Blanchard v. Moors

• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: CHAMPLIN, C.J.
• Citation: Blanchard v. Moors, 85 Mich. 380, 48 N.W. 542 (Mich. 1891)
• Decision Date: 24 April 1891
• Parties: BLANCHARD v. MOORS et al.

48 N.W. 542

85 Mich. 380

BLANCHARD v. MOORS et al.

Supreme Court of Michigan

April 24, 1891

Appeal from circuit court, Wayne county, in chancery.

B. T. Prentis, (A. L. Millard of counsel,) for appellant.

Charles D. Joslyn, for appellees.

CHAMPLIN C.J.

The bill of complaint in this case was filed April 18, 1885, in aid of an execution, charging that a certain deed from Cyrus F. to Caroline A. Moors, his wife, was fraudulent as to creditors of Cyrus, and praying that it be set aside, etc. This deed conveyed the property described in the bill; was dated December 5, 1882, and acknowledged December 11th, the same year, and recorded January 15, 1883, in Book 51, page 484, in the Wayne county register's office, and was expressed to be in consideration of $3,000. The bill further charges that prior to date of said deed said Cyrus was indebted to complainant in a large amount, for which a suit was pending at that time, and that afterwards, and on the 17th of March, 1885, judgment was duly rendered in said case in favor of the complainant and against said Cyrus for the sum of $3,683.69: that afterwards execution was duly issued and levied upon the property described, which is alleged to be the property of Cyrus, and that said conveyance was voluntary, and without consideration, and was made for the purpose of defrauding his creditors, and complainant in particular, and of defeating his claim. The defendant Cyrus F. Moors did not answer, and the bill was taken as confessed against him. Caroline A. Moors answered and denied that Cyrus F. was ever indebted to the complainant, and that whatever judgment was obtained against said Cyrus F. Moors was gotten by his connivance and fraud and for the purpose of defrauding her out of said property. That said deed was made for the purpose of part payment of a debt due from her said husband, Cyrus F. Moors, and for no other purpose; and she expressly denied that it was made for the purpose of hindering or defrauding any creditors whomsoever. That when the deed was made said Cyrus represented that he did not owe complainant anything whatever, and that she received said deed in good faith, and in part payment of the debt which said Cyrus owed her. That her said husband, Cyrus, had been for a long time conspiring with the complainant and others to defraud her out of her just rights and her interest in said property. That she had occupied said property for years as a homestead, and that she still so occupied it. That she has no other property whatever; and that she is now aged and infirm, and supports herself by renting rooms and keeping boarders, and has no other means of livelihood. The testimony introduced on behalf of the complainant in the first instance consisted of the testimony of witnesses who swore to admissions made by the defendant Cyrus F. Moors to the effect that he had conveyed the premises in question to his wife for the purpose of defrauding the complainant in this suit, and preventing him from collecting the judgment afterwards recovered by him out of the property of the defendant Cyrus F. Moors. He also introduced the judgment and execution issued thereon and levied upon the property in question, and took no further testimony until after that of the defendant Caroline A. Moors had been introduced. The testimony on the part of the complainant was begun to be taken in 1885. Mrs. Moors, the defendant, produced herself as a witness in her own behalf, and she was sworn, and testified without objection from her husband or any other person, and was examined and cross-examined at great length respecting the conveyance of the property to her, her knowledge of her husband's debts, the amount and nature of her property when she married the defendant Cyrus F. Moors, and what she had accumulated and spent since that time, all with a view of showing on the part of the defendant Caroline A. Moors that the property was conveyed to her in part payment of an actual indebtedness owing to her by her husband Cyrus F. Moors, and on the part of the complainant's solicitor to show that the conveyance was voluntary and fraudulent as to the complainant in the suit as a creditor of Cyrus F. Moors. After the defendant had introduced her proof, and on the 21st day of November, 1887, the complainant called Cyrus F. Moors, the husband of Caroline A. Moors, as a witness in his behalf. The solicitor for the defendant Caroline A. Moors objected to his being sworn, on the ground that he was a party def...