Strong v. Lawrence

12 N.W. 74, 58 Iowa 55
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 18, 1882
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 12 N.W. 74 (Strong v. Lawrence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Strong v. Lawrence, 12 N.W. 74, 58 Iowa 55 (iowa 1882).

Opinion

Day, J.

1. JUDGMENT: when conclusive. I. The plaintiffs bring this action as executors of the estate of H. S. Weiser, deceased. On the 13th day of March, 1877, the defendants Alexander and Mary Lawrence, conveyed to the defendants William and Hugh Lawrence, the premises in controversy. On the 16th day of October, 1877, the plaintiffs recovered a judgment by default against Alexander and John Lawrence, for $459.50 and costs, upon two promissory notes, dated respectively September 1, and October 25, 1871, and purporting to be executed-by A. Lawrence to J. Lawrence, and by him indorsed and guaranteed to H. S. Weiser or order, on November 1, [57]*571871, and January 31, 1872. The defendants insist that the signatures of Alexander Lawrence to these notes were forged by his son John Lawrence, and that Alexander Lawrence was not indebted, on account of said notes, at the time the conveyance in question was executed. The plaintiffs insist that the judgment entered upon the notes, which was obtained upon due notice to both Alexander and John Lawrence, is conclusive against all of the defendants, both as to the fact and amount of indebtedness when the conveyance was executed. The position of the plaintiffs is abundantly sustained by authority, and is, we think, correct. The case of Lidensparker v. Lidensparker, 52 Me., 481, is analogous to the one at bar, and is directly in point. In that case the plaintiff claimed title to land under a levy of execution in 1860, issued upon a judgment recovered in 1856, on a note executed in 1837, in a suit to which the defendant was not a party. The defendant claimed the land under a conveyance from the debtor in 1852, which was intermediate the execution of the note and the recovery of the judgment, and which conveyance the plaintiff claimed was fraudulent. The court instructed the jury that it was not competent for them to go behind the • judgment, to inquire into the validity of the note upon which it was predicated, but that the judgment was a final and conclusive determination of the subject-matter on which it was founded. The court held that the rule, that an erroneous . judgment can be avoided only by writ of error, has been so far relaxed where manifest injustice would be done to parties who have no right to reverse a judgment on writ of error, as to allow such parties to impeach a judgment by plea and proof, where the court had no jurisdiction, or it had been obtained by fraud or collusion, or was erroneously and unlawfully entered up, but that “ beyond this, the rules and principles of law do not authorize parties to proceed in the collateral impeachment of judgments, and when a judgment in a personal action is not liable to either of these objections, whether rendered on default, or after contestation, it is con-[58]*58elusive as to the relation of debtor and creditor between the parties, and the amount of indebtedness, and cannot be collaterally impeached by third parties in a subsequent suit, where such relation and indebtedness are called in question.” The following authorities fully sustain this view: Ferguson v. Kumler, 11 Minn., 104; Star v. Star, 1 Ohio, 146; Candee v. Lord, 2 N. Y., 269; Swihart v. Shaum, 24 Ohio St., 432; Scott v. Indianapolis Wagon Works, 48 Ind., 75.

The appellant relies upon Sargent v. Salmon, 27 Me., 539; Reed v. Davis, 22 Mass., 388, and Mattingly v. Nye, 8 Wall., 370. The case of Sargent v. Salmon was reviewed and distinguished in Lidensparker v. Lidensparker, supra, and it was shown that the objection upon which the defendant was allowed to impeach the judgment was founded upon an error in lam, the judgment plaintiff having recovered judgment on default for double the amount he was entitled to by law. In Feed v. Dams the court instructed the jury that the judgment and the note on which it was recovered were prima facie evidence that the plaintiff was a Iona fide creditor, and sufficient to entitle him to show defendant’s deed fraudulent, unless the defendant could prove that the note was not drxe, or had been paid, and that the judgment was coXusive or fraudulent. Upon the defendant’s appeal it was held that the instruction was beyond all doubt correct. In this case the direction to the jury was, that the judgment was sufficient evidence of the debt unless the defendant could show, not only that the note was not due, or had been paid, but also that the judgment was collusive or fraudulent. It is evident that this case is fully in harmony with Lidensparker v. Lidensparker, supra. Mattingly v. Nye was an action to set aside a trust executed by Nye, as in fraud of his creditors. The trust deed was executed in 1857, and the judgment under which plaintiff sought to set the trust deed aside was recovered in 1863, upon the assignment of a claim by Nye to the plaintiff, executed in 1860. It thus appears that both the assignment and the judgment were subsequent to the trust [59]*59deed. The plaintiff claimed, however, that the consideration of the assignment included two debts to him from the defendant Nye, bearing date of November 2, 1853, and thus antedating the trust deed. The controversy was as to the existence of a debt from Nye to the plaintiff prior to the assignment, and prior to the execution of the trust deed. It is evident that the judgment furnished no evidence upon this question. In determining the question, the court say: “ The-judgment is conclusive in respect to the parties to it. It cannot be impeached collaterally, and it cannot be questioned upon a creditor’s bill. * * * Here the question is not as to the conclusiveness of the judgment, but as to the indebtedness of Nye to the complainant when the property was conveyed to Harkness.” It is evident that this case, rightly understood, is an authority in favor of the position of the plaintiff. As. no fraud, or collusion, or error in law, has been shown in the recovery of the plaintiff’s judgment, we are of opinion that it is, in this case, conclusive of the fact, and of the amount, of the indebtedness of Alexander Lawrence.

2. FRAUDULENT conveyance: consideration: trust. II. Alexander Lawrence conveyed to his sons Hugh and William 320 acres of land, worth $6,400. They assumed and paid off’ a judgment in favor of the school j. o o fund, and which was a lien upon the land, for $400. The evidence tends to show that they paid the further sum of $200, the proceeds of crops raised upon the land, and that they have agreed to support their father. In fact the only consideration for the conveyance is the agreement for support. Where the consideration is in part a secret trust for the support of the grantor, the conveyance is fraudulent. Lidensparker v. Lidensparker, 52 Me., 481; Smith v. Smith, 11 N. H., 459; Macomber v. Peck, 39 Iowa, 351; Graham v. Rooney, 42 Iowa, 567.

3 —: —: voluntary. TTT- If it should even be conceded that the consideration of. $600 was bona fide paid, still the difference between the price paid and the actual value of the property is s0 apparent and so great, that the conveyance will [60]*60be regarded as voluntary to the extent of that difference. Bump on Fraudulent Conveyances, pages 288 and 289; Norton v. Norton, 59 Mass., 524; Church v. Chapin, 35 Vt., 223; Worthington v. Bullet, 6 Md., 172; Robinson v. Stewart, 10 N. Y., 189; Keeder v. Murphy, 43 Iowa, 413.

4. VOLUNTARY conveyance : when void : burden of proof. IY.

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Bluebook (online)
12 N.W. 74, 58 Iowa 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strong-v-lawrence-iowa-1882.