Court Opinion

ID: 9842789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:18:21.015654+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:47.609498
License: Public Domain

HUTCHESON, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
The judgment appealed from and here affirmed, was entered on appellant’s motion for summary judgment which in turn was based on the theory adopted by the referee and the district judge, that the falsity of the statement in the schedule was proven by the judgment and verdict of the jury in the civil action finding the conveyance by Hayslip to his wife and son to be fraudulent, a theory which we, in the companion case of Hayslip v. Long, 5 Cir., 227 F.2d 550, have held to be erroneous.
Appellant is here insisting not only that he should have had judgment on the basis of that evidence, but that, if that evidence was insufficient, no judgment should have been entered on , his motion, against him, but the cause should have been set for trial and heard on its merits.
While I agree with the opinion of the majority, that the evidence was not sufficient to entitle appellant to the summary judgment he prayed, I think it clear that in the posture of these cases it was not competent for the referee and judge to enter a judgment against appellant on the merits without affording him an opportunity to prove his case.
I respectfully dissent.