Wimberly v. Toney

165 S.E. 257, 175 Ga. 416, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 261
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 13, 1932
DocketNo. 8795
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 165 S.E. 257 (Wimberly v. Toney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wimberly v. Toney, 165 S.E. 257, 175 Ga. 416, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 261 (Ga. 1932).

Opinion

Russell, C. J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.)

The first special ground of the motion for a new trial complains that the court charged the jury.: “I charge you gentlemen that a bona fide sale of property by a person, even if he be insolvent at the time of such sale, whereby he receives valuable consideration for the property, and provided he has no intention to delay or defraud his creditors, which was known to the 'grantee, is valid and can not be set aside by creditors of the vendor, even though the sale be made to a near relative of the vendor.” This charge, when construed in conection with the charge as a whole, is not subject to the criticism : (a) That the court omitted to charge in connection therewith that the transaction would be void as against creditors if J. W. Toney had reasonable grounds to suspect that the intention o£ W. M. Toney was to hinder, delay, or defraud his creditors, (b) That the language “even though the sale be made to a near relative” tended to instruct the jury to disregard the close relationship existing between the parties, whereas’ “the law says that such transactions between near relatives are to be scanned with care, and slight evidence of fraud will be sufficient to set aside transactions between near relatives when the rights of creditors are involved.” The court could not properly have charged the language just quoted, without justly subjecting his instruction to the objection that it would have been extremely argumentative, (c) That it was not adjusted to the facts of the case, and that it was prejudicial to the movant, by reason of the fact that J. W. Toney, the father, testified: “Yes, my son and myself talked over the situation while the Hunter attachment was pending. I preferred to buy a part of [the property involved]. I was afraid I would not get my money if the other creditors took action. I thought I would have trouble in getting my money. The Hunter levy was still on them until the 14tli. He had an attachment that had been levied. . . It was after the [420]*42014th that I bought the cattle. If the sale had gone on as advertised [W. M. Toney had advertised his property for a private auction sale to be held on May 15, 1928, which was the day following .the transaction sought to be avoided], my son was to pay me what he owed me out of the sale. As to whether I knew at the time that he had promised to pay the other men’s feed accounts, no, sir, I did not know that. I guess he had. I reckon he had, but I did not know it. I think he offered to sell them some of the cattle.” This instruction did not, as is contended, eliminate from the case the question whether the transaction between the father and the son was in good faith, and under this instruction it was a question of fact, which the court submitted to the jury, whether the purpose of the father was to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors, or whether it was a bona fide transaction on the part of a son who was honestly and justly indebted to his father, as contended by the witness, in which case the son had the right, as every debtor has, to prefer one creditor rather than another in the disposition of his property before it is subject to any lien. Though the father may have had knowledge of the fact that other creditors of W. M. Toney were likely to take action to subject the property to their demands (and it appears from the evidence that Hunter had already levied an attachment, but this lien was satisfied by the father), this would not prevent him, if the debt his son owed him was justly due, from buying the property from his son at a fair valuation in extinguishment of the debt the son truly owed him.

The court instructed the jury: “If, on the other hand, you should find that at the time the sale or transfer of this property from W. M. Toney to J. W. Toney was made, W. M. Toney was insolvent, and that said-transfer was voluntary and not for a valuable consideration, then I charge you that such transfer made under such circumstances is fraudulent in la-w as against the creditors of W. M. Toney; that is to say, under our law, the following acts by debtors shall be fraudulent in law against creditors and others, and as to them null and void, namely, every conveyance of real or personal estate, by writing or otherwise, and every bond, suit, judgment and execution, or contract of any description, had or made with intention to delay or defraud creditors, and such intention known to the party taking. A bona fide transaction for a valuable consideration, without notice or ground for reasonable suspicion, [421]*421shall be valid.” This instruction would seem to correct the alleged error of the charge complained of in the first special ground, supra, being the converse of the proposition stated therein; but movant complains that this charge was confusing to the jury, for the reason that two separate and distinct propositions of law relative to fraudulent transfers were given: first, that a transaction without consideration is void as to creditors; and second, that any transfer for the purpose of delaying or defrauding creditors is void if the purpose thereof is known to -the person taking, the latter proposition being given in seeming explanation of the first; and that, the theory of the case not being solely one of voluntary conveyance, the charge was of necessity misleading to the jury. We see nothing in the instruction which could have confused or misled the jury, and consequently we are of the opinion that the assignment of error in this ground is without merit.

In the sixth ground it is contended that the court erred in submitting to the jury the question of fact whether the defendant W. M. Toney was insolvent; and that, if the question of insolvency was submitted, the court should have defined the meaning of the term insolvent. Upon the principle that it is never error for the court to refuse to direct a verdict, we can not perceive how a mere statement that insolvency is a question of fact could in any event be such an error as to afford ground for a reversal.

The seventh ground is based upon the rather unusual contention that the court withdrew two instructions which he had previously given, movant contending that the instruction which was withdrawn was demanded under the evidence and should not have been withdrawn. This instruction was as follows: "If you believe from the evidence in this case that the transfer or sale made by W. M. Toney was made on the part of W. M. Toney to delay or defraud his creditors, then I charge you that such sale would be void in law, and you would be authorized to find the same should be canceled.” "I want to withdraw that if you believe from the evidence in this case that the transfer or sale was made on the part of W. M. Toney to delay or defraud his creditors, then I charge you that such sale was void in law and you should be authorized to find that same should be canceled. I withdraw that and strike that out.” The court did not err in withdrawing the instruction quoted. It is obvious that it would have been improper to give either one [422]*422of the instructions, because both omitted any reference to the validity or invalidity of the debt claimed by J. W. Toney, and both omitted any instruction as to whether J. W. Toney participated in the intention to delay or defraud creditors. The effect of either instruction which the plaintiff says should not have been withdrawn would have been the same as the direction of a verdict for the plaintiff.

In the eighth ground complaint is made that the court erred in permitting J. W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 S.E. 257, 175 Ga. 416, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wimberly-v-toney-ga-1932.