Tatlow v. Bacon

165 P. 835, 101 Kan. 26, 14 A.L.R. 269, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 7
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 9, 1917
DocketNo. 20,557
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 165 P. 835 (Tatlow v. Bacon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tatlow v. Bacon, 165 P. 835, 101 Kan. 26, 14 A.L.R. 269, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 7 (kan 1917).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Johnston, C. J.:

This was a proceeding in which an execution was issued against the person of Bert Rucker, a judgment debtor, and from the order he appeals.

In an action brought by Marion A. Tatlow against W. E. Bacon and Bert Rucker it was found and adjudged that they had conspired together to defraud plaintiff Tatlow of his land by inducing him to. exchange it for a worthless deed, and that judgment was affirmed in this court. (Tatlow v. Bacon, 95 Kan. 695, 149 Pac. 745.) The plaintiff then filed an application accompanied by an affidavit setting forth that .Rucker had fraudulently contracted the debt and incurred the obligation on which the j udgment was rendered, and stating the manner in which the fraud was accomplished; also, that since the rendition of the judgment he fiad assigned and disposed of his property with the intention to defraud his creditors and prevent such property from being taken on execution; and also that he fraudulently concealed his property with the intention to prevent the collection of money due on the judgment. After notice and a hearing in which the defendant-participated the order issuing the execution was made.

There is complaint that the affidavit upon which the application for the execution was based was insufficient. It set forth in detail the fraudulent purpose and acts upon which the judgment rested, and made the evidence and proceedings in the main case a part of the application for the issuance of the execution. The conspiracy and fraud by which the defendant was induced to exchange his land for a worthless instrument having been adj udicated, were no longer open to inquiry. 'This part [28]*28of the affidavit was specific and of itself sufficient to warrant the issuance of the execution against the person of the defendant. The statements that the defendants had fraudulently concealed their property to prevent the collection of the judgment and had assigned and disposed of it to prevent it being taken on execution were general in character, and did not specifically set forth the facts upon which the charges were based. In this respect the affidavit was defective. The facts relied on as fraudulent should have been specifically stated in the affidavit. (Gillett v. Thiebold, 9 Kan. 427; Bryan v. Congdon, 54 Kan. 109, 37 Pac. 1009.) However, the facts relating to the manner in which the defendant fraudulently incurred the obligation were specifically and fully stated, and this afforded a sufficient basis for the proceeding.

It is contended that the statute under which the proceeding was had is unconstitutional in that it does not provide for a notice to the debtor of a hearing, nor in 'fact for any hearing before the execution is issued. The statute pertinent to the question reads:

“An execution against the person of the debtor, except as prescribed in section 511, can be issued only when the 'same is allowed by the supreme court, the district court, or any judge of either, upon being satisfied, by the affidavit of the judgment creditor or his attorney, and such other evidence as may be presented, of the existence of one or more of the particulars mentioned in section 522.” (Civ. Code, § 509, Gen. Stat. 1915, § 7413.)

According to this provision a judicial hearing is contemplated, as the execution against the person can not issue until a court or judge thereof shall determine upon evidence that the statutory grounds for such an order exist. It is not issued as a matter of course upon an application, but before making such order the supreme court or the district court or a judge of either must be satisfied by the evidence presented in support of the application. The requirement that evidence shall be presented to the satisfaction of a court or judge clearly implies a hearing, and other provisions of the code require notice of applications for an order of this kind. (Civ. Code, §§ 556-560, Gen. Stat. 1915, §§ 7460-7464.) It has already been determined that a statute is not invalid merely by reason of the fact that it does not expressly provide for notice and hearing. [29]*29It may be implied by the courts unless the language of the statute excludes the theory that notice and hearing are necessary. (Gilmore, County Clerk, v. Hentig, 33 Kan. 156, 5 Pac. 781; Railroad Co. v. Abilene, 78 Kan. 820, 98 Pac. 224.)

In the Abilene case it was said:

“Provision for notice and hearing need not be made in the statute by express words. It may be implied. In reality the courts simply read the provision into the statute in order to uphold taxation schemes against the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, which forbids any state to deprive any person of property without due process of law. This was done in the case of Gilmore, County Clerk, v. Hentig, 33 Kan. 156, 5 Pac. 781. But the statute must be one which will allow notice and a hearing to be interpolated. If it arbitrarily fixes the steps to be taken in a manner indicating that notice and a hearing upon some subject like benefits are excluded, it must be judged accordingly.” (p. 827.)

Here the statute is not only open to an interpolation of notice and hearing, but its own language carries the plain implication that a hearing is to be had, and the code provision relating to notices applies to a proceeding like the one in question the same as it does to provisions for numerous other orders where there is no special mention that notices are to be given. In this case notice was given, and a protracted hearing was had in which the defendant participated.

It is contended that the statute is invalid because it permits imprisonment for debt contrary to the provisions of the state constitution. While the bill of rights, section 16 (Gen. Stat. 1915, § 120), providés that there may be no imprisonment for debt except for fraud, it in effect authorizes imprisonment in cases where there is fraud; and .as the statute enacted under that provision expressly authorizes imprisonment for fraud the objection must be overruled. (In re Heath, Petitioner, 40 Kan. 333, 19 Pac. 926.)

The defendant argues that the summary proceeding under the statute was not due process of law, and conflicts with the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution. It had been determined in the original case, which was tried by the jury, that the defendant was guilty of fraud. The fact having been properly put in'issue'and determined by a final judgment in the original action between the parties, it became a fixed fact which was not open to relitigation. (Hentig v. Redden, 46 Kan. 231, 26 Pac. 701; C. K. & W. Rld. Co. v. Comm’rs of [30]*30Anderson Co., 47 Kan. 766, 29 Pac. 96; Sanford v. Oberlin College, 50 Kan. 342, 31 Pac. 1089.) Proof of the adjudication was sufficient proof of the facts included in the judgment, but of course it is not conclusive as to facts occurring since the judgment was rendered.

Greenwell v. Moffett, 77 Kan. 41, 93 Pac. 609, is somewhat analogous to the present case. In a foreclosure proceeding an issue was adjudicated, and afterwards, upon a motion to set aside a sheriff’s sale made under the judgment, the losing party sought to litigate the same issue, and it was held that, the fact having been tried and determined in the original action, the adjudication was conclusive as between the parties.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 P. 835, 101 Kan. 26, 14 A.L.R. 269, 1917 Kan. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tatlow-v-bacon-kan-1917.