Montgomery v. Bullock

WASTE, C. J.

On September 8, 1930, defendant William E. Bullock committed an assault and battery upon this plaintiff, Ida M. Montgomery. In May, 1931, she sued him for damages, and on April 26, 1932, had judgment in the sum of about $2,200. She caused execution to be issued and levied upon certain real estate which William E. Bullock and his wife, Orpah Bullock, had acquired in 1927 as community property, and at execution sale on January 30, 1933, she purchased the property for $1200. There being no redemp

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tion, she received a sheriff’s deed thereto on February 15, 1934. On April 4, 1934, she commenced the present action to determine her right to the property and to quiet title. A verified answer to the complaint was filed by the Bullocks, alleging that Orpah Bullock had sold the property to defendant Grace A. James, sister of William E. Bullock. Mrs. James filed a separate answer, alleging her purchase of the property and praying that her title thereto be quieted. On issues so joined the cause went to trial. Thereafter the trial court made findings and gave judgment for plaintiff. The three answering defendants, the Bullocks and Mrs. James, appealed. The cause is now under submission on motion of plaintiff to dismiss the appeal or affirm the judgment, and on the merits. A meager bill of exceptions prints less than a page of the evidence adduced upon the trial, and the appeal is therefore presented virtually as an appeal on the judgment roll.

The real property in question consisted of a city lot in Los Angeles, 61 feet by 147% feet, upon which had been erected a dwelling with built-in garage, used as the Bullock home, and three separate dwellings and two double garages which the Bullocks rented to tenants. William E. Bullock had no assets, save his interest in the property, and he apparently made every effort to prevent its being taken to apply in satisfaction of plaintiff’s claim against him for damages. On September 15, 1930, which was about a week after the altercation in which he injured plaintiff, he deeded the property, without consideration, to his wife, who admittedly knew as well as he that plaintiff had a cause of action against him for tort. On November 21, 1931, while the tort action was pending, Orpah Bullock declared a homestead upon the property, and on April 6, 1932, about three weeks prior to entry of the judgment for damages, she deeded the property to Mrs. James, her sister-in-law. The trial court found that at all times the property had been under the control of William E. Bullock, and that the several transfers thereof were all made without valuable consideration, at his instance in contemplation of insolvency, in an attempt to delay and prevent the sale of the property under execution to satisfy his liability to plaintiff, and in fraud of her rights as an existing creditor, and that at all times up to January 30, 1933 (date of execution sale), the property continued to be community property