O'Kane v. Terrell
O'Kane v. Terrell
Opinion of the Court
This was an action by the appellant against the appellees, to recover the amount alleged to be due on a promissory note, and to foreclose a mortgage given to secure said note. The only question argued by counsel is the correctness of the conclusions of law upon the facts found by the court.
From the special findings it appears that the note in suit was given to appellant on January 22, 1892, by the appellee, John O’Kane, now deceased, who was then the owner of the land described in the complaint; and that thereafter, on February 8, 1892, the mortgage on said land and here in suit was given to secure said note; that said mortgage was made by said appellee, O’Kane, and was accepted by appellant, with the fraudulent intent of cheating and defrauding the creditors of said appellee, O’Kane, the note and mortgage being also without any consideration; that on March 9, 1892, said John O’Kane and his wife, Nora, executed a deed for said land to the appellee, Terrell; that among the conditions of said deed was the following: “The grantors do not warrant as against four
All the parties to this litigation seem to have been, in a greater or less degree, engaged in fraudulent practices in relation to the liens on the land in question and the other indebtedness of its owner. Whether Terrell could defend against the assumption made by him in the first deed of the obligation to pay the note and mortgage in suit, we need not enquire. It is enough that appellant herself, the pretended holder of that note and mortgage, has no ri-ght of action. Her note and mortgage are found to be without consideration, and given to and received by her for the fraudulent purpose of cheating the creditors of John O’Kane. It is also found that she made and signed a written release of the pretended debt due her and surrendered the note and mortgage to O’Kane. There is nothing due her, and she has no right of recovery. Appellant gave nothing for her note and mortgage; but even if she had, it would not help her. “Where a grantee takes a conveyance [and the same is true of a mortgage] for the purpose of aiding the grantor in defrauding his creditors, the fact that he pays a valuable consideration does not divest the conveyance of its fraudulent character.” Bishop v. Redmond, 83 Ind. 157. As said in Bunch v. Hart, 138 Ind. 1, reaffirming Seivers v. Dickover, 101 Ind. 495, “the law will leave the parties who have been convicted of the fraud where it finds them.” See also Anderson v. Etter, 102 Ind. 115 (123); Second Nat'l Bank v. Brady, 96 Ind. 498 (page 506), and cases cited.
The judgment is affirmed.
McCabe, J., took no part in the decision of this case.
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