Williams v. Finlayson
Williams v. Finlayson
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs in error replevied certain merchandise from the defendant in error, who was sheriff of Jackson county. To the declaration a plea of not guiltj was filed, issue joined there on and at the Fall term, 1903, a trial was had and a verdict and judgment was rendered for the defendant. The plaintiffs in error seek to reverse this judgment.
Other instructions were requested based on the theory that the goods were exempted, but sufficient facts are not predicated for either of them, and there was no error in the refusal of the court to give them.
The plaintiffs below requested the court to give the following instruction to the jury: “Where the defendant relies on the allegation of fraud to maintain a levy on goods purchased of another, the burden of proof is on the party alleging such fraud to prove with the preponder
Several charges were given by the court, and several instructions requested by the plaintiffs below, with the view of applying the provisions of section 1991 Revised Statutes of 1892 (which is taken from 13 Eliz. Chap. 5. See Gassett v. Wilson & Brown, 3 Fla. 235, text 257) to the facts of the case. These are made the bases of several assignments of error here. Some objections might be taken to each of these, but without going into a minute examination of each of them we think that a charge in the following language would have been appropriate to the facts of this case, viz: If the jury believe from the evidence that the plaintiffs purchased the goods in contro
For the error found the judgment of the Circuit Court in said cause is hereby reversed at the cost of the defendant in error. '
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. E. Williams and D. M. Short, copartners under the Firm Name and Style of Williams & Short, in Error v. J. A. Finlayson, in Error
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. It is not erroneous for a Circuit Judge to refuse to give a . requested instruction even .though it embodies a correct proposition of law where the facts upon which it was predicated, would not make it applicable. 2. Where the sheriff, the defendant in the Circuit Court, had seized goods in the hands of the plaintiffs under writs of attachment issued against the vendor of plaintiffs based on the ground that the transaction between the plaintiffs and their vendor was fraudulent as to the creditors of the vendor, and the plaintiffs had replevied the goods; on the trial of the action of replevin, there being evidence tending to show that the plaintiffs had paid a fair value for the goods, and there being no circumstances which would raise the legal presumption that the transaction was fraudulent, the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that it was fraudulent, was on the sheriff, and the court erred in refusing plaintiffs’ request to so instruct the jury. 3. Where the plaintiffs in the Circuit Court brought an action of replevin against the sheriff to recover certain goods seized by him under attachment's issued against the vendor of plaintiffs, on the ground that the transaction between the plaintiffs and their vendor was fraudulent as to the creditors of the latter, and' the evidence was not such as to raise the legal presumption that the transaction was fraudulent, and it becomes necessary under the evidence to apply section 1991 Revised Statutes of 1892, the following instruction to' the jury would be proper, viz: If the jury believe from the evidence that the plaintiffs purchased the goods in controversy in good faith, and that •they paid Hutto (their vendor) a reasonable fair market value for them, without any knowledge on their part of any fraudulent intent on the part of Hutto (if such intent existed) to thereby defraud his creditors, or to hinder and delay them in the collection of their valid 'claims, and without knowledge on their part of such facts and circumstances as would have put an ordinarily prudent person upon inquiry, and which if followed up would have led to the discovery of such fraudulent purpose on the part of Hutto, then the jury should find a verdict for the plaintiffs, but on the contrary, if the plaintiffs purchased the goods of Hutto, even though they paid Hutto for them their fair market value, yet if Hutto, at the time had a fraudulent purpose to defraud his creditors, or to hinder and delay them in the collection of their debts, and the planitiffs knew of such purpose, or if they had knowledge of such facts or circumstances as would have induced an ordinarily prudent person to make inquiry, and which inquiry if made with reasonable diligence, would have led to the discovery of such fraudulent purpose of Hutto, and plaintiffs did not make such inquiry, then the jury should find a verdict for the defendant.