Hart v. Rafter
Hart v. Rafter
Opinion of the Court
Hart brought suit upon a bill for lumber and other building material, sold and delivered by him to Flood, the defendant in this case, who was a carpenter, builder and contractor. While this suit was pending, a summons of garnishment was sued out, at the instance of the plaintiff, and served upon Willard H. Nutting. Before Mr. Nutting answered the garnishment, it was dissolved by Rafter, who gave bond in compliance with the statute, and claimed the amount due to Flood as his (Rafter’s) property. Flood had entered into a contract with Nutting to build a house for him in the city of Atlanta. The contract was signed by both of the parties to it, and Flood entered upon the performance of the contract, and partly performed it, receiving on account of his work, according to his own testimony, the sum of $144. About that time he seems to have discovered that in this whole transaction he was act
It would be no great strain to infer from these facts that this alleged agency was wholly fictitious, and resorted to as a device to cover and protect Flood’s property from his creditors. Even after the garnishment was dissolved, Flood received his money from Nutting as the alleged agent for Rafter, and there is nothing in this record to show that he accounted to Rafter or turned over any por
These various strong indicia of fraud are not met and rebutted, and without contradiction or explanation, they make a case so invincible as to demand imperatively a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. This dispenses with the necessity of considering the questions of law which were made and insisted on in argument here. This leads to the conclusion that this verdict should have been set aside, because it was directly in the face of the law and evidence. Indeed, there is no evidence that we can find upon which to rest it.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.