Vaught v. Meador

39 S.E. 225, 99 Va. 569, 1901 Va. LEXIS 80
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJuly 4, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 39 S.E. 225 (Vaught v. Meador) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vaught v. Meador, 39 S.E. 225, 99 Va. 569, 1901 Va. LEXIS 80 (Va. 1901).

Opinion

Cardwell, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

January 27, 1892, Rufus F. Vaught and Elizabeth H. Vaught, his wife, residents of the county of Mercer, "West Virginia, executed a deed to one J. W. Hale, trustee, of the same county and State, conveying to him a tract of 162^ acres of land situated in said county, “in trust to secure payment of a note executed January 25, 1892, by Rufus F. Vaught, payable one day after date, with interest from date, to the order of Meador and Pack, for the sum of three hundred and 31-100 dollars.” On the 23d of March, 1897, Meador obtained, before a justice of the peace in the county of Mercer, a judgment against Rufus F. Vaught and Elizabeth H. Vaught, his wife, for the sum of three hundred dollars, principal, and one hundred and forty-one dollars, interest, the whole amount aggregating $441, to bear interest from the [571]*571date of the judgment. The summons of the justice upon which the judgment, was rendered shows that the action was “for the recovery of money due by note,” and the proof in this record leaves no room to doubt that the note was none other than the note of Rufus E. Vaught secured by the deed of trust above referred to, but it does not appear whether the land embraced in the deed of trust was that of Rufus E. Vaught, or his wife.

To the April rules, 1897, of the Circuit Court of Giles county, R. G. Meador brought suit by way of foreign attachment in equity against Rufus E. Vaught, Elizabeth H. Vaught and others, and in his bill sets out the above mentioned judgment, and avers the non-residence of Rufus F. and Elizabeth Vaught ¿ that the latter was a married woman at the time of the rendition of the judgment; that she was a daughter of one John A. Cook, who had a short while before died intestate, leaving valuable real estate in the county of Giles, which descended to his heirs at law, and also some personal estate; and that the plaintiff has the right to come into a court of equity and have Elizabeth Vaught’s interest in the realty and the personalty of which her father died seised and possessed, attached and subjected to the payment of his debt.

Elizabeth Vaught appeared at the May term of the court, 1897, and filed her special plea of coverture, to the filing of which the plaintiff objected, and the court, without passing on the exception, made its decree directing certain accounts to be taken.

At the May term, 1899, of the court, the plaintiff confessed the truth of the plea of coverture, and Rufus E. and Elizabeth Vaught filed their joint demurrer and answer to the bill, to which answer the plaintiff filed exceptions in writing, which were sustained by the court, and the greater part of the answer stricken out. Whereupon, Rufus E. and Elizabeth Vaught filed their joint amended answer, which was also stricken out on written exceptions thereto.

By that part of the original answer which was stricken out [572]*572the defence sought to be made was that the plaintiff’s judgment had been paid and fully satisfied. The answer averred that, after the judgment was rendered, and before this suit was brought, the trustee in the deed of trust which had been given by the respondents on the Mercer county land to secure the debt for which the judgment was given had executed a deed purporting to convey the land to the plaintiff; that the recitals in the deed that the land had been sold as required 'by law and purchased by the plaintiff were false and untrue; that the land was not advertised nor sold as required by law, nor as required by the trust deed; that the trustee acted a't the pretended sale as the bidder for the plaintiff, and bid off the land for him at $100, which was such a ruinous and outrageous sacrifice of it as would shock the moral sense of a chancellor; that the land at the time of the pretended sale was worth at least $1,000, and plaintiff had thereafter sold it at the price of $800, and institutes this suit supported by affidavit claiming the whole of his debt, not even giving credit for the $100. The respondents sought to set up this fraud as a defence, and to have the plaintiff account for the full value of their land so obtained by him, and the same set off against his alleged debt, and to this end asked that their answer be treated as a cross-bill.

By their amended answer, respondents sought to present the issue of payment .and satisfaction.

The accounts directed having been duly taken and filed in the cause, the Circuit Court, at its May term, 1900, made a decree •subjecting to the satisfaction of plaintiff’s debt Elizabeth Vaught’s interest in the estate of her father.

From this decree Vaught and wife appealed to this court.

It seems beyond controversy that the validity of the contract, upon which a judgment is rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction in a foreign State, is established by the judgment, and the judgment must be given the same credit and effect in this State, in which it is sought to be enforced, as it had in the State [573]*573where rendered. 2 Black on Judgments, sec 925; Clarke’s Adm’r v. Day, 2 Leigh, 172; Dicey on Con. of Laws, 435, and. authorities there cited.

It is proven in this case that when the judgment in question was rendered a Justice of the Peace, under the Constitution and laws of West Virginia, had jurisdiction in a civil action based upon a note, the principal of which is not over $300, and to render a judgment thereon for the principal and its accumulated interest when the principal and interest aggregated more than $300, but the judgment should show what portion thereof was the principal of the note, and what portion was accumulated interest thereon.

The doctrine has been so often repeated in the decisions of this and other courts that it is now regarded as a well established rule that, when a court of equity acquires jurisdiction of a cause, for any purpose, it will retain it and do complete justice between the parties, enforcing, if necessary, legal rights, and applying legal remedies to accomplish that end. Laurel Creek and Coal Co. v. Browning, just decided, and authorities there cited; ante p. 528.

The defences sought to be set up by that part of appellants’ answer stricken out by the Circuit Court grew substantially out of the same transaction with the debt sued on in this cause, and it is no answer to these defences to say that appellee here, plaintiff below, was a non-resident. He had submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the court, and it was clearly within its power to impose upon him such terms as were just and equitable, if the averments of the answer were sustained by the proof adduced to support them.

While the court’s decree in such a case would not operate to transfer title to land in West Virginia, it would, with respect to all matters and things properly adjudicated and determined by the court, be binding upon the consciences of the parties thereto, and when the decree finds and determines the equities of the [574]*574parties in respect to such land, and directs a conveyance by the parties in accordance -with tbeir equities, such decree, although no conveyance has been executed, may be pleaded as a cause of action or as a ground of defence, in the courts of the State where the land is situated; and it is entitled, in the court where so pleaded, to the force and effect of record evidence of the equities therein determined, unless it be impeached for fraud.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 S.E. 225, 99 Va. 569, 1901 Va. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vaught-v-meador-va-1901.