Wright v. Wright

51 N.J. Eq. 475
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedMay 15, 1893
StatusPublished

This text of 51 N.J. Eq. 475 (Wright v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright v. Wright, 51 N.J. Eq. 475 (N.J. Ct. App. 1893).

Opinion

Pitney, V. C.

The complainant is one of the children of George M. Wright, late of Bordentown, in the county of Burlington. He died on the 7th day of January, 1885, intestate, leaving his widow and five children him surviving. The five children are the complainant, the defendants Lucy M. Yaughn, Mary J. Hedges, Ray S. Wright and George W. A. Wright, and his widow is .Jane M. Wright, who took out letters of administration upon his estate.

On the 17th of December, 1886, nearly two years after his father’s death, and before any settlement of his estate, the com[477]*477plainant conveyed and assigned to the defendant "William W.Gibbs, by deed of that date, all his right, title and interest in the estate, real and personal, of which his father died seized or possessed, in consideration of the sum of $250, and by deed dated the 22d of July, 1887, Gibbs conveyed the same to the defendant Henry B. Vaughn.

The object of the bill is to set aside those conveyances and to-invest the complainant with his original right in his share of the estate, and for an account of the personal estate of the decedent, and payment to the complainant of his share thereof-Other matters of relief are specially prayed for, not necessary now to be stated.

The admitted facts with regard to the conveyance by the complainant to Gibbs, and by Gibbs to Vaughn, are that complainant, some time before the 17th of December, had an interview with Gibbs, who lived and had his office in Philadelphia, in which he expressed a willingness to sell his interest in the-estate; that Gibbs reported that interview to Vaughn, and that Vaughn told Gibbs he (Vaughn) was willing to purchase it if he could get it at a price not exceeding $500; that afterwards Gibbs had another interview with the complainant, when he made the purchase for $250, which he paid him in cash'; that he (Gibbs) immediately drew upon Vaughn for that amount, with $100 added for his services, and Vaughn honored the draft, and that the complainant was not aware, "at the time of the sale, that Vaughn was the real purchaser.

The ground upon which complainant founded his claim in his bill is therein set out substantially as follows: That the complainant, at and before the date of the transfer, was in indigent and straitened circumstances, not on good terms with his family, and was living separate from them, and that they, the defendants, knew that he was in needy circumstances, and conspired together to defraud him of his interest in his father’s estate, and that they fraudulently concealed from the complainant the property and assets of the estate, and falsely represented to him that said estate was insolvent, and- that his interest therein was worthless, and that he would never realize anything therefrom; and [478]*478•that on the 17th day of December, the date of the transfer, he, relying upon these false and fraudulent representations, and verily believing them to be true, and being assured by the defendants that his interest in the estate could in no event exceed in value the sum of $250, and that an assignment of his interest in the estate would greatly facilitate the settlement thereof, executed the assignment to Gibbs, who was acting for the defendants.

The bill further alleges that the defendants, when they made •the representations to the complainant, knew that his share and interest in the estate was worth $25,000. The bill alleges that Vaughn, the husband of the complainant’s sister, was the real purchaser of the complainant’s interest. The bill then alleges •the suppression of the assets of the estate by the administratrix, with the aid of the other defendants, mentioning one hundred and ninety-seven shares of stock of the Star Bubber Company, ■of the value of $15,000; thirty shares of the stock of the United Bailroad Companies of New Jersey, of the value of $6,840, and that these shares were transferred, by virtue of a power of attorney obtained from decedent on his death-bed, to a third party without consideration, and kept from the inventory, but afterwards distributed among the defendants; that the inventory was fraudulent and defective in that it did not include the shares of stock of the Star Bubber Company before mentioned, and the stock of the United Companies of New Jersey before mentioned, and, in addition thereto, seventy-nine shares of the stock of the Bordentown Banking Company, of the value •of $16,000; a note of William Bradly, of the value of $600, and a note of one Elanigan, of the value of $9,500, and other property not mentioned; and there is a general allegation that the estate was not insolvent, but solvent and worth a large sum of money.

All of the defendants except Gibbs have joined in an answer, in which they admit that they knew of the complainant’s indigent and ueedy circumstances, but say that they were brought on by his dissipation and irregular habits; they deny that they ■conspired to defraud him or concealed from him the property [479]*479and assets of the estate, or that they falsely represented to him that the estate was insolvent and his interest worthless; allege that he was fully aware of the amount and situation of the estate, and that he knew that G. M. Wright, at the time of his death, was in debt to the amount of over $265,000, and that his estate of every kind and character, which, as appraised, amounted to $39,000, was entirely inadequate to the payment of his debts; and they charge that complainant was aware of all that was done in the way of making the inventory and in suppressing the assets; and they allege that the complainant himself sought out William W. Gibbs, who was a large creditor of the estate of George M. Wright, and urged him to buy out his share at the sum mentioned, and in so doing he was not influenced or induced thereby by any assurances or representations made by any of the defendants.

The defendant Henry B. Vaughn, answering for himself as a part of the joint answer, says—

“ that the purchase of the so-called interest of said complainant in said estate of said George M. Wright was made by said William W. Gibbs mthout the procurement of this defendant or his previous knowledge of his purpose so to do. And said interest so purchased was afterwards assigned by said Gibbs to this defendant at the price or value of §350, as one of the claims against said •estate, of which said Gibbs had become the owner, and which he sold and transferred to this defendant on the-day of-.”

The defendants last named, further answering, jointly allege that the transfer of the shares of the Star Rubber Company was made by virtue of a valid power of attorney executed by George M. Wright on the 6th day of January, the day before he died, .and that the one hundred and ninety-seven shares of stock were, by virtue thereof,-sold and transferred to one J. Warren Coulston, .and such transfer was known to the complainant. They say that of the shares of the United Companies, nineteen were pledged for the payment of a debt and the other eleven were •duly inventoried. They say that the shares of Star Rubber •stock were properly excluded from the inventory because they were sold in good faith and that the same is true of the seventy-nine shares of the Bordentown Banking Company, they having [480]*480been transferred to Henry B. Vaughn for a.full consideration-paid by him; and that as to the Flanigan note, it was not inventoried because it was supposed to have been fully paid till it was subsequently discovered that a small balance was due by Flanigan on said note.

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Bluebook (online)
51 N.J. Eq. 475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-wright-njch-1893.