Kurtz v. Lewis Voight & Sons Co.
Kurtz v. Lewis Voight & Sons Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit brought by the purchaser of a portion of this stock of an insolvent merchant, the remainder of whose stock was assigned for the benefit of creditors. The purchaser gave a chattel mortgage on the goods to secure the price, which was nine notes of $100 each. After a credit of about $50 was put upon these notes to reduce them to the amount of goods purchased at the agreed charge, they were indorsed without recourse by the payee to his brother Leopold Schorle. An attachment suit was instituted by a creditor of the vendor, which was levied by defendant Troll as sheriff upon the said goods., which were subsequently sold and applied to a judgment on the merits and also sustaining the attachment which was entered upon the written offer to that effect of the attachment defendant. The present suit is against the defendant sheriff, and the sureties on the attachment bond for an alleged conversion of the goods seized under the writ of attachment. Defendants gave evidence tending to prove that the goods sued for were fraudulently conveyed by the defendant in the attachment suit, and that plaintiff purchased them with knowledge of and participancy in said fraud. This was, however, denied by plaintiff, who claimed further that his notes for the purchase money had been transferred by the vendor in payment of a debt due the brother of his said vendor. It was further shown that the note evidencing this indebtedness was not surrendered nor delivered up when plaintiff’s notes were assigned to the holder. It is not claimed that the market value
I. Upon the theory that the notes for the purchase money of the goods were to be transferred by the vendor to pay or secure his indebtedness to his brother, the court instructed the jury that the sale to plaintiff was valid, notwithstanding it was made for the purpose of hindering, delaying or defrauding the creditors of the vendor, and notwithstanding the further fact that the plaintiff (the vendee) knew of and participated in such purpose and intent, unless it firrther appeared that the transferee of the notes also knew of and participated in such purpose and intent, and that this latter fact was also lenown to plaintiff. It is not believed this view of the law can be sustained. The difference in the legal status of a volunteer purchaser and the creditor of an insolvent vendor in a sale or conveyance made by him to defraud his creditors has been so often and so clearly drawn by the decisions in this State and elsewhere that it needs only to be stated to be thoroughly accepted without a citation of precedents. In the case of a sale or conveyance of goods with a fraudulent design on the part of the vendor, a creditor receiving the same in payment or security of a bona fide indebtedness at a reasonable value or price will not lose the preference thus given him, although he is aware that the transaction itself hinders or delays other creditors in seeking redress against said goods, and that such was the purpose of the debtor, provided the creditor does not further participate in such purpose than by the taking payment of his claim or a proper security therefor. On the other hand, a volunteer purchaser who gets title to'goods sold or conveyed to hinder, delay or defraud creditors of the vendor in the enforcement of their claims, can acquire no right to the property against such creditors, if he either knew of, or participated in,
II. Neither does the fact, that the transferee of the price of the goods could hold it as a valid preference of his debt under certain circumstances, enure to the benefit of the volunteer purchaser. The only theory upon which the creditor could retain for himself, money so received, is that it was taken in payment or security of a bona fide demand, and that he did not further participate in the fraud of the debtor, for if he did' this, he could not retain the money against the suit of other creditors. Now, the assumption of the instructions in this case is, that the volunteer purchaser actually shared in the fraud of the debtor. If this had been done, even by the creditor, he would have been compelled to disgorge what he had received with that intent. How then can the mere outside purchaser be placed upon a more advantageous ground? It is not believed such a conclusion can be reached by any valid
The judgment herein is reversed and the cause remanded.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion.
This case was not tried and presented (as stated in the majority opinion) upon the hypothesis that the plaintiff participated in the alleged fraudulent design of Wendell Schorle to hinder, delay or defraud his creditors. The theory of the appellants (as evidenced.by their instructions) was that the plaintiff was a volunteer purchaser, and if he had knowledge merely of Schorle’s alleged fraudulent design, the
“The court instructs you that, if you believe and find from the evidence, at the time of the alleged sale from Wendell Schorle to Kurtz, Wendell Schorle was insolvent and had .formed the design and purpose of transferring and disposing of his property, or any part thereof, for the purpose of hindering, délaying or defrauding his creditors, and that the said sale to plaintiff, Kurtz, was a part of and in furtherance of said fraudulent purpose and design, if any; and if you further b.elieve and find from the evidence that before said sale was consummated, and before the nine promissory notes, made by Kurtz to Wendell Schorle, had been delivered to Leopold Schorle, Kurtz became aware of the fraudulent purpose, if any, of the said Wendell Schorle, then the court instructs you that it was the duty of plaintiff Kurtz to rescind such sale and demand the return of his notes, and your finding must be for the defendants, provided however, that you further find that Leopold Schorle participated in the design of Wendell Schorle to defraud his creditors, and that plaintiff Tcnew that Leopold Schorle was so participating in such design of Wendell Schorle before plaintiff signed and delivered the notes and mortgages read in evidence
The evidence adduced by plaintiff tended to show that the purpose of the sale to plaintiff was to secure or pay the debt due Leopold Schorle from Wendell Schorle. To accomplish this the goods were sold to plaintiff, for which he gave his notes, which Wendell immediately assigned and delivered to Leopold. This was an indirect way of preferring Leopold’s debt, but it was certain and it was effectual, unless Wendell made the preference with the fraudulent intent of hindering or delaying his creditors and the plaintiff participated therein,
In my opinion the decision of my associates is contrary to the decisions in the cases above cited, and I, therefore, ask that the ease be certified to the Supreme Court.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.