46 Wash. 106 | Wash. | 1907
In the spring of 1899, the respondent was the owner of a certificate of stock in the Union Savings & Loan Association, of the par value of $5,000. The association denied any liability upon the stock, and the respondent brought suit against the association and recovered a judgment for the face value of the same. Upon appeal this judgment was reduced to $2,547 and interest. In July, 1899, and after the respondent had threatened to bring the aforesaid suit, the defendant association made a deed to appellant Baldwin, purporting to convey to him, among other tracts of land, the tract which is the subject of this suit. Appellant Baldwin gave a mortgage for $3,500. On the 10th day of October, 1899, the defendant the Cooperative Investment Company was organized as a corporation under the laws of
The findings of fact are voluminous, thp court setting forth in minutise the history of the transactions. But .without setting them all forth here, it is sufficient to say that, among other things, the findings are to the effect that the Union Savings & Loan Association had entered into an unlawful and fraudulent conspiracy with the defendants Billings, McArdle, and Baldwin, to hinder, delay and defraud the plaintiff in the collection of his dema’nd against the said Union Savings & Loan Association, and that what purported to be a deed of conveyance from the. association to Baldwin was without consideration; that the same was voluntarily made, in secret trust, for the benefit of the Union Savings & Loan Association and its officers, for the purpose of hindering, delaying, and defrauding the creditors of the Union Savings & Loan Association and more especially this plaintiff ; that among all the property so fraudulently conveyed, the land in Clallam county which is- the subject of this suit
These findings in the main were excepted to by the defendants; but, without entering into an analysis of the testimony, an examination of the record convinces us that they were amply justified by the testimony, and we will consider them as the facts in the case in the disposition of this appeal. The court, upon these findings, entered a decree quieting the title of the plaintiff as prayed for, and awarding judgment for the rental value of the lands. From this judgment this appeal is taken.
It is contended that the court erred in the admission of certain testimony. But this court has uniformly decided that the admission of testimony in a case which is tried de novo by this court is not ground for a reversal of the cause. This court will look at the testimony and, if it is not properly admitted, will not consider it in reaching its conclusion in the case.
It is also contended that the respondent’s case must fail for the reason that the complaint does not allege that the execution against appellant, the Union Savings & Loan Asso
The main contention of the appellants, outside of the correctness of the facts found, which we have before noticed, is that the action must fail for the reason that it is an action to quiet title, and that there is no allegation in the complaint that the plaintiff was in possession, or that the land which is the subject of the suit was vacant land, or that the premises were unoccupied; but that, on the other hand, such a conclusion was negatived by the allegation that the defendants Baldwin and the Cooperative Investment Company had received the rents and profits since the date of the sale of the property; and Spithill v. Jones, 3 Wash. 290, 28 Pac. 531, is relied upon, to sustain this contention. It was decided by this court in that case that an action to quiet title should be dismissed for want of equity under our statute, where there was no proof showing that the plaintiff was in possession of the land in question or that the same was unoccupied by any person, on the theory that to hold the contrary doctrine would be to allow an equitable form of action to be substituted in every case for an action of ejectment, and the defendant in possession of the property to be deprived of his constitutional right to a trial by jury. But
“This is a case with which this court has never been entirely satisfied, and we do not care. to extend the doctrine there announced.”
In Anderson v. Provident Life & Trust Co., 25 Wash. 20, 64 Pac. 933, where an action was brought in the form of a creditor’s bill to set aside fraudulent conveyances and subject real estate to sale free from any cloud occasioned by such conveyances, and the objection was raised that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to entitle the appellant to equitable relief, 'it was said:
“Nor does the fact that a party may have a remedy at law necessarily preclude him from invoking the aid of equity in cases of this character. If the legal remedy is inadequate to afford full relief, resort may be had to equity in proper cases. Indeed, it is a well-established principle that equity has concurrent jurisdiction with law over frauds, under statutes relative to fraudulent conveyances” ;
citing Wait on Fraudulent Conveyances (3d ed.), § 51, and Bump on Fraudulent Conveyances (4th ed.), § 530. The court continuing says:
“And the creditor himself may select the forum in which the question of fraud shall be determined, or, in other words, he has the option to submit the determination of the question either to a court of law or a court of equity
citing Bump on Fraudulent Conveyances (4th ed.), p. 532, where that author says:
“But the remedy most frequently used is a bill in equity, because a court of equity sifts the consciences of the parties and removes the cloud from the title. ■ Fraud constitutes the most ancient foundation of its jurisdiction, and is a sufficient ground for its interposition. It may grant relief, although there is ample remedy at law; for no relief is adequate except that which removes the fraudulent title.” .
“The existence of a remedy at law does not interfere with the right of a creditor to resort to a court of equity to secure a cancellation of a fraudulent conveyance, . . . ”
The case of Spithill v. Jones, supra, has been sustained grudgingly by this court in one or two cases since its announcement, but always, as in the cases cited above, restricting the doctrine announced as far as possible without absolutely overruling that case.. But in consideration of the fact that this case would have to be affirmed in any event, and in consideration of the further fact that the doctrine announced in that case seems to be opposed to reason and to the spirit of our statutes, we take this occasion to overrule it and all subsequent cases based upon it. In undertaking to limit the effect of that ruling, this court, in Bates v. Drake, supra, said:
“Spithill v. Jones, 3 Wash. 290, 28 Pac. 531, is cited as sustaining this contention. This court in that case did hold that an action to quiet title should be dismissed for want of equity where the proofs failed to show that the plaintiff was in possession of the lands the title to which was sought to be quieted, or that the same was unoccupied by any person. It spoke also as if the question was one of the jurisdiction of the court. It is clear, however, from the opinion as a whole, that the court did not mean by its use of this term that it was without jurisdiction or power to determine the subject-matter of the controversy between the parties or that a judgment entered therein would have been void, but meant rather that equity would not entertain a suit to quiet title when the plaintiff had an adequate remedy at law, . The fact that the plaintiff is or is not in possession, or that the land is or is not vacant, does not affect the jurisdiction of the court to determine the subject-matter of the controversy between the parties, nor does it affect the merits of that controversy, but affects only the plaintiff’s right to have the merits of the controversy determined in that particular form of action.”
“We think the court erred in dismissing the action. Whether or not the contract or lease was originally illegal, it is not necessary for the purpose of this discussion to determine. But if illegal, a part performance of the contract, either by the plaintiffs taking possession of the premises under the lease or by the payment and acceptance of rent under the terms of the lease, would render the lessor liable for damages for its violation by Mm; and the court, in holding that part performance could not be shown in an action for damages, lost sight of the rule of concurrent jurisdiction with which courts are clothed, especially under the reformed procedure. Our statute (Bal. Code, § 4793) provides that there shall be in this state but one form of action for the enforcement of private rights and the redress of private wrongs, which shall be called a ‘civil action’; and this statute evidently means sometMng. It was not intended by this enactment of the law-making power to leave in force or to perpetuate the old distinctions which existed at the common law between legal actions and equitable procedures, so far as the manner of bringing the actions is concerned. It was plainly the intention thereby to abolish such distinctions, and to substitute for all other forms of complaint a statement of facts, for it provides that the complaint shall contain a plain and concise statement of facts constituting the cause of action, and this plain and concise statement of facts must necessarily be the same (if it is a concise statement of facts) whether the relief or remedy sought by the action be equitable or legal in its nature. In tMs case, if the plaintiffs had demanded specific performance, the statement of facts on which the demand would have been based would have been identically the same statement as that upon which
citing Filley v. Murphy, 80 Wash. 1, 70 Pac. 107, where this question is pointedly discussed, and Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence (2d ed.), §§ 183, 187.
Applying these principles to this case, the respondent, if the allegations of his complaint were true, was entitled to relief. These allegations constituted a statement of facts, and being properly before a court of competent jurisdiction to try the questions raised by the pleadings, whatever relief he was entitled to should have been administered by that court, regardless of whether the relief was equitable or legal.
The judgment is affirmed.
Hadley, C. J., Mount, Fullerton, Root, Crow, and Rudkin, JJ., concur.