May v. Walter
May v. Walter
Opinion of the Court
We are of opinion that the question of the bona fieles of the sale from Giesman to the plaintiff should have been submitted to the jury. The goods were, at the time of the alleged sale; in the store occupied by Giesman, and they were not removed until four days thereafter, nor until the attachment had been issued under which they were subsequently taken by the defendant.
It was a controverted question whether, during this time, the possession had been changed. It was claimed by the plaintiff that, at the time of the sale, he put Meyer, the brother-in-law of Giesman, in possession, as his agent; but the evidence, on the part of the defendant, tended to show that Giesman was in actual possession of the goods up to the time of their removal from the premises. If there was not an immediate delivery to the vendee of the goods sold, followed by an actual and continued change of possession, the sale is presumed to be fraudulent and void as against the creditors of the vendor or subsequent purchasers in good faith; and is conclusive evidence of fraud, unless it is made to appear, on the part of the plaintiff, that the sale was made in good faith and without any intent to defraud such creditors or purchasers. (2 R. S., 136, § 5.) The jury would have been authorized to find, upon the evidence, that there was no immediate delivery, nor any actual and continued change of possession within the statute; and unless the good faith of the parties in making the sale, and the absence of a fraudulent intent was so conclusively established by the evidence that a verdict for the defendant upon that issue would be set aside, the court erred in withdrawing the question from the jury.
The evidence was, in many particulars, conflicting, and we do not intend to intimate an opinion upon the merits of the
The judgment should be reversed and a new trial granted.
All concur.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.