Hickman v. Cornwell

• Decision Date: 16 June 1916
• Docket Number: 480.
• Citation: 89 S.E. 330,145 Ga. 368
• Parties: HICKMAN ET AL. v. CORNWELL.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

89 S.E. 330

145 Ga. 368

HICKMAN ET AL. v. CORNWELL.

No. 480.

Supreme Court of Georgia

June 16, 1916

Syllabus by the Court.

There is no law in this state against a daughter's voluntarily paying her father's debts.

Where a wife and daughter executed a deed to one who used the money to pay debts of the husband and father of the plaintiffs this would not give the wife any right to have the deed canceled and to recover the land, although the grantee may have known of the purpose of the sale, unless he was a party to a scheme to get the wife to sell her land in order to pay her husband's debts, in which event the wife could recover to the extent of her interest in the land.

The allegations of the petition are not sufficient to support the case on the theory that the deed should be canceled and the land recovered because the deed was obtained by duress.

Mere general allegations that deeds to land were obtained through fraud are not sufficient to withstand a demurrer, It is necessary that the plaintiff set out, by specific allegation of what the fraud consists.

Mere inadequacy of price is not alone sufficient reason for setting aside a deed to land, especially where the allegation as to its real value is uncertain as to the time when it was of that value--whether at the date of the sale or that of bringing the suit.

Under the allegation that the wife conveyed her interest in the land to the vendee, who was in collusion with the husband's creditor, for the purpose of paying a debt due by her husband to the creditor, she has a cause of action to the extent of her interest in the land.

Error from Superior Court, Jasper County; J. B. Park, Judge.

Action by M. C. Hickman and others against G. W. Cornwell. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs bring error. Reversed, with direction.

The petition of Mrs. Mary C. Hickman and Mrs. Lula Hickman Atwood alleged substantially as follows: They are the owners of and claim title to a certain tract of land in the city of Monticello, containing 15 acres, which was conveyed by deed from O. G. Roberts to Mary C. Hickman and children; also 2 1/2 acres, conveyed by deed from Mrs. D. R. Glover to Mary C Hickman. Some time prior to December 20, 1907, H. W. Hickman husband of Mary C. Hickman, and father of Lula Hickman Atwood, bought of J. L. Benton a certain tanning outfit, for which Mary C. Hickman executed and delivered to the Jasper County Bank certain mortgage notes on the above-described property for the sum of about $900. J. L. Benton was the cashier, and George W. Cornwell was the assistant cashier and bookkeeper, of the Jasper County Bank. The debt for which the mortgage was executed and delivered was in fact the debt of H. W. Hickman, which fact was known to J. L. Benton and G. W Cornwell. J. L. Benton, acting in collusion with and in the knowledge of G. W. Cornwell, falsely and with fraudulent intent represented to R. W. Hickman that he would institute criminal prosecution against Hickman, and would sell his home and all possessions on the following Tuesday, if the mortgage was not paid off on that day. The threats and false and fraudulent methods of J. L. Benton, in collusion with G. W Cornwell and Doyle Campbell, were made with the knowledge and at the instance and request of G. W. Cornwell. Doyle Campbell, attorney for defendant, by letter dated December, 1907, to Lula Hickman Atwood, represented that he was attorney for her father, H. W. Hickman, and requested her to sign under her mother's name the deed to the defendant to the property herein sued for, when in fact he was acting as paid attorney for G. W. Cornwell, J. L. Benton, and the Jasper County Bank, and the representations to induce the signature were false and fraudulent. By reason of the frauds, threats, and duress practiced upon petitioners and H. W. Hickman, they executed and delivered to G. W. Cornwell a deed to 13 1/2 acres of land, being a part of the land described in this petition. At the same time G. W. Cornwell employed A. Y. Clement, who threatened H. W. Hickman with criminal prosecution unless the deed was signed by his wife and daughter. Lula Hickman Atwood is a child of Mary C. Hickman, and was in life at the time of the execution of the deed from O. G. Roberts to Mary C. Hickman and children, referred to in the deed. The price received for the land was $1,150, which was grossly inadequate, which inadequacy was caused by the fraud practiced on petitioners at the time of the execution of the deed. G. W. Cornwell was the assistant cashier of the Jasper County Bank at the time of the transfer of the property in the deed from petitioners to him, and the consideration of the deed was a debt of the husband of Mary C. Hickman due the Jasper County Bank, and the money was paid to the Jasper County Bank by Cornwell, and petitioners have never received any money from the sale. The actual market value of the property conveyed was $3,000, and defendant knew, when the deed was made and delivered to him, that the property was worth much more than $1,150. Petitioners have, upon occasions since the deed was delivered, offered to restore to G. W. Cornwell all that he paid out, with interest, on the land described; and this offer was made some time prior to June 15, 1908, as soon as the fraud was known to petitioners. They still offer to refund such amount as may be due to him after an accounting for the profits and other property of the petitioners. The profits of the premises are worth $300 per year. Defendant has sold and destroyed all of...