Truitt v. Truitt

38 Ind. 16
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided November 15, 1871·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

Buskirk, J.

The complaint in this action was as follows: “Minor Truitt, plaintiff) complains of Joshua Truitt, Annie A. Truitt, and Elijah J. Walden, defendants, and says that on the first day of January, in the year 1866, the said defendant, Joshua Truitt, by his note, a copy whereof is herewith filed and made a part of this complaint, promised to pay to the order of the plaintiff the sum of twenty-four hundred dollars, two years after the date thereof, which is now due and wholly unpaid.

[17]*17“ Plaintiff says that on the 20th day of January, in the year 1869, in an action then and theretofore pending in this court, wherein Minor Truitt, this plaintiff, was plaintiff, and the said defendants, Joshua Truitt and Annie A. Truitt, were defendants, it was by this court considered, adjudged, and decreed against said defendants, that the northwest quarter, containing one hundred and sixty acres, and the west half of the northeast quarter, containing eighty acres, all being in section twenty-one (21), in township twenty-two (22), north of range nine (9), east, in Delaware county, Indiana, were liable for the payment of the debt evidenced by the note aforesaid, and that a lien existed upon said realty for and to the amount of the debt aforesaid; and further, it was decreed by the court in the said cause, that a deed of conveyance for said premises, executed by the State of Indiana, by Thomas B. McCarty, her Auditor of State, on the 10th day of February, in the year 1868, to the said Annie A. Truitt, purporting to convey said premises to the said Annie, and constituting the sole evidence of her title thereto, as to the debt aforesaid, and as to this plaintiff, was and is fraudulent and void, and that said premises were liable to sale for the payment of said debt and note. A copy of the said proceedings of the court is also herewith filed and made a part of this complaint.

Plaintiff also states that during the pendency of the suit herein before mentioned, and before the rendition of said decree, the said Annie A. Truitt and Joshua Truitt, her husband, executed and delivered to the said Elijah Walden a deed purporting to convey to the said Walden the premises herein before described, to wit, on the 19th day of October, in the year 1868, which has been recorded in the office of the Recorder of Delaware county, Indiana, in Book-, page —, of the records of deeds of said county.

“ Wherefore, plaintiff demands judgment for three thousand dollars for his said debt, for the sale of said real estate, or so much thereof as may be necessary to pay said debt, with [18]*18interest and costs, and for other and such further relief as equity and good conscience shall dictate.”

To this complaint Joshua Truitt filed his separate answer, in three paragraphs; first, the general denial; second, that on the 8th day of July, 1868, he received his discharge in bankruptcy, and filed with his answer a copy of his certificate of discharge in bankruptcy; third, as to five hundred dollars of the note, usury.

Annie A. Truitt filed her separate answer, in two paragraphs; first, the general denial; second, a disclaimer of all interest in the land and suit.

Elijah Walden and Annie A. Truitt filed a joint answer, in four paragraphs ; first, the discharge of Joshua Truitt in bankruptcy; second, that five hundred dollars of the note .sued on was for usurious interest; the third set out the .purchase of the land by Colgrove and Coffeen, the assignment of the certificate to Joshua Truitt, the assignment of the certificate by Joshua to Minor, the failure to pay the interest, and consequent forfeiture of the. land to the State, the resale of the land by the State, and the purchase thereof by Annie A., the execution of the deed by the State to Annie A., and the sale and conveyance of the same by Annie A. to her co-defendant, Walden; fourth, that as to six hundred dollars of the note sued on, the same was illegal, it being for usurious interest.

The court overruled a demurrer to the second and third paragraphs of the separate answer of Joshua Truitt, and the plaintiff excepted.

The court sustained a demurrer to the first, second, and fourth paragraphs of the joint answer of Walden and Annie A. Truitt, and the defendants excepted, and overruled it as to the third paragraph, and the plaintiff excepted.

The plaintiff replied by a denial to the second and third paragraphs of the separate answer of Joshua Truitt; and to the third he replied the bankruptcy of Joshua, and the appointment of an assignee in bankruptcy.

To the third paragraph of the joint answer of Walden and [19]*19Annie A. Truitt, the plaintiff replied, first, in denial; and, second, that the matters set up were involved and determined in an action wherein Minor Truitt was plaintiff, and the said Joshua and Annie A. Truitt were defendants, a copy of which judgment was filed.

The court overruled a demurrer to the second paragraph of the reply to the separate answer of Joshua, and to the second paragraph of the reply to the fourth paragraph of the joint answer of Walden and Annie A. Truitt; and the defendants excepted.

Elijah Walden, upon his affidavit, moved the court for a change of the venue of the said cause from Delaware county; but the court refused to entertain the motion, and Walden excepted.

The cause was, by the agreement of the parties, submitted to the court for trial, who rendered a finding for the plaintiff.

The defendants moved the court for a new trial, and assigned as reasons therefor the following: first, the refusal of the court to grant a change of venue; second, that the finding of the court is not sustained,by sufficient evidence; third, the finding of the court is contrary to law; fourth, the court erred in rendering judgment against Joshua Truitt, he being discharged as a bankrupt. The motion was overruled, and the defendants excepted.

The court thereupon rendered a decree that the land described in the complaint should be sold to satisfy and discharge the lien which the plaintiff held thereon by virtue of the assignment of the said certificate of purchase, and the former decree of the court in the case referred to and made a part of the reply to the fourth paragraph of the joint answer of Walden and Annie A. Truitt; and that the said land should be sold to satisfy and discharge such lien.

The appellants have assigned the following errors:

“First. The court erred in refusing to entertain the motion of Elijah J. Walden, one of the defendants, made upon affidavit, for a change of venue, made during the term, to wit, on the 14th day of May, 1869, the day that he entered his [20]*20appearance, the term having begun on the 19th of April, 1869.

“Second. The court also erred in rendering judgment against Joshua Truitt, one of said defendants, he (said defendant) having pleaded and proved that he was a properly certified bankrupt on the eighth day of July, 1868.

“ Third. The court also erred in finding for, and rendering judgment in favor of, plaintiff, thé appellee, when by the law of the land, the finding and judgment should have been for the appellants.

“Fourth. In overruling the appellants’ motion for new trial.”

The first, second, and third assignments do not amount to valid assignments of error, and present no question for our decision. The first, and probably the second, were valid reasons for a new trial.

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Truitt v. Truitt, 38 Ind. 16 (Ind. 1871).

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