Williams v. Spragins

• Decision Date: 10 April 1894
• Citation: 102 Ala. 424,15 So. 247
• Parties: WILLIAMS ET AL. v. SPRAGINS ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

15 So. 247

102 Ala. 424

WILLIAMS ET AL. v. SPRAGINS ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

April 10, 1894

Appeal from chancery court, Lee county; S. K. McSpadden, Chancellor.

Action by Spragins, Buck & Co. and others against R. G. Williams and others. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

The bill is filed by the complainants as creditors of R. G Williams, to set aside as fraudulent, conveyances made by him to his children, and a mortgage made by him to one Montgomery, which is alleged to have also been fraudulently made. The bill alleges that said R. G. Williams became indebted to the complainants as follows: To Spragins, Buck &amp Co. for goods, wares and merchandise sold to him by them, in the summer and fall of 1892, amounting to the sum of $3,818.40; to the Perry Manufacturing Company, for buggies carts and other vehicles, sold by said company to him, to the value of $1,063.43, for which he gave his note, dated January 4, 1893, and payable March 15, 1893; to the Nashville Saddlery Company, for merchandise sold to it, to the amount of $284.30, for which he gave his note to said company, dated December 9, 1892, payable March 13, 1893; to the Kentucky Manufacturing Company, for merchandise sold, to the value of $2,514.61, for which he executed his note to said company dated October, 1892, payable March 1, 1893, and to J. K. Orr & Co., for $440.18, by note dated December 5, 1892, payable March 1, 1893; that said R. G. Williams has been engaged in merchandising in Opelika for the past 20 years, during which time he held himself out to the business world as a man of large means and property, gaining thereby for himself a large and extensive credit, and made large investments in real estate, farming lands, and other property; that in 1891, he formed a mercantile copartnership with one J. G. Whitfield and carried on a mercantile business in Opelika, under the style of R. G. Williams & Co., for about 12 months, and about June, 1892, they ceased to carry on business under said firm name, and it was afterwards carried on under the name of C P. Williams, under a pretended sale to him; that said C. P. Williams was a son of said R. G. Williams, who was, at the date of saID pretended sale to him, a minor, with no means or business experience, and who was then and is now insolvent; that while said business was carried on in the name of his said son, the said R. G. Williams remained at the place of business actively managing and controlling the same; that during that time, the said C. P. Williams endeavored to buy goods upon his own credit, but complainants refused to sell to him, but sold exclusively upon the credit and responsibility of his father, the said R. G. Williams, for which he executed his obligations to them, as above set out; that when it was ascertained that the son could not buy goods upon his own credit, the business was discontinued under his name, and the said R. G. Williams, managing and controlling it, disposed of the assets, consisting of a large stock of merchandise, to sundry persons, whose names are unknown to complainants, which was done in furtherance of his purpose to defraud complainants, and to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors. It is further averred, that on the 27th of June, 1892, said R. G. Williams executed deeds of gift to all of his property, both real and personal, and to his effects of every description, to his four children, Claude P., Earle G., Robert G. and Eleanora V. Williams; that said deeds were secretly and fraudulently withheld and never made known, until placed upon record in the counties where the property sought to be conveyed is situated,-in the county of Lee on the 1st day of March, 1893, and in the county of Chambers, on the 11th March, 1893; that the grantees in said deeds were all minors, and two of them under 14 years of age, at the time, and all of them resided with their father, the said R. G. Williams; that said deeds were secretly and fraudulently made, with the view of future dealings with complainants and with the purpose of defrauding them as well as other future creditors; that said Williams, besides the amounts in which he is indebted to complainants, is indebted, as complainants are informed and believe, to other creditors, to the amount of about $20,000, the greater part of which has been contracted by him since the date of said deeds of gift; that after the date of said deeds of gift to his children, the said Williams remained in the possession and control of all of said property described in said conveyances, and continued to hold himself out to complainants, as well as to the business world, as the owner of said property; that complainants had no knowledge of said conveyances until after the creation of the indebtedness to them, as above set forth, and not until after said deeds were filed for record as above stated, and that said Williams has been and is now in possession of said property, and is carrying on large and extensive farming operations. It is further averred upon the information and belief of complainants, that said Williams and his said son, C. P. Williams, on the 2d of February, 1893, made and executed to one Montgomery a mortgage, exhibited to the bill, which purports to have been given to secure an indebtedness of $10,000, which complainants, believe, charge and aver was simulated and fictitious; that said mortgage was not put upon record, until the 13th of March, 1893; that on the 17th March, the grantors and grantees therein, made an entry on the margin of said record, reducing the amount of $5,000, which is stated to be for advances made, to make a crop in the year 1893, and it is averred, that at the time of the execution of said mortgage, said Montgomery had full knowledge of the failing condition of said R. G. Williams and of his large indebtedness to creditors, and that said mortgage was made to hinder, delay and defraud complainants and his other creditors; that said mortgage was...