Ruth v. Wellington

32 Pa. D. & C. 657, 1938 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 296
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County
DecidedJune 13, 1938
Docketno. 85
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Pa. D. & C. 657 (Ruth v. Wellington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruth v. Wellington, 32 Pa. D. & C. 657, 1938 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 296 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

Henninger, J.,

On March 27, 1934, Allentown Production Credit Exchange became a judgment creditor of William E. Schaffer, Sr., in the sum of $315, most of which is still owing. On June 26,1936, William E. Schaffer, Sr., used the proceeds of his adjusted compensation bonds for the purchase of a house and lot in Zionsville, Pa., and took title thereto in the name of his three minor children. Thereafter, Allentown Production Credit Exchange caused execution to issue against this property upon its judgment, purchased the same at sheriff’s sale, and thereupon conveyed the same for $420 to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs then brought an action in ejectment against the minor children of William-E. Schaffer, Sr., naming as additional defendants the Wellingtons, [658]*658who are the tenants upon the property in question and who claim no title.

At the trial of the action, besides introducing evidence tending to show that Schaffer, Sr., was insolvent at the time of the purchase of the property, plaintiffs introduced into evidence the following paragraph from defendants’ answer:

“7. That the said William E. Schaffer made title to said premises in the names of his three minor children not to hinder, delay or defraud any of his creditors and especially not the Allentown Production Credit Exchange, Put he used his bonus money to pay for said premises for his own benefit and to secure the comforts of his family.”

No evidence-was offered by plaintiffs in contradiction of the allegation that the property was paid for out of bonus money, and as a matter of fact, plaintiffs’ counsel conceded at side bar that they believed that the adjusted compensation bonds were cashed the same day that the money was turned over to the grantor of the premises.

At the close of plaintiffs’ case, defendants rested and moved for a directed verdict for four reasons: (1) No showing of any title at any time in Schaffer, Sr., through whom plaintiffs’ title must come; (2) plaintiffs not a party to sheriff’s sale, hence not entitled to bring ejectment; (3) plaintiffs not injured by any fraud that might have existed; and (4) property purchased with assets exempt from levy for judgment creditor’s claim, hence no fraud on it. While the first three points present interesting questions, the court felt the fourth point to be self-evident and directed a verdict for defendants on that point, and that alone has been argued in the motion for judgment non obstante veredicto and for a new trial. We need not consider the motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, for under no circumstances would plaintiffs have been entitled to a directed verdict in their favor. We, therefore, have the motion for a new trial for consideration.

[659]*659The law of Pennsylvania concerning exemption of pensions revolves about four cases. The first in point of time is Rozelle v. Rhodes, Exec., 116 Pa. 129, in which a pensioner placed his pension money for safekeeping with a friend, and the Supreme Court held it was liable to attachment for his debts. Next is Holmes v. Tallada, 125 Pa. 133, in which a pensioner endorsed his pension check to his wife, who used it for the purchase of a property in her name, which the court held was not a fraud upon his creditors. The third is Reiff et al. v. Mack, 160 Pa. 265, in which Judge Endlich held that, where a pension check had been left with a bank for collection, the proceeds of the check were exempt from attachment until actually paid into the hands of the veteran. The opinion of Judge Endlich can be interpreted to mean that, where property can be identified as having been procured through the deposit or investment of pension money, it remains free from attachment, but the Supreme Court per curiam opinion affirming his decision points out that the funds, while available to the pensioner and in part drawn upon by him, had not actually reached his hands and were exempt from levy for that reason. If any doubt remained as to the nonexemption of property because purchased with exempt funds, it has been settled by Aubrey v. McIntosh et al., 10 Pa. Superior Ct. 275, from which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania refused to allow an appeal and which was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in McIntosh v. Aubrey, 185 U. S. 122. In that case a pensioner held pension money for several months and then used it for the purcháse of real estate, taking title in the pensioner’s own name, against whom a judgment was obtained 15 years later, and it was held the property was not exempt from levy simply because purchased with pension money. This principle has been sustained in Saxe, Guardian, v. Board of Revision of Taxes, 311 Pa. 545, Pentz v. First National Bank, 75 Pa. Superior Ct. 1, and Stein’s Case, 118 Pa. Superior Ct. 549.

[660]*660The narrow question to be decided in this case, therefore, is whether our case is ruled by Holmes v. Tallada, supra, in which title to property purchased with pension funds was placed in the name of the pensioner’s wife, or by Aubrey v. McIntosh et al., supra, in which title was taken in the name of the pensioner herself. Both cases were decided under U. S. Rev. Stat. §4747, 38 U. S. C. 54, which provides:

“No sum of money due, or to become due, to any pensioner, shall be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, whether the same remains with the Pension Office, or any officer or agent thereof, or is in course of transmission to the pensioner entitled thereto, but shall inure wholly to the benefit of such pensioner.”

The exemption claimed in this case arises from the Adjusted Compensation Payment Act of January 27, 1936, 49 Stat. at L. 1099, providing for anticipation of adjusted service certificates by the issuance of bonds and provides in section 4:

“Such bonds . . . shall not be transferable, assignable, subject to attachment, levy, or seizure under any legal or equitable process and shall be payable only to the veteran or, in case of death or incompetence of the veteran, to the representative of his estate.”

Plaintiffs call our attention to the difference in the nature of the funds and to the difference in the wording of the respective exempting legislation, but we consider neither distinction material.

The United States Government has the right to attach any conditions it pleases to the payment of pensions, insurance, or adjusted compensation, and it is immaterial that insurance and adjusted compensation may appear to be based upon a contractual relationship between the recipient and the Government while pensions may be considered a gratuity. As pointed out in Fisher’s Estate, 302 Pa. 516, war risk insurance, though apparently contractual, also involved an element of gratuity on the part [661]*661of the Government through the generosity of its provisions.

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Related

McIntosh v. Aubrey
185 U.S. 122 (Supreme Court, 1902)
Fisher's Estate
153 A. 736 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1930)
Saxe v. Board of Revision of Taxes
166 A. 853 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1933)
Stein's Case
180 A. 577 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1935)
Rozelle v. Rhodes
9 A. 160 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1887)
Holmes v. Tallada
17 A. 238 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1889)
Reiff v. Mack
28 A. 699 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1894)
Aubrey v. McIntosh
10 Pa. Super. 275 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1899)
Pentz v. First National Bank
75 Pa. Super. 1 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1920)

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Bluebook (online)
32 Pa. D. & C. 657, 1938 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruth-v-wellington-pactcompllehigh-1938.