Spencer v. Correll

1932 OK 839, 16 P.2d 1084, 161 Okla. 19, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 424
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 13, 1932
Docket21433
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1932 OK 839 (Spencer v. Correll) 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
Spencer v. Correll, 1932 OK 839, 16 P.2d 1084, 161 Okla. 19, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 424 (Okla. 1932).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered in the district court of Ponto-toc county in favor of defendants in error, defendants below, in an action brought by plaintiff in error to cancel a deed to certain land, executed by defendant Mary Correll to defendant W. T. Chandler.

The action arose in connection with a bond given to discharge a garnishment in an action brought by plaintiff against Gus Cunningham et al., in 1922, which action was tried in .the district court in 1923, resulting in a judglmlent for the plaintiff. The case was appealed to this court and affirmed in September, 1925, Cunningham et al. v. Spencer, 111 Okla. 217, 239 P. 444. The judgment therein obtained was not paid, whereupon Spencer brought suit on the bond theretofore given to discharge the garnishment. Defendant Mary Correll was one of the sureties on said bond. Judgment upon the pleadings was entered for defendants in the district court, whereupon Spencer appealed to this court, and the judgment was reversed in February, 1929. Spencer v. Colbert, 135 Okla. 111, 274 P. 646.

On March 2S, 1929, and before the cause came on for trial again in the district court, plaintiff commenced this, a separate action, to cancel a deed made by defendant Mary Correll to defendant W. T. Chandler. The petition alleges that the judgment theretofore obtained against Cunningham et al. had not been paid, and' had attached thereto as a part thereof a copy of the bond given to discharge the garnishment in form substantially as required by section 370, C. O. S. 1921 [O. S. 1931, sec. 631]. It then alleged, in substance, that, on March 14, 1929, defendant Mary Correll had executed to defendant W. T. Chandler a warranty deed conveying certain land in Pontotoc county, and the said deed was of record in the office of the county clerk; that the deed so executed was made without consideration and for the purpose of defrauding plaintiff and for the purpose of placing the record title out of said Mary Correll to prevent the judgment lien attaching thereto should plaintiff prevail in the action upon the bond, and that said deed was accepted by defendant Chandler with full understanding, notice, and knowledge that said conveyance was made to defeat and defraud plaintiff.

On March 2, 1929, E. L. Spencer, plaintiff herein, filed a petition in the district court against J. E. Hurley and Bertha Ber-den, two of the other sureties on the same bond, and against Mary Correll, in which he alleged that defendant Mary Correll was the owner of the land here involved, and that J. E. Hurley and Bertha Berden were the owners of certain other land, and that defendants in that action and each of them were attempting to dispose of their property and particularly the land described, aud were procuring or suffering certain acts to be done which if permitted would render the judgment for plaintiff, sought in the action on the bond, ineffectual. On the same day he obtained a temporary restraining order restraining defendant Mary Correll from disposing of said property until the further order of the court and designating March 27, 1929, as the time for hearing “said temporary restraining order.” The sheriff made his return purporting to show service of' the order on the defendant Mary Correll March 4, 1929. A summons was issued on the same date returnable March 11, 1929, with the answer day fixed therein “on or before March 21, 1929.” The return of the sheriff purported to show service thereof on Mary Correll March 4, 1929.

Defendant W. T. Chandler filed his' answer in the instant case, consisting of a general denial, but admitting that he was the grantee in the deed. He further pleaded that he purchased the land in good faith for value, without notice, actual or constructive, of the claim of plaintiff; that the consideration actually paid by him was $5,000.

*21 Defendant Mary Correll filed her separate’ answer, consisting of a general denial, and specifically denying that she had ever been served with a copy of the restraining order purporting to have been issued on March 2, 1929. She further alleged that long before any judgment was rendered against her o:i the bond given in the garnishment proceedings she had sold the land in controversy to defendant Chandler in due course for value and without notice of any right, title, claim, equity, or estate owned or claimed by plaintiff therein; that at the time she sold same, she was the owner thereof, free from any lien, claim, or incumbrance of plaintiff, or any other person; that she was in possession thereof occupying the samo as a homestead.

The cause was tried to the court, resulting in general findings in favor of defendant W. T. Chandler, and that defendant Mary Correll had no interest in the property. Judgment was rendered accordingly, denying plaintiff any relief and quieting title to the land in defendant W. T. Chandler. From this judgment plaintiff appeals.

It is first contended that by reason cf the proceedings had in the action brought to enjoin Mary Correll from disposing of her property, which action, for convenience, will be referred to herein as cause No. 9794, the provisions of the lis pendens statute, section 260, C. O. S. 1921 [O. S. 1931, sec. 193] were invoked, so as, in effect, to place the land in a status as though an attachment had been levied thereon so as to impress the same with a sort of a lien, and thus prevent the defendant W. T. Chandler from purchasing same free from the right of plaintiff to subject the land to the payment of the judgment which plaintiff then sought, and which he did obtain on April 2, 1929, some 19 days after the execution and delivery of the deed sought to be canceled.

It is doubtless the rule in this state that a creditor, before judgment, may restrain his debtor from disposing of his property whore it is made to appear that such debtor threatens to, or is about to dispose of his property with the intent to defraud his creditors or render the judgment ineffectual, and that thf right to enjoin the fraudulent disposition of. property under section 405, C. O. S. 1921, is not limited to property which is the subject of the action. It was so held in First Nat. Bank of Anadarko v. Mills, 134 Okla. 186, 272 P. 840. In that case a valid temporary injunction was issued in the cause wherein judgment was sought. Here a separate action was brought seeking the injunction. No temporary injunction was obtained. At the trial of the instant case it was admitted in open court that the copy of the order purporting to be a temporary restraining order was never signed by the' judge, and that the purported signature of the judge on the copy purporting to have been served, was written by counsel for plaintiff and not by the district judge. The copy purporting to have been seiwed was not certified by the clerk. Furthermore, the defendant in cause No. 9794, by special appearance for that purpose only, moved the court to quash the summons and the pretended service thereof upon the ground that no service of any kind was made upon her notwithstanding the return of the sheriff showing personal service. The motion was sustained. The service and summons were quashed. The service of the so-called temporary restraining order was likewise quashed upon the same grounds. It does not appear that any further attempt was made to obtain service or to procure another restraining order or temporary injunction as to defendant Mary Correll.

Section 260, C. O. S. 1921 [O. S. 1931, sec. 193] upon which plaintiff relies, provides:

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Related

Chandler v. McKeel
1933 OK 631 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1933)

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Bluebook (online)
1932 OK 839, 16 P.2d 1084, 161 Okla. 19, 1932 Okla. LEXIS 424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spencer-v-correll-okla-1932.