First Nat. Bank v. Hopper

• Decision Date: 03 March 1925
• Docket Number: No. 18941.,18941.
• Citation: 270 S.W. 405
• Parties: FIRST NAT. BANK OF CAPE GIRARDEAU v. HOPPER et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

270 S.W. 405

FIRST NAT. BANK OF CAPE GIRARDEAU v. HOPPER et al.

No. 18941.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

March 3, 1925.

Appeal from Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas.

"Not to be officially published."

Action by the First National (Bank of Cape Girardeau against Presley Hopper, in which Mrs. Presley Hopper interpleaded. From a judgment favorable to interpleader, plaintiff appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Hardesty & Limbaugh, of Cape Girardeau, for appellant.

Spradling & Dalton, of Cape Girardeau, for interpleader respondent.

BRUERE, C.

Plaintiff, appellant, here, sued the defendant, Presley Hopper, in the Cape Girardeau court of common pleas, and thereafter, on July 3, 1923, obtained a writ of attachment and caused the same to be levied upon a Ford coupe, or car, then in the possession of Mrs. Presley Hopper, respondent here. In due, time Mrs. Presley Hopper filed an interplea claiming that she `was the owner of said car and entitled to the possession thereof, for which she prayed judgment.

The answer of the plaintiff admitted that under the writ of attachment issued the sheriff had levied upon paid car, after same had been transferred to interpleader and while same was in her possession under such transfer, but averred that the interpleader had received the car from her husband, the defendant, while he was owing debts to various parties, including the indebtedness set forth in plaintiff's petition, and that said debts were still unpaid; that said transfer was made by the defendant to the interpleader with the intent and purpose to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors in the collection of their said debts and claims against him; that such transfer was purely voluntary and received by the interpleader without consideration and with notice of her husband's said fraudulent intent; that by reason whereof said transfer was utterly void as to all creditors of defendant, including plaintiff, and that plaintiff had the right to subject the car to payment of the defendant's debt to the plaintiff, for all of which the plaintiff prayed judgment. The reply was a general denial of the new matter in the answer. The issues made upon the interplea were tried before the court and a jury, and were found in favor of the interpleader. The plaintiff has appealed to this court.

The uncontradicted evidence showed that Presley Hopper, the defendant, executed a note for $250 to the plaintiff on January 30, 1918; that on February 24, 1919, said indebtedness was increased $600; and that on December 22, 1919, it was further increased $250, making a total of $1,100, which is evidenced by the $1,100 note sued on.

On behalf of the plaintiff, Fred A. Groves, a Ford dealer at Cape Girardeau, Mo., testified that the car in question was sold and delivered on June 28, 1919, to the defendant, Presley Hopper, for the price of $835, $25 of which was paid in advance, leaving $810 that was paid by defendant on June 28, 1919; that at said time he did his banking business with the Southeast Missouri Trust Company of Cape Girardeau.

Plaintiff introduced in evidence a certified copy of an application by Presley Hopper, the defendant, for registration of said car in his name, which application was filed with the secretary of state on August 4, 1919, and in which the defendant stated that he was the owner of said car. Plaintiff further introduced in evidence a certified copy of the records of the secretary of state showing that the license plates for the car in question were issued to Presley Hopper, the defendant, on August 4, 1919; also a certified copy of an application by Mrs. Presley Hopper, the interpleader, filed with the secretary of state on February 7, 1920, for registration of said car in her name, and in which she stated that she was the owner of said car.

Plaintiff next introduced in evidence a certified copy of a warranty deed, dated January 19, 1920, executed by Presley Hopper and wife to John L. Lance and Mamie I. Lance, his wife, conveying, for the consideration of $400, certain real estate in Cape Girardeau, Mo.; also a certified copy of a warranty deed executed by John L. Lance and Mamie I. Lance, his wife, dated January 19, 1920, conveying the real estate described in the first mentioned deed to Mrs. Presley Hopper, interpleader, for the consideration of $400. Plaintiff further showed that said John L. Lance was the son-in-law, and the said Mamie I. Lance the daughter, of the said Presley Hopper, and that the real estate conveyed by the above-mentioned deeds was worth $2,500 on January 19, 1920, the date it was transferred to Mrs. Presley Hopper, the interpleader.

Mr. W. O. Bowman, vice president of the First National Bank of Cape Girardeau, and Mr. Ed. Frenzel, deputy sheriff, Cape Girardeau county, testified that when the car in question was levied on, Mrs: Presley Hopper claimed the same, and that when she was asked bow she came in possession of it, she stated that Mr. Hopper, her husband, had given her the car.

The interpleader, in her own behalf, testified that she purchased the car in 1919, and gave her husband, the defendant, the cash money to pay for the same; and that he brought the car home and turned it over to her. She denied...