Switz v. Bruce
| Decision Date | 17 September 1884 |
| Citation | 20 N.W. 639,16 Neb. 463 |
| Parties | F. I. SWITZ, APPELLEE, v. G. C. BRUCE AND LAURA RAWSON, APPELLANTS |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
APPEAL from Thayer county district court. Heard below before MORRIS J.
AFFIRMED.
W. O Hambel, for appellant.
O. H Scott and A. R. Scott, for appellee.
This was an action in the nature of a creditor's bill, brought in the district court of Thayer county, by F. I. Switz, plaintiff, against G. C. Bruce and Laura Rawson, defendants, for the purpose of setting aside a deed of conveyance of certain real estate in said county, from the said G. C. Bruce to the said Laura Rawson. The plaintiff recovered a judgment in an action at law against the said G. C. Bruce in the district court of said Thayer county, issued an execution thereon, which was returned unsatisfied for want of goods, chattels, lands, or tenements whereon to levy, and the said G. C. Bruce, having a short time previous to the term of said court at which said judgment was recovered, conveyed the said land to his co-defendant, Laura Rawson, the plaintiff instituted this suit for the purpose of setting aside the same. In his petition he alleges that said conveyance was without consideration, and made for the purpose of defrauding him out of his said judgment, and of hindering and delaying him in the collection thereof. There was an answer, consisting of a general denial, on the part of both defendants, a trial and decree for the plaintiff, and the defendants bring the cause to this court on appeal.
It appears from the bill of exceptions that the defendants are brother and sister, and that the female defendant, who is a widow, is the mother-in-law of the plaintiff. The male defendant, who is an unmarried man, has long resided with his sister, and had the general management of her farm together with his own, which was joining hers. It also appears that Bruce became indebted to his sister, Mrs. Rawson, for various sums of money loaned by her to him at sundry times from 1870 to 1874, both inclusive, amounting in the aggregate to five hundred dollars. It appears, also, that Bruce had placed a mortgage on his land to some money lender for five hundred dollars. Bruce conveyed the land to Mrs. Rawson in consideration of this money, which he owed her, and she assuming the above mortgage, which she afterwards paid off. It further appears, that on the same day of the above transaction between the defendants, there was a further one by which Bruce transferred to his sister and co-defendant the whole of his personal property, consisting of live stock, farming implements, etc., of the estimated value of seven or eight hundred dollars. The following is the testimony of the defendant Bruce drawn out on cross-examination as to this part of the transaction, he having been introduced and examined in chief by the plaintiff.
Q. This personal property, what amount did she pay you for that, and how?
A. In the first place, after this land transaction, she claimed that there should be interest due her, for that money that I had borrowed, and it seemed right, and we called it that, would give her $ 250. And some time in the fall or the latter part of the summer of 1880, I got $ 200 more of her, and she had a draft from an insurance company, and she gave me that.
Q. Did you borrow that of her?
A. Yes, sir, I owed a note in Lincoln.
Q. Was that drawn upon this property?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And $ 250 on that before?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What else did you get for this property?
A. Three hundred dollars in money.
Q. When.
A. When I left in * * *
Q. What else did she pay?
A. She paid some old obligations.
Q. State what they were.
A. A machine note.
Q. Was she to pay off these obligations as a part of the purchase price of the property?
A. Yes, sir. One note to Clemmons and McKinney, and one note to Dawson.
Q. State if you can think of any more.
A. There was a young man by the name of John Sisnor that I owed some $ 60.
Q. Who was to pay that?
A. She paid him she said.
Q. How much in all did she pay you for that personal property?
A. Somewhere between seven and eight hundred dollars, I should think. We considered it about equivalent to the amount of the personal property, as I was leaving the country.
Q. You say that there was $ 200 in the fall of 1880, and $ 300 that you got before you went away,...
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