James v. Mallory

• Decision Date: 07 October 1905
• Citation: 89 S.W. 472
• Parties: JAMES et al. v. MALLORY et al.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

89 S.W. 472

JAMES et al. v. MALLORY et al.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

October 7, 1905.

Appeal from Crittenden Chancery Court; Edward D. Robertson, Chancellor.

Suit by one Mallory and others against Stephen James and others. Judgment for plaintiffs. Defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Appellees, Mallory, Crawford & Co., commenced this suit in equity on February 4, 1901, against Stephen James, Joseph N. James, and J. L. King, to cancel a conveyance by said Stephen James, alleged to be fraudulent, of certain lands, and to subject the same to the payment of appellees' claim. Stephen James died while the suit was pending below, and the cause was revived in the name of the administrator. On January 16, 1893, Stephen James was indebted to appellees in the sum of $18,801.22, and executed to them a deed with covenants of warranty conveying certain lands in Crittenden county. The deed recited a consideration of $18,801.22, the amount of said indebtedness, cash in hand paid. On the same day appellees reconveyed the lands to Stephen James by quitclaim deed, reciting the same consideration, to be paid in two installments, as evidenced by his two notes to them of that date, one for $10,000, payable December 1, 1893, and the other for $8,801.22, payable January 1, 1894, each bearing interest at 8 per cent. per annum. Subsequently James sold and conveyed some of these lands to W. R. Bateman and some to D. W. Clark on credit, and took notes for the purchase price, which he assigned to appellants. Appellees brought suit in the Crittenden chancery court against James to foreclose the vendor's lien reserved in the said quitclaim deed to him, and made Bateman and Clark parties defendant to the suit. In September, 1899, a decree in that suit was rendered in favor of appellees against James for the amount of the said notes and interest, which the court found to be the sum of $27,535, and said lands were ordered to be sold by the commissioner of the court. The lands were sold by the commissioner, and the net proceeds paid over to appellees on their debt, leaving a balance of $20,258 unpaid on December 3, 1900, the date of the last payment. On October 20, 1892, Stephen James executed to defendant J. L. King a deed conveying the lands in controversy for an expressed consideration of $2,500 cash paid; and on July 31, 1893, King executed a deed to Stephen James, as trustee for his two children, Joseph N. James, appellant and America C. James, who has since died intestate and without issue. This deed recites a cash consideration of $10 and the affection of the grantor for the two beneficiaries, who were his cousins. Both of these deeds were filed for record on September 4, 1893. It is alleged in the complaint that both of these deeds were executed without consideration and with the fraudulent intent to cheat and hinder the creditors of said Stephen James, that he was insolvent at the time, and the purpose of this suit is to cancel them. The answer of Joseph N. James denies that his father, Stephen N. James, was insolvent at the time of the execution of this deed to King, or that the same was executed with any fraudulent intent, and pleads the seven-year statute limitation in bar of appellees' right to sue to set aside the deed. The chancellor found in favor of the plaintiffs upon the issue of fact, and rendered a decree in their favor for the sum of $16,330.80, canceled said deed, and ordered said lands to be sold by the commissioner for the payment of said debt. Defendant Joseph N. James appealed to this court.

Randolph & Randolph, for appellants. J. C. Hawthorne and Frank Smith, for appellees.

McCULLOCH, J. (after stating the facts).

The testimony as to the financial condition of Stephen James at the time he executed the deed in question is conflicting, but we think by a...