160 Ga. 694 | Ga. | 1925
The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company-recovered a judgment against Charles W. Melton upon a promissory note. The payment of the note was secured by a deed of even date with • the note. The insurance company, after the date of the judgment, executed a deed reconveying to Charles W. Melton for the purpose of placing in him title to the land conveyed, so that the land could be levied upon and sold as his property. This deed was recorded before the levy was made. A fi. fa. based upon the judgment against Melton was levied upon the property, and a claim was interposed by G-. F. Melton as agent for Edna Melton and others, deposing in .the claim affidavit that the land levied upon “is not the right and property of Charles W. Melton, the defendant in fi. fa., but is the right and property of Edna Melton, J. E. Melton, W. A. Melton, Sallie Mae Bradley, Winnifred Gilmore, Nannette Gilmore Sammons, and Mrs. G. T. Melton.” The issue made by the interposition of the claim came on for trial; and the claimants, admitting that the defendant in fi. fa. was in possession of the property, assumed the burden of proof. After both parties had introduced evidence and closed, the court directed a verdict finding the property subject, and the claimants excepted.
The court did not err in directing a verdict in this case; the verdict directed was demanded by the evidence. Charles W. Melton, the defendant in fi. fa., was administrator upon the estate of G. T. Melton, and the claimants in this case claim as heirs at law of the last named. Charles Melton, administrator, was also an heir at law of G. T. Melton. As administrator he sold the land in controversy, March 5, 1906, at administrator’s sale, and C. W. Deen was purchaser at the sale. The claimants themselves introduced in evidence a certified copy of the administrator’s deed to C. W. Deen; copy of a warranty deed from C. W. Deen to G. W. Deen and J. M. Miles, conveying a two-thirds undivided interest in the property in dispute; also a quitclaim deed from G. W. Deen to C. W. Deen, conveying a one-third undivided interest in the land in dispute; and a certified copy of a quitclaim deed from C. W. Deen to C. W. Melton, conveying all the lands in dispute; this last deed being dated April 30, 1910. All the deeds referred to were properly executed and recorded. Even if the facts in the case show that the defendant in fi. fa. made the administrator’s deed to C. "W". Deen, and that this deed and other deeds introduced in evidence were
vitiating the deeds, or one of the deeds, in the chain of title, the
Judgment affirmed.