Dole v. Wilson
| Decision Date | 07 November 1888 |
| Citation | 40 N.W. 161,39 Minn. 330 |
| Parties | William P. Dole v. Joseph P. Wilson and Wife |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
A motion for a reargument of this case was denied November 28 1888.
In this action, brought in the district court for Benton county judgment for defendants on the pleadings was ordered by Baxter, J., from which judgment the plaintiff appeals.
John B. & W. H. Sanborn and Geo. W. Sweet, for appellant.
Taylor & Calhoun, for respondents.
This is an action to enforce a resulting trust in favor of the plaintiff, a creditor of the defendant Joseph P. Wilson, in respect to lands conveyed, upon purchase, to the wife of the latter; the consideration having been, as is alleged, paid by the husband. The case presents the question of the sufficiency of the facts alleged in the complaint to justify the relief sought. These facts are, in brief, as follows: The lands in question were purchased and conveyed to Wilson's wife between October, 1881, and November, 1883; the plaintiff's debtor, Wilson, paying the purchase price and having the title conveyed to his wife for the purpose of defrauding his creditors. In October, 1876, the plaintiff had recovered a judgment against Wilson in the district court for more than $ 10,000. Wilson appealed from that judgment to this court, where, in October, 1877, his appeal was dismissed, and judgment for $ 31 costs was rendered against him. Executions were issued upon these judgments, and returned unsatisfied, no property being found; although, as is alleged, diligent search was made by the plaintiff's agents and attorneys. The plaintiff is a non-resident of this state. At various times after the rendition of these judgments, and prior to June, 1887, the plaintiff's attorney had conversations with the judgment debtor concerning the payment of the same, in all of which the latter stated that he was insolvent, and had no property of any kind; and that, if examined upon proceedings supplementary to execution, he would so swear; and that a certain judgment for more than $ 26,000, which had been entered against him in favor of one Corbett, prior to those of the plaintiff, was for a bona fide indebtedness, and that he was unable to pay the same. The plaintiff, to whom these representations were communicated by his attorney, believed them to be true; both he and his attorneys being deceived thereby, and thus induced to refrain from taking proceedings supplementary to execution, and from making any effort to enforce the collection of his judgments. They had no information of the falsity of these representations, or that the judgment debtor had paid the consideration for the conveyance of the lands in question to his wife, until June, 1887. These representations of the debtor, as is alleged, were false, -- he in fact at all times holding and controlling a large amount of property; and the Corbett judgment was not founded upon a real indebtedness, but was collusively entered, for the purpose of defrauding the plaintiff. This action was commenced in October, 1887, more than 10 years after the recovery of the plaintiff's judgment in the district court, but a little less than 10 years after his judgment for costs in this court. We will first consider the case with regard to the former judgment.
The plaintiff is seeking, through the equitable jurisdiction of the court, to have this land appropriated to the satisfaction of his judgment after the judgment itself has expired by lapse of time. Equity will regard the statutory limitation upon the life and enforceability of the judgment, and will not interfere to enforce its satisfaction by means of its peculiar remedies, thus avoiding the effect of the statutory limitation, if by the plaintiff's own neglect the judgment has been suffered to remain unsatisfied until it has ceased to exist as a legal obligation. Wood v Carpenter, 101 U.S. 135, 25 L.Ed. 807; Newell v. Dart, 28 Minn. 248, (9 N.W. 732.) The cases in which securities, as mortgages, created by the contract of the...
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