Seitz v. Mitchell

• Decision Date: 01 October 1876
• Citation: 24 L.Ed. 179,94 U.S. 580
• Parties: SEITZ v. MITCHELL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

94 U.S. 580

24 L.Ed. 179

SEITZ v. MITCHELL.

October Term, 1876

APPEAL from the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. A. G. Riddle and Mr. Francis Miller for the appellant.

Mr. R. Ross Perry, contra.

MR. JUSTICE STRONG delivered the opinion of the court.

The complainant in the court below sought to subject two pieces of real property in the city of Washington to the payment of several judgments recovered by the firm, of which he is the surviving partner, against George Seitz, one of the defendants. His bill alleges the recovery of those judgments, one on the ninth day of June and the other on the fourteenth day of December, 1868, the issue of executions thereon, and returns of nulla bona made by the marshal. It alleges further, that George Seitz, on the thirteenth day of January, 1870, purchased from one Kendall lot No. 61 in square 448, in the city of Washington; and, knowing of the judgments obtained against him, conspired with his wife, Mary E. Seitz, the other defendant, to delay and hinder the judgment creditor, by procuring the deed from Kendall to be made to the wife. The bill then charges that the deed was so made; that the purchase-money for the lot was paid by George Seitz with money earned by himself, to which his wife had no title whatever; and that a deed of trust was given to Kendall to secure a balance of unpaid purchase-money, which deed was subsequently released to George Seitz and Mary E. Seitz. The entire purchase-money was $6,500.

The bill sets forth that the other lot, part of lot No. 1 in square 343, was purchased on the eighteenth day of October, 1872, by George Seitz, from one William F. Mattingly, for the sum of $6,000, and that it was also conveyed to Mary E. Seitz. The purchase-money was paid, it is alleged, with money borrowed from the Arlington Fire Insurance Company, and secured by deed of trust of both properties, which money, the bill charges, George Seitz, and not Mary E. Seitz, is bound to pay.

This second conveyance is also averred to have been made to the wife, with intent in hinder, delay, and defraud the husband's creditors; and the prayer of the complainant is that both lots may be subjected to the lien of the complainant's judgments, and that a trustee may be appointed to sell the property for the satisfaction of said liens out of the proceeds of the sale, after paying all expenses thereof, and all prior liens.

Such is the case made by the bill. No discovery is asked and no interrogatories are propounded.

The answer admits the recovery of the judgments as charged, but denies that George Seitz purchased the property or paid for the same, or owned or advanced any money to pay for the same, and denies also all fraud. It avers, on the contrary, that Mary E. Seitz, in her own right, and in her own name, and for her sole and separate property, purchased the Kendall lot, and took the deed in her own name; that she paid the purchase-money, to wit, $1,000 in hand and the balance on deferred time, all out of her own means and money earned and procured wholly by herself, and not from the said George, nor by or through him or his exertions; and that he signed the notes for the deferred payments and joined in the deed of trust at the request of the vendor, and not because he had any interest in the transaction.

The answer further states that the property bought from Mattingly was purchased by the wife for herself in her own name and in her own right; that she negotiated the loan with the Arlington Fire Insurance Company; that the whole transaction was hers, and not that of her husband; that he had nothing to do with it except as her agent, or to express his assent for the satisfaction of other parties. To this answer a general replication was put in, and evidence has been taken on behalf of the complainant. The defendants have rested on their answer alone.

The general rule of equity practice is, that when a defendant has, by his answer under oath, expressly negatived the allegations of the bill, and the testimony of one person only has affirmed what has been negatived, the court will not decree in favor of the complainant. There is then oath against oath. In such cases there must be two witnesses, or one with corroborating circumst nces, to overbear the defendant's sworn answer. The reason for this is, that the complainant generally calls upon the defendant to answer on oath; and he is, therefore, bound to admit the answer, so far as he has called for it, to be prima facie true, and as worthy of credit as the testimony of any other witness. This rule, however, does not extend to averments in the answer not directly responsive to the allegations of the bill, for the complainant has not called for them. It is always to be considered, therefore, when the rule is attempted to be applied, how far the averments of the answer are responsive to what is alleged in the bill. In the case before us, the defendants' answer denies that George Seitz purchased the Kendall lot, or paid for the same, or owned or advanced any money to pay for the same. So far it is responsive to the complainant's allegations. But the answer furnishes no evidence that the wife had any separate property, or any means or money of her own with which to pay the purchase-money of the lot conveyed to her. Nor do the proofs taken exhibit any such evidence. George Seitz and Mary his wife lived together. He carried on a bakery, and she attended to the duties of the house. There were four or five boarders in the house, paying monthly from $20 to $30 each. There is nothing to show that the wife had any opportunity for obtaining money except from her husband. Purchases of either real or personal property made by the wife of an insolvent debtor during coverture are justly regarded with suspicion, unless it clearly appears that the consideration was paid out of her separate estate. Such is the community of interest between husband and wife; such purchases are so often made a cover for a debtor's property, are so frequently resorted to for the purpose of withdrawing his property from the reach of his creditors and preserving it for his own use, and they hold forth such temptations for fraud, that they require close scrutiny. In a contest between the creditors of...