of delaying or defrauding Thornton, or the sureties on his bond, as to any liability on such bond, then Buck would be a creditor, within the meaning of the law, who could attack such deed, and his executrix, standing in his place, would have the same right.’ . . Our statute (Civil Code, § 2695) declares that ‘the following acts by debtors shall be [127]*127fraudulent in law against creditors and others, and as to them null and void/ — followed by an enumeration of the acts. This court, in the case of Westmoreland v. Powell, 59 Ga. 256, held that though the words ' and others/ following the word ' creditors/ did not appear in the code then of force, in that section in which the provisions of the statute of 13th Elizabeth were intended to be embodied, the omission did not have the effect of limiting the operation of that statute upon fraudulent conveyances.

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Related

Morris v. Morris
756 S.E.2d 616 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2014)
Downs v. Powell
108 S.E.2d 715 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1959)
ATLANTA NEWSPAPERS INC. v. Doyal
65 S.E.2d 432 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1951)
Baker v. Goddard
53 S.E.2d 754 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1949)
Von Kamp v. Gary
52 S.E.2d 591 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1949)
McGahee v. McGahee
48 S.E.2d 675 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1948)
McVeigh v. Harrison
22 S.E.2d 752 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1942)
Keeter v. Bank of Ellijay
9 S.E.2d 761 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
194 S.E. 208, 185 Ga. 121, 1937 Ga. LEXIS 694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcveigh-v-harrison-ga-1937.