Title: Kimbrough v. Hardison

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

81 So. 2d 606 (1955)
W. P. KIMBROUGH
v.
Frances Grant HARDISON et al.
3 Div. 729.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
June 30, 1955.
Knabe & Nachman, Montgomery, for appellant.
Godbold & Hobbs, Montgomery, for appellees.
MERRILL, Justice.
This is an appeal from a decree sustaining the demurrer to the substituted bill of complaint as a whole and to each aspect of the substituted bill.
The appellant Kimbrough is the complainant. In the substituted bill he alleged the following facts. Appellee Grant owns certain described real estate in Florida. He attempted to convey that property to his daughter, appellee Frances Grant Hardison. Kimbrough had a claim for damages against Grant arising out of an automobile accident on December 22, 1950. Suit had been filed claiming these damages prior to this attempted conveyance and a judgment was *607 found against Grant and recorded in Florida prior to the time that this attempted conveyance was recorded there.
The bill alleged that the attempted conveyance of the Florida realty from Grant to Hardison was a fraud on Kimbrough, a creditor; that Hardison was not a bona fide purchaser for value `but that the attempted conveyance was voluntary and without consideration; that the attempted conveyance was made with the intent to hinder, delay and defraud Kimbrough, as a creditor of Grant in his lawful suit, damages, debts and demands and that the purported conveyance was null and void and that the parties to it should be ordered to set it aside. There was also an averment that the appellees knew the purported deed was fraudulent at the time it was given. It was also averred that the appellee Hardison owned certain described real property in Montgomery. Both appellees are residents of Montgomery County, Alabama, and personal service was had on each of them. In the substituted bill appellant asked the following equitable relief against the appellees:
(1) An order to appellees to reconvey the Florida property and undo their alleged fraud; (2) an order to undo the fraudulent conveyance in any other appropriate manner which would vitiate the fraud; (3) a judicial declaration that title to the Florida property had been fraudulently divested out of Grant and into Hardison; (4) an order declaring a lien on the Florida property for the payment of Kimbrough's debts; (5) an order requiring appellee Grant to pay his debtthe judgment for damages claimedor in the alternative require him to sell the Florida property and make payment of the debts out of the proceeds of the sale; (6) a declaration of lien against the Alabama property of appellee Hardison; and (7) an injunction against the appellees from further conveyances, assignments or deeds of either the Florida or Alabama properties until the payment of appellant's claim.
The lower court sustained the demurrer to the bill as a whole and to each aspect of the bill.
Appellant's theory is that an equity court in Alabama has the power to order the fraudulent vendor and the fraudulent vendee, both of whom are properly before it, to undo their fraudulent conveyances so that Kimbrough, the creditor, may be free to pursue his ordinary creditor's liability against his debtor and that equity in such a case may act in personam against persons within its jurisdiction and order them to perform acts in other states or countries. In support of this theory appellant cites Penn v. Lord Baltimore, 1 Vesey Senior 444; Massie v. Watts, 6 Cranch 148, 3 L. Ed. 181; Guild v. Guild, 16 Ala. 121; Allen v. Buchanan, 97 Ala. 399, 11 So. 777; Lamkin v. Lovell, 176 Ala. 334, 58 So. 258; Horst v. Barret, 213 Ala. 173, 104 So. 530; Peoples' Bank v. Barret, 216 Ala. 344, 113 So. 389, and Hume v. Kirkwood, 216 Ala. 534, 113 So. 613.
Two applicable statutes are:
There is no question but that equity does act in personam and does order a party, in certain situations, to perform or refrain from certain acts relating to land in another jurisdiction, and the authorities cited by appellant and listed supra, sustain *608 that proposition. But we have not found, nor have we been cited, any Alabama authority which extends equity jurisdiction to the point of permitting a creditor to set aside an allegedly fraudulent conveyance of land in another state.
The distinction between the rights of one who had title to land, either legal or equitable, and the rights of a mere creditor is clearly drawn in the case of Lide v. Parker, 60 Ala. 165. In that case a contract creditor prayed that a deed of trust to land in Mississippi be set aside as fraudulent and that respondent account for all money received under the deed of trust and rents and profits. A demurrer raised the question of jurisdiction because the lands were in Mississippi. The chancellor overruled the demurrer, holding that the bill presented a case for equitable relief and that if the transaction be found fraudulent as against the creditors, the court might by personal decree against the defendants, compel them to account for the lands in Mississippi. In reversing the decree and dismissing the bill, this court said:
In West Point Mining & Mfg. Co. v. Allen, 143 Ala. 547, 39 So. 351, the complainant, a judgment creditor, filed a bill to annul a deed of trust to lands in Tennessee which was alleged to have been fraudulent as to the creditors. The respondent demurred upon the ground that the property conveyed was in Tennessee. The appeal was from the decree overruling the demurrer. This court quoted from Lide v. Parker, supra, and from Bump on Fraudulent Conveyances, p. 498, where it is said, "`The courts of one state have no jurisdiction or authority to set aside a fraudulent conveyance of land situate in another state'" and further stated:
The distinction between the line of cases cited by appellant and the rule announced by the Lide and West Point cases is again pointed out in Craig v. Craig, 219 Ala. 77, 121 So. 86, 87, where the prayer was for a decree annulling a deed on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of a condition subsequent, and to require respondent to reconvey the land to complainant. A plea to the jurisdiction alleged that the land was located in Georgia. This court said:
We think it is clear that our cases do not sustain the right to file a creditor's bill in equity to set aside an alleged fraudulent conveyance of lands situated outside of Alabama, although the parties are residents of this state and are properly before the court. This disposes of all appellant's assignments of error except 8 and 9.
These assignments of error are concerned with paragraph 8 of the substituted bill and prayers 6 and 7, supra. Paragraph 8 reads:
"`A bill without equity will not support an injunction of any character under any circumstances.'" Loop National Bank of Mobile v. Cox, 255 Ala. 388, 51 So. 2d 534, 537; City of Birmingham v. Bollas, 209 Ala. 512, 96 So. 591; Pearson v. Duncan & Son, 198 Ala. 25, 73 So. 406, 3 A.L.R. 242; McHan v. McMurry, 173 Ala. 182, 55 So. 793. There is no allegation that connects the respondent Hardison in any way with the appellant's claim and judgment for personal injuries against respondent Grant, and the other aspects of the bill lacking equity, the allegation in paragraph 8 and the prayer for an injunction is not sufficient to give equity to the bill. Cf. American Nat. Bank & Trust Co. v. Powell, 235 Ala. 236, 178 So. 21, 29, 30.
The decree of the lower court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON and STAKELY, JJ., concur.