Zook v. Shirk

12 Pa. D. & C. 322, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County
DecidedJanuary 19, 1929
DocketNo. 82
StatusPublished

This text of 12 Pa. D. & C. 322 (Zook v. Shirk) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zook v. Shirk, 12 Pa. D. & C. 322, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1929).

Opinion

Landis, P. J.,

The facts which arise in the above controversy are not in dispute. The legal question presented is whether C. A. B. Zook or Stanley M. Brown is entitled to receive the proceeds of a sheriff’s sale produced by the sale of the right, title and interest of Milton E. Shirk in certain real estate.

It appears that Milton E. Shirk was possessed of considerable real estate. On June 8, 19-25, he and his wife conveyed a house and lot of ground, situated [323]*323in the village of Stevens, West Coealico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, containing 124 perches, to his son, Samuel M. Shirk. This deed was recorded in the recorder’s office on Oct. 25, 1926. On Feb. 15, 1926, they conveyed to their son, Mark M. Shirk, a tract or plantation, also situated in said West Cocalico Township, containing 70 acres and 157 perches. On the same day they also conveyed to Jacob W. Fasnaeht two small tracts containing, together, 81 perches, situated in said village of Stevens. On the same day they conveyed to their son, Samuel M. Shirk, a messuage or tract of land, also situated in said township, containing 72 acres and 38 perches. These deeds were duly recorded on Feb. 23, 1926. On June 8, 1925, they conveyed to said Samuel M. Shirk a house and lot of ground, situated in the said village of Stevens, which lot contained 124 perches. On April 1, 1926, they conveyed to the same grantee a lot of ground, situated in the said village of Stevens, containing 22 perches. On the same date they conveyed to the same grantee a lot of ground, situated in said village of Stevens, containing 32 perches. On the same date they conveyed to the same grantee four lots of ground, situated on Grant Street, in the Borough of Ephrata, containing 31 2/10 perches. All of these four last-mentioned deeds were recorded on Oct. 25, 1926.

On March 18,1925, E. H. Martin gave a note to C. A. B. Zook, payable sixty days after date at the Lancaster Trust Company, for the sum of $50,000. This note was endorsed by John B. Graybill, Calvin F. Herr and Milton E. Shirk. Subsequently, Zook received on account the sum of $25,000.

On April 18, 1927, Zook brought suit against Shirk, to May Term, 1927, No. 34, to recover the balance due upon the said note, and on June 6, 1927, judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for the sum of $27,380. On Aug. 11, 1927, a writ of fieri facias, to November Term, 1927, No. 4, was issued upon this judgment, and by virtue of the said writ, the sheriff levied upon the above-mentioned real estate, and on inquisition duly had, it was ascertained that the same was not “of a clear yearly value beyond all reprises sufficient within the space of seven years to satisfy the debt and damages in said writ mentioned.” On March 30, 1928, a writ of venditioni exponas was duly issued, and under it the sheriff sold the right, title and interest of the said Milton E. Shirk in the said real estate to C. A. B. Zook,, for the sum of $7000.

On Jan. 17, 1927, the Pennsylvania Soap Company, by E. H. Martin, President, and J. William Brown, Treasurer, made a note “to the order of ourselves,” payable thirty days after date at the Lancaster Trust Company, for $3500. This note was endorsed by the Pennsylvania Soap Company, E. H. Martin, President; J. William Brown, Treasurer; E. H. Martin, Milton E. Shirk, Calvin F. Herr and Stanley M. Brown.

On Feb. 15, 1927, the Pennsylvania Soap Company, by E. H. Martin, President, and J. William Brown, Treasurer, made a note, payable thirty days after date, “to the order of ourselves,” at the Lancaster Trust Company, for the sum of $2500. This note contained the endorsements of the Pennsylvania Soap Company, E. H. Martin, President; J. William Brown, Treasurer; E. H. Martin, Milton E. Shirk, Calvin F. Herr and Stanley M. Brown.

On May 6, 1927, Stanley M. Brown, being the holder of said two last-mentioned notes, brought suit, to May Term, 1927, No. 73, as^unst the said Milton E. Shirk, and on May 24, 1927, judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant for want of an affidavit of defense for $8095.25.

It was claimed that the judgment of C. A. B. Zook was on a note for which Milton E. Shirk was liable, given prior to the time when the said Shirk and his wife conveyed the said real estate, and that the said conveyances were [324]*324without consideration, and, therefore, fraudulent as to the prior existing creditor. It was admitted that the liability to Brown did not arise until some time after the said conveyances were made, and it was shown, and not denied, that when the conveyances were made Shirk was not only not indebted to Brown, but did not know him; that he did not get the proceeds of the notes signed by the Pennsylvania Soap Company; that the conveyances were not made with the idea that he was afterwards going to give a note to Stanley M. Brown; and that he did not convey his real estate in contemplation of giving anybody any note in the future that would not be good.

The said Stanley M. Brown now claims that, as his judgment was entered prior in time to that of C. A. B. Zook’s, he is entitled to the money realized by the sheriff’s sale to the extent of his judgment; and C. A. B. Zook claims that, as the real estate was conveyed by Milton E. Shirk in fraud of him as an existing creditor, and the sale was produced by an execution issued by him for a debt which was due before the conveyances were made, the said proceeds should be paid by the sheriff to him on account of his judgment.

Section 4 of the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act of May 21, 1921, P. L. 1045, provides that “every conveyance made and every obligation incurred by a person who is or will be thereby rendered insolvent, is fraudulent as to creditors, without regard to his actual intent, if the conveyance is made or the obligation is incurred without a fair consideration.” It, therefore, follows that, if Milton E. Shirk conveyed his real estate to his sons and others without consideration and thereby rendered himself insolvent, such conveyances were void as to Zook, who was then one of his existing creditors, without regard to his intention.

What, then, was the proper procedure in such a case? The 9th section of the Act of 1921 declares that “where a conveyance or obligation is fraudulent as to a creditor, such creditor, when his claim has matured, may, as against any person, except a purchaser for fair consideration without knowledge of the fraud at the time of the purchase, or one who has derived title immediately or mediately from such a purchaser: (a,) have the conveyance set aside or obligation annulled to the extent necessary to satisfy his claim; or (b) disregard the conveyance and attach or levy execution upon the property conveyed.” In this case the creditor chose the latter remedy, and, after obtaining judgment, levied upon the land conveyed in the hands of the respective grantees of the debtor, and, having sold the same at sheriff’s sale, purchased the right, title and interest of his debtor therein. He is now in a position to bring his action of ejectment and test the question whether his debtor has, as to him, fraudulently conveyed this real estate. See Stewart v. Coder, 11 Pa. 90.

In Appeal of the Girard Bank, 13 W. N. C. 101, which was prior to the passage of the above act, a similar case arose concerning the relief which the debtor could command at the hands of the courts. The Girard National Bank, on Sept. 6, 1878, discounted for the account of Patrick McEntee a note of Patrick Tieman, endorsed by Patrick McEntee, for $2500.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Pa. D. & C. 322, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zook-v-shirk-pactcompllancas-1929.