Steiner Land & Lumber Co. v. King

• Decision Date: 15 August 1898
• Citation: 118 Ala. 546,24 So. 35
• Parties: STEINER LAND & LUMBER CO. ET AL. v. KING ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

24 So. 35

118 Ala. 546

STEINER LAND & LUMBER CO. ET AL. v. KING ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

August 15, 1898

Appeal from chancery court, Butler county; Jere N. Williams Chancellor.

Creditors' bill by L. H. King and others against the Steiner Land &amp Lumber Company and others. A demurrer to the bill was overruled, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

The prayer of the bill was that a receiver be appointed to take charge of the real estate described in the bill, to manage and control the same, with power to collect any and all rents and profits arising therefrom, and to manage and control the same under the orders of the court; that a reference be held by the register to ascertain how much is due each of the complainants by the defendants J. M. Steiner, S. J. Steiner J. T. Steiner, and R. E. Steiner, doing business under the firm names of Joseph Steiner & Sons and Steiner Bros. & Co. and that on the final hearing of the cause the deeds of conveyances which are referred to in the bill as having been made by the different defendants be set aside as fraudulent and void. The respondents demurred to the bill upon many grounds, which may be summarized as follows: (1) That the bill is without equity. (2) That the bill is exhibited to subject to the payment of the alleged debts due to some of the complainants, and the alleged judgments due to others of the complainants, property which is alleged in and by the bill to have been fraudulently transferred and conveyed by the alleged simple contract debtors of some of the complainants, and by judgment debtors of others of the complainants. (3) That it appeared in and by said bill that there is a misjoinder of complainants therein, in that the judgment creditors cannot be joined as complainants with mere simple contract creditors, who have not reduced their claims to judgment. (4) That it appears that some of the complainants in said bills assert separate and distinct rights, in which the other complainants have no community of interest. (5) That it appears by the averments of the bill that the grantees in the several deeds sought to be set aside as hindering, delaying, or defrauding the complainants are different in each of said conveyances. (6) That it is shown by the averments of said bill that the grantors are different in each of said deeds of conveyance sought to be set aside as fraudulent. (7) That said bill is multifarious. On the submission of the cause upon the demurrers to the bill the chancellor rendered the decree overruling the demurrer. From this decree the present appeal is prosecuted, and the rendition thereof is assigned as error.

J. C. Richardson, C. E. Hamilton, and Lane & Crenshaw, for appellants.

D. M. Powell, for appellees.

COLEMAN J.

Appellees some of whom were simple contract creditors of Joseph Steiner and Steiner & Sons and Steiner Bros. & Co., and other judgment creditors of the partnerships, filed a creditors' bill to reach, and subject to the payment of their claims, lands alleged to have been fraudulently conveyed by their debtors to the Steiner Land & Lumber Company, a corporation, and certain conveyances of individual property. The bill avers that complainants were creditors prior to the several conveyances which are attacked for fraud. It avers that J. M. Steiner, S. J. Steiner, J. T. Steiner, and R. E. Steiner composed the firm of Joseph Steiner & Sons, and as partners were engaged in the banking business, and that the same parties composed the firm of Steiner Bros. & Co., and that as individuals and as partners they were insolvent at the time of the execution of the several conveyances. It avers that the defendant corporation became incorporated at the time of the conveyance of the land to it; that the respondents as individuals, and the partnerships of which they were the sole members, owned a large majority of the stock of said corporation; and that said corporation had no assets other than the lands conveyed to it by the insolvent debtors. It further avers that all the remaining stockholders of said corporation were brothers and sisters of respondent debtors, and that they had knowledge of the insolvent condition of respondent debtors, or had notice of facts which were sufficient to put them on inquiry, and, if followed up, would have led to such information. The bill avers that the consideration expressed on the face of the conveyance is $192,000, but that no money was paid, or, if any, a very small sum, and that the purpose of the corporation, and the conveyance to it, was a mere scheme to hinder, delay, and defraud creditors. The bill avers that May Steiner and R. E. Steiner, her husband, conveyed a certain lot of land to Ida Steiner, wife of J. M. Steiner, for an expressed consideration of $5,000, and that J. M. Steiner furnished the money to pay for said property, and had titles taken in the name of his wife for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding his creditors. ...