Roper v. Hackney

15 Fla. 323
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1875
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 15 Fla. 323 (Roper v. Hackney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roper v. Hackney, 15 Fla. 323 (Fla. 1875).

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURG, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The complainants seek by their action to subject certain real estate, which they allege was conveyed, first, by James S. Hackney to Green B. Thomas, then' by Thomas and wife to Mary J. Hackney, wife of Janies' S., then by Mary J. Hackney and James S. Hackney to James I). Dorsétt and Joseph D. Hackney, and then by the said Dorsett and Hackney to William Mills, to sale for the payment of three several judgments against the defendant, James S. Hackney, upon the ground of fraud in the two first mentioned sales and conveyances of the said real estate.

They pray that the court will declare the two first above mentioned deeds of conveyance null and void, and that they may be produced and delivered up to be cancelled.

The defendants, in their separate answers, deny each and every allegation of fraud 'in the several sales and transfers as charged in the said bill of complaint, James D. Dorsett, Joseph D. Hackney and William Mills claiming that the said real estate is in the possession of the defendant Mills or his vendee; that Mills. purchased the same in [good faith for a valuable consideration and without notice of any frauds, if any there were, in the previous transfer of said property.

The question which arises is, was the sale of the premises [330]*330in question made by James S. Hackney to Green B. Thomas on the 16th day of November, 1865, and the subsequent sale from Green B. Thomas and his wife to Mary J. Hackney on the 9th day of March* 1866, made Avith intent to “ delay, hinder, or defraud creditors,” and are the conveyances made at those times therefore “void, frustrate and of none effect ?”

It is charged in the bill of complaint that the indebtedness of the defendant, J ames S. Hackney, to the complainants respectively, upon which the general judgments set out therein Avere subsequently recovered, AvaS, at. the date of the conveyance of the said real estate by Hackney to Thomas, fully matured and due. That the judgments so recovered are on the records in the County of Orange, Avhere this land was located.

The property was worth the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, which was the consideration expressed in the deeds, but the wife of James S. Hackney- did not unite with him in the conveyance to Thomas, or in any manner relinquish her right of dower in the premises.

In his answer to the bill of complaint, the defendant, James S. Hackney, the vendor, says : “He sold the lands in question to Green B. Thomas for the sum of $1,500, which this defendant then regarded as the- value of said lands. That the said defendant, Green B. Thomas, paid this respondent for said lands at the date of the conveyance thereof in three promissory notes tor the sum of five hundred dollars each, respectively due in one, two and three years, and made payable to this defendant or bearer; that said Green B. Thomas made payments at divers times upon said notes of several sums of money, amounting in the aggregate to somewhere between íavo and three hundred dollars.”

The defendant, Green B. Thomas, in his answer, states substantially the same facts as averred by James S. Hackney, alleging further that the payments made upon the said notes, [331]*331“ amounting to several hundred dollars, were made by labor in two trips to Orange county from Ocala, in making shoes in considerable numbers for the said James S. Hackney, for sale, and in personal labor of my minor sons for and on account of the said James S. Hackney.”

In -support of their allegation of fraud, the complainants introduce some evidence.' Aden Waterman, Sr., testifies that he had a conversation with James S. Hackney in August, 1865, which was but a short time previous to his conveyance to Thomas. In that conversation Hackney said to the witness: “ If I sell this place (meaning Clay Spring) to yon now, I shall have nothing left but my other place on the Apopka. I owe two or three thousand dollars in Charleston and other places, and I intend to put the money in my pocket which I shall get for it, and when I sell the other place, as it is all I will have left, and that I do not believe in a man’s giving up his last dollar to pay his debts.”

Subsequently, arid after he, Waterman, had purchased Clay Spring from Hackney, they had another conversation. That then Hackney told him he had sold his place and everything he had to Green B. Thomas. That he, Waterman, had previously sold some cattle to Hackney in part payment for the “ Clay Springthat after this last mentioned conversation, “Green B. Thomas came down to where I then lived, and changed the mark and brand of these cattle into the mark and brand of him, the said Green B. Thomas.”

There were fifty head of these cattle so received in part-payment for “Clay Spring,” and they were delivered to Thomas and the son of James S. Hackney, and they two together changed the marks and brands.

The witnesses, Waterman and Johnson, both testify that Green B. Thomas was a poor man, and that he was a shoemaker. Johnson says “ he did not have much property.” Waterman says “he did not have any visible property; he was not able to invest $1,500 in a farm.” There is no con[332]*332Sicting evidence upon this point. The conveyance of the same premises, made by Green B. Thomas and his wife to "Mary J. ITackney, the wife of James S. Hackney, on the . ©th day of March, 1866, .was for the like consideration of fifteen hundred dollars. It does not seem to have been remorded in Orange county until the 16th day of February, 1867, more than eleven months after its date, and about three months subsequént to the rendition of the judgment in favor of the complainant, Stewart, against .James S. Hackney, the husband of the grantee.

James S. Hackney answers that the consideration expressed in this deed was paid by Mary J. Hackney, to the best of his recollection, in the following manner: “ One horse, valued at one hundred and seventy-five dollars; twenty-two hogs, valued at ten dollars each, and somewhere about sixty dollars in currency of the United States, and .'the: balance of the said consideration in the notes heretofore described as made by Thomas to this defendant or bearer, and of which the said Mary J. Hackney was then the legal and equitable holder.”

The defendant, Thomas, answers in this respect, “ that he ; received from Mary J. Hackney, as the purchase money of •said lands, to the best of his recollection, one horse, one ■stock of hogs, and between forty and sixty dollars in the ■.currency of the United States of America. That there was ¡.great scarcity of money in circulation in the locality of this •.transaction. That the residue of his obligations for the •■©Hgfesal parchase money of this place was then cancelled bjr fie said Mary J. Hackney, who represented herself entitled to do so.”

James S. Hackney also claims in his answer that his said wife, Mary J., “became the legal and equitable holder, bearer and sole possessor of the rest and residue of the said promissory notes of Green B. Thomas, by reason of advancements made in currency from her own private funds.” These notes were the three given by Thomas to Hackney, payable [333]*333in one, two and three years in payment for the premises on the first mentioned sale, and there is in the record no evidence of the purchase of them, or either of them, by Mary J. Hackney; neither is there evidence that she had at any time after marriage any separate property or private funds, or that she made any advancements to her husband.

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Bluebook (online)
15 Fla. 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roper-v-hackney-fla-1875.