Mayer v. Harrison
Mayer v. Harrison
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
On September 22, 1944, The Advance Furnace Company, hereafter called the Furnace Company, filed its petition in the above entitled action to have the district court set aside its judgment of July 2, 1943, approving a receiver’s sale of personal property. W. B. Harrison and June H. Mayer filed separate demurrers to the petition on the ground the petition failed to state facts sufficient to warrant any relief in favor of the Furnace Company and from adverse rulings each appealed to this court. The Furnace Company has also appealed from a ruling adverse to it, which will be mentioned later. An understanding of the matter requires a short statement of matters leading up to the judgment of which complaint is made.
June H. Mayer and Fred N. Probst were partners operating under the name of United Parts Manufacturing Company, hereafter called the United Parts, and engaged in making parts for airplanes under subcontracts with prime contractors. The partners could not agree and on February 1, 1943, Mayer sued Probst for dissolution of the
As previously mentioned, on September 22, 1944, the Furnace Company filed its verified petition asking the trial court to set aside its order of July 2, 1943, approving the sale. For its cause of action it alleged (1) that it was a judgment creditor of the partners and that its judgment had never been paid although it had attempted to collect from Mayer inasmuch as Probst had been adjudicated a bankrupt; (2) that Mayer had charge of the books of United Parts and was conversant with the financial affairs of the partnership prior to the receivership and afterwards; (3) that plaintiff Mayer was the daughter of W. B. Harrison who advanced money to the receiver and was issued receiver’s certificates, that at the time the action was commenced the partnership was working on a subcontract with the Curtiss-Wright Company, a prime contractor, that the United Parts continued to attempt to work on the subcontract after the receiver was appointed and that the funds used to operate the partnership were obtained by Harrison at various times in return for which he received receiver’s certificates; (4) that the United Parts kept an adequate set of books to show the value of the work in progress on war contracts and that Mayer failed to advise the receiver of the fact that the accounting system used by the partnership would enable him to determine the approximate value of the work in progress and that Mayer fraudulently led the court and the receiver to believe that the value of the work in progress at the time the subcontract with the Curtiss-Wright Company was terminated could not be determined and that the value of the item was nonexistent; (5) that Mayer connived and conspired with Harrison to lull other creditors into a false sense of security as shown by two letters attached as exhibits which are more fully mentioned later and that the Furnace Company was led to believe that Harrison was going to subordinate his claim to the rights of other creditors and that the assets of the partnership included only named physical assets but that the value of contingent claims against prime contractors, especially Curtiss-Wright Company, was
The exhibits attached to the above petition and referred to in No. 5 above are two letters. One dated February 24, 1943, and signed June Harrison Mayer was addressed to creditors of United Parts and stated that the writer had purchased the interest of Probst but that the receiver had not been dismissed. Mention was made that a large pay roll had been suddenly built up in endeavoring to perform contracts with Curtiss-Wright. The letter sought assistance of the creditors in working out matters so that claims might be paid, reviewed past history and stated that she expected to make progress and Curtiss-Wright was cooperating. The part particularly of interest is the following: “United Parts owes my father personally $15,000 for cash advanced, which he is subordinating to claims of all other common creditors who will work with me to get all debts paid. . . .” The other letter was dated March 8, 1943, was addressed to the creditors of United Parts and was signed by an attorney for Mrs. Mayer. The letter stated that the recipient would probably receive a notice that Probst had filed proceedings in bankruptcy in the federal court but that it did not affect United Parts as Mrs. Mayer had purchased his interest. After stating Mrs. Mayer was working with the receiver to pay creditors and that she had drawn no pay since January 15, the letter continued that it was the plan to dispose of certain material and equipment and to continue making tanks for CurtissWright, and that all proceeds from sales were being kept in a separate fund by the receiver, and "After receiver’s expenses are paid, they will be applied pro rata on general accounts, except that W. B. Harrison, who advanced $15,000 to the company previous to the receivership, has specified that all creditors who cooperate with the Receiver, Mrs. Mayer and Curtiss-Wright in the program to pay in full as soon as possible, are to be paid before anything is applied on his said $15,000 claim.” Other parts of the letter are not of particular importance.
As previously stated, Mr. Harrison and Mrs. Mayer filed separate demurrers to the petition, but before they were ruled upon Harrison and the Furnace Company entered into a stipulation of facts which we summarize: (a) All property received by Clem at
At the time the demurrer was heard the trial court heard evidence to supply the record to show that notice of the receiver’s sale was published in the Wichita Eagle and a copy mailed to creditors. It found such notice was published and sent and further found that confirmation of the sale cured defects, if any, in the notice to creditors. It also overruled the separate demurrers of Harrison and Mayer and the appeals previously mentioned followed.
Although the Furnace Company, in support of the trial court’s ruling, directs our attention to various authorities dealing with procedure, we shall not discuss them for it is conceded the petition was properly filed in an attempt to vacate the judgment of July 2,1943, under G. S. 1935, 60-3007, Fourth, which provides the district court may vacate its judgment after the term at which it was made “For fraud, practiced by the successful party, in obtaining the judgment or order.” Under G. S. 1935, 60-3012 the court must first try and decide upon the grounds to vacate the judgment, and the demurrers properly raised the question.
Mayer and Harrison contend their demurrers should have been sustained for the reasons that there was a failure to plead any facts constituting fraud; that if any fraud was pleaded it was intrinsic and not extrinsic, and not sufficient, and also that the fraud, if any, was not by the successful party. In answer the Furnace Company contends the facts pleaded constitute fraud; that in the circumstances of this case it is immaterial whether the fraud was intrinsic
Although not in the order presented we take up the question as to who was the successful party. This action started as one for dissolution of a partnership and at its commencement Mayer and Probst were the only parties. Sometime after the receiver was appointed Mayer and Probst settled their immediate difficulties, but by order of court the receivership continued for the benefit of creditors and.Harrison filed his intervening petition and established his claim, as did the Furnace Company and other creditors. The nature of the action had been changed. Harrison and others had come into it, and Harrison or any other intervenor may not say he could not have been a successful party under the above statute, and therefore could not have obtained a judgment by fraud of the successful party. Whether he did so obtain a judgment depends on the allegations of the petition to vacate the judgment, and we proceed to examine them.
Preliminary to that examination it is to be noted that no motions were directed against any part of the petition. We bear in mind the rule that when tested by a demurrer, the allegations of the petition are to be taken as true and the pleader is entitled to all favorable inferences that may be drawn from the facts pleaded. The allegations of the petition have been set forth in detail, and the references hereafter made are to be considered in connection with what has been previously stated. Although there is some overlapping, we shall first consider the allegations of fraud made against Mrs. Mayer, and then the allegations against Harrison.
Insofar as Mrs. Mayer is concerned it is charged that she had charge of the books of United Parts and was conversant with its financial affairs; that United Parts had a contract with CurtissWright and continued work thereon after appointment of the receiver; that the books of account kept by United Parts were adequate to show the value of work in progress; that Mrs. Mayer failed to advise the receiver of that fact and led the court and receiver to believe the value of the Curtiss-Wright contract was nonexistent. The only other charge against Mrs. Mayer is that referred to in paragraph 5 of the petition that she conspired with her father, Harrison, to lull other creditors into a false security and to believe Harrison was going to subordinate his claim to that of other creditors as shown by two letters. Those letters have been
Insofar as Harrison is concerned, we need not repeat what has previously been said about his conniving and conspiring with Mrs. Mayer. The petition further charges that when the receiver held his sale on June 28, 1943, it was made upon inadequate notice as a matter of law, an allegation which charges no one with fraud, and
It will be noted there is no allegation that Harrison concealed anything concerning the receivership nor that he conspired with Mrs. Mayer to conceal anything. There is no allegation that he possessed any knowledge concerning value or extent of the assets sold by the receiver that was not available to any party to the action, including the Furnace Company. There is no allegation that he had anything to do with procuring the order for the receiver to sell the assets (on the contrary the record discloses only that the receiver moved for an order to sell), nor that he moved for confirmation of the sale. There is no allegation that he, nor anyone else, made any representations of any kind as to extent or value of the assets sold or prevented any person from bidding at the sale. To recapitulate, Harrison is charged with conspiring with Mrs. Mayer to lull creditors into a false sense of security, which matter has been adequately discussed, and in having Clem purchase the property at the receiver’s sale. Although the pleader charges that it was unable to determine what assets were sold because of the representations of Mrs. Mayer and the “fraudulent” manner in which the assets were sold, no facts are pleaded to show how or in what manner Mrs. Mayer’s letter to creditors, or Clem’s purchase for Harrison, prevented a sale to anyone who bid the highest price for the articles to be sold.
We have not overlooked allegations tending to show that the receiver may not have been diligent in all particulars and that the inventory filed by him did not disclose in more detail the extent
It is plainly inferable from the petition to vacate the sale that no complaint would have been lodged had it not developed that the contingent asset consisting of the claim against Curtiss-Wright was more valuable than it was thought to be at the time of sale when there remained work to be done on the contract. Although the briefs mention this work, the petition is silent thereon. While cases may be found that mere inadequacy of price will justify the court in setting aside a sale, ordinarily that will not be done where the sale is held and confirmed without objection, and the objection comes late. There is no attempt on the part of the Furnace Company to show it acted diligently — in fact the converse appears.
The allegations of the petition to vacate, pertaining to the allowance of the claim of the Union National Bank, have not been overlooked but seem not to be relied on by either party, There is no showing that after the petition to vacate was filed, any summons was served on the bank, or that it made any appearance. What is now sought, in effect, is to relitigate the claim of the bank, which the record before us fails to disclose was paid at any time, either from proceeds of the receiver’s sale or otherwise. This particular phase will not be further discussed.
In our opinion, the petition to set aside the sale does not state facts sufficient to warrant the relief sought.
In view of our conclusion it is not necessary that we discuss the Furnace Company’s cross-appeal further than to say that while the
The judgment of the trial court overruling the demurrer to the petition is reversed and set aside and the cause remanded with instructions to the trial court to sustain the demurrer.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.