Steinkraus v. Korth

62 N.W. 1110, 44 Neb. 777, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 109
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1895
DocketNo. 5915
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 62 N.W. 1110 (Steinkraus v. Korth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Steinkraus v. Korth, 62 N.W. 1110, 44 Neb. 777, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 109 (Neb. 1895).

Opinion

Harrison, J.

March 21, 1890, the appellees instituted this action in the district court of Pierce county. There was alleged in the petition then filed the recovery of judgments' in favor, respectively, of Richard'Korth, Henry Holly, D. R. Alexander &Co., George A. Brooks, the Fidelity Oil Company, Farrell & Co., Jacob Meyer & Co., Tolerton-Stetson Co., C. A. Morrell & Co., King Bros;, E. P. Pickenbrock, and Herman Bros', against one F. Steinkraus, and the issuance of execution on each of them- and the return thereof in[778]*778dorsed no property found. There was also pleaded the transfer of certain property, including some real estate, from the judgment debtor to Herman Steinkraus of appellants, the transfer of the real estate being by warranty deed and, it was further stated, without consideration and with the intent to hinder, delay, and defraud these and other creditors, and with the knowledge on the part of the grantee of Herman Steinkraus of such fraudulent intent and purpose of the grantor. There was a further allegation of a transfer by assignment of a contract of purchase of certain other real estate by F. Steinkraus to the Farmers State Bank of Plainview with fiaudulent intent, but it seems that this branch of the case was, during the progress of the action, abandoned, and we need give it no further notice. The relief sought as against the appellants F. and Herman Steinkraus was the setting aside of the conveyance from the former to the latter and to subject the real estate described in the deed, or the proceeds derived from the sale thereof, to the payment of the judgment set forth in the petition. The appellants F. and Herman Steinkraus filed separate answers, in each of which it was admitted that at the time stated in the petition F. Steinkraus was the owner of the real estate described therein, and that he conveyed the same by deed of general warranty to Herman Steinkraus. and each and every allegation of the portion of the petition in which the fraudulent character of such transfer was pleaded was denied. A trial of the issues resulted in a decree in favor of the judgment creditors of the amount due to each, and vacating and annulling the conveyance of the real estate from F. to Herman Steinkraus, and ordering the property sold, from which the last mentioned parties have appealed to this court.

The sole contention of appellants is that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding that the charge of fraud was proved, or to sustain a decree based upon such finding The testimony in the case discloses that F. Steinkraus and [779]*779Herman were father and son, and that the father, being engaged in business at Plainview, Pierce county, this state, and heavily indebted, on or about the 20th day of December, 1889, conveyed all of his property to the son, including the real estate in controversy in this action. It further appears that prior to and during the year 1876, F. Steinkraus was engaged in business in Norfolk, Nebraska, and that his son Herman, who was living with his father and assisting him in conducting the business, at some timeduring the year 1876, reached the age of manhood, and at the request of the father remained with him in the stoi’e, assisting him as before and making his home with the father. There does not appear to have been any definite arrangement or agreement with reference to what the son was to receive for his services except his board and clothing, which he did receive, and it is also shown that he probably also received at times during the continuance of this arrangement a little money. After the lapse of about three and one-fourth years the son left home and soon afterwards, or during the year 1881, removed to and resided upon some laud in Pierce county. May 25, 1881, some business property in Norfolk, owned by the father, was conveyed to the son, the consideration stated in the conveyance being $1,200. This, it is claimed by appellants, was the amount due the son for services he had performed in the store during the three and one-fourth years after he was twenty-one years of age, and that the father, not having money to pay the amount, and the son asking for a settlement, it was agreed that this property should be conveyed to him in payment of the claim. The father remained in possession and occupancy of the premises subsequent to the transfer, and the son received no rents or benefit of them. The father paid for repairs and insurance and also paid the taxes. The appellants testify that he.made these payments as a consideration for his use of the properly. In 1883, or about two years after the Norfolk property was conveyed [780]*780to Herman Steinkraus, it was sold to O. Hirsch for the sum of $5,000, the negotiation which resulted in this disposal being conducted by the father, the son being consulted once or twice in regard to it. Two thousand five hundred dollars, of the five thousand dollars was paid, and to secure the balance Hirsch gave a mortgage on the premises purchased by him. The $2,500, of the amount paid, was received by the father and retained by him, the son getting none of it. The appellants testify that it was loaned by the son to the father. Default was made by the purchaser in the payment of the amount secured by the mortgage and the mortgage was foreclosed, and at the sale of the premises in tke^foreclosure proceedings the son purchased them, but the evidence does not disclose whether he paid any other or further consideration for it than the amount due upon the mortgage which he was foreclosing. This was in 1887. Yery soon afterward, and during the same year, the property was again sold, the amount realized being $4,000. The father in this as in the prior sale appears-as the party actively engaged in the transaction of sale of the property and received and retained the money, $4,000, paid, it being claimed by appellants that it was loaned to him by the son. The fact of the father being the one who apparently effected these sales of this property is explained by the appellants in their testimony, in the statement that the son was on his farm at some considerable distance from Norfolk, and the father being in the first instance in possession of the property and managing it, and in the second instance in business in Plainview, where he was more likely to meet probable purchasers, attended to the sales as agent for the son. The $2,500 derived from the first sale of the Norfolk property, subsequent to its transfer to the son, and the $4,000 from the second sale, aggregating $6,500, and the interest, although it is nowhere stated from when to when the interest was calculated or at what rate, form the consideration, $7,050, as stated in it, for the conveyance [781]*781made from the father to the son during the month of December, 1890, and which was declared void by the decree in this case. We will now revert to the original transfer of ..the Norfolk property to the son. There is testimony in the record which tends to show that at the time of this transaction the father was having or expecting a controversy, and probably a lawsuit, with some party in Chicago, and several witnesses testify to conversations with the father or son when both were present, in which it was stated that the original transfer of the Norfolk property was made to the son because of the difficulty with the man who lived in Chicago, and the title was to be allowed to remain in the son’s name until it was settled. This evidence is denied by the appellants. It further appears that during the year 1884 the son concluded to engage in the lumber business in the town of Plainview and it was necessary that lie should have about $2,500 in money to put into the enterprise.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 N.W. 1110, 44 Neb. 777, 1895 Neb. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/steinkraus-v-korth-neb-1895.