Bowden v. Wooden

THE COURT.

This is an action by the trustee in bankruptcy of the estate of defendant Earl Wooden to set aside certain transfers of real and personal property made by Wooden to his wife, upon the ground that the same were made in fraud of creditors; and to have it decreed that certain other real property acquired by Mrs. Woodm in her name was held by her in fraud of her husband’s creditors. The trial court found adversely on the charges of fraud, and judgment was entered accordingly in favor of defendants,

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from which plaintiff appeals, urging as grounds for reversal insufficiency of evidence to sustain the findings.

The creditor claimants in the bankruptcy proceeding were Arthur Huston and his wife, whose respective claims were based on judgments for damages which they obtained against Wooden on account of personal injuries sustained by them in a collision between an automobile driven by Huston and one driven by Wooden. The accident occurred on November 9, 1926; the actions for damages were instituted on February 4, 1927, and tried on February 23, 1928. Judgments for the total sum of $6,649.40 were entered in favor of the Hustons on March 19, 1928, and thereafter executions were issued and returned unsatisfied. On April 24, 1928, Wooden was declared bankrupt.

The property involved consisted of a lot in Burbank, two lots in Los Angeles, and two automobiles. The Burbank property was acquired by Mrs. Wooden under an installment contract which she entered into in May, 1924, a year prior to her marriage to Wooden. The purchase price was $1300 and the monthly payments of $26 were completed in April, 1928, at which time the property was conveyed to her. The evidence adduced on the part of the Woodens shows that the entire purchase price was paid by Mrs. Wooden out of her separate funds consisting of money earned by her prior to her marriage and certain sums given to her subsequently by her father, and that her husband contributed nothing toward the purchase price and that title to said property was never vested in his name.

The Los Angeles lots were acquired by Wooden in February and August, 1926; and on December 1, 1927, he conveyed them by grant deed to his wife. In February, 1928, Mrs. Wooden conveyed the lots to defendant Granger by grant deed which was recorded the following month. All of these transactions took place prior to the entry of the judgments in the damage suits. With reference to the foregoing property the evidence adduced by defendants in support of their case shows that Mrs. Wooden paid her husband $750 for said lots, and that she afterward sold them to Granger for $800. In this regard the testimony of Mrs. Wooden was to the effect that she had saved much of the money earned by her prior to her marriage and that her father had given her considerable money from time to time