Allgood v. Whitley
Allgood v. Whitley
Opinion of the Court
— This is an action of debt founded on a judgment. A. F. Whitley, who sues for the use of Hannibal A. Gillespie, as the administrator de bonis non of the estate of Benjamin Bently, deceased, is plaintiff. The complaint is in the statutory form, and it contains all the allegations necessary to show a right to recover in the plaintiff. The defendants interposed but a single plea, which put in issue only the plaintiff’s title to the claim sued on. The plea, except the title, is in these words : “ And now come the said defendants, in their
2. The recitals of the record of the judgment, referred to by the witness Gibson, were not conclusive of its ownership. Judgments are assignable, and the transferee may show Ms title, though it seem to contradict the recitals of the record. Rev. Code, § 2836 ; Becton v. Ferguson, 22 Ala. 599; Brahan & Atwood v. Ragland, 3 Stewart, 247. It might be shown that the owner of the judgment had transferred it to another,
3. For the purpose of impeaching the validity of the judgment on which the suit was founded, it was not competent to show that the judgment itself had been founded on a promissory note given for a loan of Confederate treasury notes. The judgment is conclusive of all defences of that kind. The court, therefore, did not err in excluding such evidence.
It is further insisted that the court below erred in the charges to the jury. The first charge declares, that the plaintiff “had the right to bring the suit upon the judgment described in the complaint, and the plea interposed by the defendants put in issue the ownership of said judgment.” This was clearly correct. The right to bring a suit does not imply the right to recover. In the second charge, the jury were further instructed, that if they “ believe, from the evidence, that the judgment sued upon is the property of the beneficial plaintiff, as the administrator de bonis non of the estate of Benjamin L. Bentley, deceased, they must find for the plaintiff; if not, they must find for the defendants.” This charge is also correct. The charges asked by the defendants were abstract. There is no evidence that there was any sale of a suit pending in a court of law which, it is contended, made the transaction unlawful. This was the first charge asked. The other does not include a consideration of all the facts upon which the plaintiff’s title rested. There was evidence tending to show that the promissory note, on which the judgment in favor of Whitley was rendered against the defendants, was really assets of the estate of Bentley, and that it was by the ownership of the note that the title to the judgment passed to the estate of Bentley, and not by any technical transfer or assignment. The charge was too narrow for the evidence to which it referred. The last charge was correct.
The case is not clear of difficult. complications; but, upon the whole record, the appellants do not show any well defined and satisfactory defence, either upon the merits, or upon technical grounds. When such is the case, this court does not feel bound to hunt, with any unusual diligence, for grounds of reversal.
The judgment of the court below is therefore affirmed.
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