Marshall v. Buchanan

By the Court, Crockett, J.: The appeal in this case is from a judgment in favor of the defendant, upon a demurrer to the complaint. The facts, as set forth in the complaint, are substantially, that the plaintiff obtained a money judgment against the defendant, and caused an execution thereon to be levied on certain property as the property of the defendant, and which was of sufficient value to have satisfied the debt. That whilst said action was pending, and before judgment thereon, the defendant fraudulently and without consideration conveyed the property to one Beggs, for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the plaintiff, and “with the intent to and for the purpose of inducing the said plaintiff to think and believe that he, the said John Buchanan, had no property, and would thereafter have no property, and to fraudulently induce him, the said plaintiff, to let said judgment run without renewal until the Statute of Limitations should have run against it;” that the conveyance was in writing, duly executed and delivered, and the possession of the property was delivered to Beggs; that whilst the property was so in the possession of Beggs, the plaintiff caused his execution to be levied on it as the property of the defendant; that thereupon Beggs claimed the property as his; and whilst it was thus in the hands of the Sheriff under the execution, the defendant, with [266]the intent to defraud the plaintiff, and to induce him to surrender the property and to release it from the levy, and to . cause the plaintiff to believe that the defendant had no property, and to induce him to suffer his judgment to be and remain without further suit, until the Statute of Limitations should run against it, and to hinder the plaintiff from obtaining satisfaction of said judgment and execution, willfully, falsely, and fraudulently represented to the plaintiff and to the Sheriff that the property levied upon was the property of Beggs, and that the conveyance to him was in good faith and for a valuable consideration; that the plaintiff, being deceived by these representations, and believing them to be true, and having no means to ascertain the contrary, and not knowing to the contrary, released the property from the levy, and thereby lost his debt; that within five years next after the date of the judgment, the plaintiff was unable to find any property of the defendant wherewith to satisfy any part of the judgment, during all which time the defendant had no property in his possession, and none except that conveyed to Beggs. The complaint further avers that after the expiration of five years an action was commenced against the defendant on the judgment, to which he pleaded the Statute of Limitations; and the plea being found good, judgment was rendered for the defendant in March, 1861; after which, to wit: in February, 1863, Beggs reconveyed the property to defendant; that the plaintiff, being deceived by the false and fraudulent representations of the defendant, and believing therefrom, until long after said five years had expired, that the defendant had no property, and that the judgment was of no value, failed for that reason to bring his action on the judgment until after five years had elapsed.