Stanton v. Catron

8 N.M. 355, 8 Gild. 355
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 5, 1896
DocketNo. 617
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 8 N.M. 355 (Stanton v. Catron) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stanton v. Catron, 8 N.M. 355, 8 Gild. 355 (N.M. 1896).

Opinion

Hamilton, J.

This cause comes to us by appeal from the Second judicial district, where a decree was entered sustaining a demurrer and dismissing the bill of complaint. The allegations contained in the bill, to which a demurrer was sustained, are substantially as follows:

That on the twelfth day of August, 1893, the complainant, M. W. Stanton, obtained a judgment in the district court in and for the county of Valencia, in the territory of New Mexico, against one Roman A, Baca, for the sum of $1,793 damages, and $23.57 costs of suit; that on the fifteenth day of August, 1893, said judgment was duly docketed by the clerk of said district court, in a book kept in his office for that purpose, and on the same day a certified transcript of the docket of said judgment was duly filed with the probate clerk and ex-officio recorder of Bernalillo county, in said district, which said transcript was by said recorder duly filed and recorded in a book kept in his office for that purpose, by which record of said transcript of said judgment in said county of Bernalillo the said complainant acquired a lien on all the real estate of said Roman A. Baca in said Bernalillo county, from the date of the filing of said transcript; that on the eighth day of September, 1893, said complainant caused an execution to be duly issued out of said district court of Valencia county and delivered the same- to the sheriff of said county; that the said sheriff afterward, to wit, on the twenty-seventh day of October, 1893, returned said execution nulla bona, said|Valencia county being where said Roman A. Baca resided.

It is then charged in the bill, in paragraphs 7 and 8, that at the time of the rendition of said judgment and the filing of the transcript in the county of Bernalillo, the said Roman A. Baca was the owner of an interest in certain land in said bill mentioned, known, and called the Bartolomé Fernandes or San Miguel Spring Grant, •which land is fully described in the bill. It is further charged in the bill in paragraph 9, that on the eighth day of May, 1894, the said complainant caused to be issued out of the district court in and for the county of Valencia another execution, and on said day delivered the same to the sheriff of the county of Bernalillo; that said sheriff thereupon on said day levied said execution on all of the right, title, and interest of the said Roman A. Baca in and to the said above described real estate, and the said sheriff under said execution proceeded to advertise said land for sale to satisfy the said execution. It is further charged in ■ said bill, in paragraph 10,that:

“Tour orator further represents that thereafter, to wit, on the twenty-sixth day of May, A. D. 1894, the defendant, Thomas B. Catron, caused to be filed with the probate clerk and ex-officio recorder of the county of Bernalillo a deed of bargain and sale from the said Roman A. Baca to the said Thomas B. Catron, being dated the eighteenth day of April, 1894, wherein and whereby the said Roman A. Baca conveyed to the said Thomas B. Catron all his right, title and interest in and to the land hereinbefore described, and the said Catron gives it out and claims that he holds the said land free from the judgment lien of your orator, and that his claim to said premises is superior thereto.”

It is also charged in said bill, paragraph 11 :

“Your orator further shows that if said land might be sold upon said execution, that the remedy thereby would be inadequate, that said conveyance to said Catron would be a cloud on the title of a purchaser under said execution and said land can not be sold for its reasonable value, except under an order of this court, adjusting the rights of the respective parties herein.”

Then follows a prayer that the several liens of the said complainant and the said defendant be marshalled and the amounts thereof ascertained, and that the lien of the complainant be decreed by the court to be a superior and prior lien to the claim of the defendant, Catron, and that the property be sold and the proceeds thereof brought into court for distribution according to the several priorities of the parties litigant herein. To this bill the defendant, Catron, filed a demurrer in the court below, upon the ground, first:

“That the said complainant has an adequate remedy at law for the redress of the grievances, if any, set out in said bill of complaint; and, second, that the said complainant has not, in and by his said bill, made or stated such a case as entitles him in a court of equity to any relief from or against this defendant, touching the matters contained in said bill, or any of such matters.”

This demurrer was sustained by the court below, and the complainant declining to amend his bill, but electing to stand- upon the sufficiency thereof the court entered a decree dismissing the bill, from which an appeal has brought the case to this court.

The complainant assigns as a ground for the reversal of the decision of the court below, first:

“That the district court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the bill of complaint; second, that the district court erred in dismissing complainant’s bill of complaint.”

The question is presented for our consideration as to whether the ruling of the district court was correct in sustaining the demurrer and dismissing the bill.

Courts of equity entertain jurisdiction at the suit of a judgment creditor in those cases where the bill discloses a state of facts showing that the remedy at law is inadequate to accomplish the relief. • In those cases where a discovery of assets is sought to be obtained; or where it is desired to reach equitable or other interests in property not subject to levy and sale under an execution at law; or where a fraudulent or collusive conveyance has been made with the view of placing the property of the debtor beyond the reach of levy and sale under an execution, a court of equity will lend its aid to the creditor in securing to him that relief which he could not otherwise obtain. It m*y be said therefore, that there are at least three classes of cases in which the creditor may successfully appeal to a court of equity for aid in the enforcement of his demands against a debtor. First, in those cases where he seeks the satisfaction of his debt out of a trust fund, which is not subject to the demands of a judgment and execution at law. In this class of cases it is said that he may come directly into a court of chancery without first resorting to a judgment and execution at law.

As stated by Chief Justice Marshall, in the case of Russell v. Clark’s Executors, 7 Cranch, page 87:

“If a claim is to be satisfied out of a fund which is accessible only by the aid of a court of chancery, application may be made in the first instance to that court, which will not require that the claim should be first established in a court of law.”

The jurisdiction in this class of cases is based upon the peculiar right of a court of chancery to decree and enforce a trust. It is not pretended by the complainant in the case at bar, that he comes within this class of cases; he is not seeking satisfaction out of a trust fund belonging to his debtor which is beyond the power of a court of law to reach.

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Related

Heath v. Gray
274 P.2d 620 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1954)
Fuqua v. Trego
133 P.2d 344 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1943)
Cavender v. Phillips
67 P.2d 250 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 N.M. 355, 8 Gild. 355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanton-v-catron-nm-1896.