Prater v. Houston
Prater v. Houston
Opinion of the Court
This is an action brought to set aside conveyances from the defendant Houston to the defendant Skeel, on. the ground the conveyances are void, having been made for the purpose of hindering and defrauding the plaintiff, a creditor of Mrs. Houston.
In 1909, Hainsworth and wife (now Mrs. Houston) sold to the plaintiffs and to others, among them the attorney for the plaintiffs, a number of monthly payment real estate contracts, and in the sale agreed to repay to the purchasers of the contracts the balance due them in case the vendees named in the contracts should not complete the payments. In 1919, the Hainsworths were the owners of the capital stock of the Hainsworth Motor Company, a corporation, and in
This action attacks the validity of this transaction,
Many legal questions are raised in the briefs which we find it unnecessary to decide, and we assume, without deciding, that the, conveyance to Mr. Skeel was void as against the appellant, under § 5824, Rem Comp. Stat., which reads as follows:
“All deeds of gift, all conveyances, and all transfers or assignments, verbal or written, of goods, chattels, or things in action, made in trust for the use of the person making the same, shall be void as against the existing or subsequent creditors of such person.”
Yet, with this assumption, the appellant clearly is not entitled to recover, for the testimony shows that the attorney for the appellant in this action received from Mr. Skeel payment of a judgment based on a claim similar to that of the appellant; that the trust has been administered and has resulted beneficially to creditors; that it would be impossible to restore the status quo; that the appellant is charged with notice of what was being done, and that it would be inequitable to now allow the plaintiff to prevail; for, as the trial court said:
“Another feature of the case I think in itself sufficient to defeat the plaintiff’s action, and that is estoppel or at least laches on the part of the plaintiff. One who would upset a transaction such as is involved in this instance should act promptly. Whatever may be said of the nature or character of the transaction, it is shown by the evidence that defendant Skeel took over the properties and openly proceeded to reduce*643 the same to cash and pay the debts of the favored creditors, and has so disposed of the greater portion of the properties, and in so doing complications have arisen and he has assumed or incurred personal liability to such an extent that to now disrupt the transactions would create an interminable tangle, the result or effect of which it is impossible to estimate, and create a condition unfair to all concerned, and I seriously doubt that plaintiff herself' would receive any substantial benefit therefrom, and such as she might receive thereby would be at a sacrifice to others which should not be imposed upon them. I think the plaintiff is shown to have been at least charged with knowing what was done and being done, and that her failure to act promptly in itself, now estops her from prosecuting this action.”
For the reasons stated, the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.