125 Minn. 286 | Minn. | 1914
Action to satisfy of record a judgment rendered against plaintiff prior to his being adjudged a bankrupt, on the ground of his subsequent discharge. Defendant answered, claiming the judgment to be a lien on certain lands alleged 'to have been acquired and conveyed by plaintiff before the adjudication referred to, but while the judgment was in force. The court found against the claim of ownership, determined the judgment had never become a lien, and directed the clerk to discharge it of record. Defendant, after refusal of the court to amend the findings, appealed from an order denying a new trial.
The judgment in question was rendered and docketed in Hennepin county on August 31, 1910. On September 1, 1911, a warranty deed was recorded in the register of deeds’ office for the same county, in terms conveying the lands described in the answer to plaintiff. On the following day a warranty deed was recorded in the same office, in terms conveying this land from plaintiff to one Wheeler, who has since remained its owner. On October 12, 1911, plaintiff was adjudged a bankrupt, and he obtained his discharge on February 3, 1912. The judgment against plaintiff was duly listed in the bankruptcy proceedings and defendant duly notified. The land, however, was not included in plaintiff’s schedule of assets, was unoccupied, and never came under control of the trustee in bankruptcy; nor was the judgment presented or proven in the bankruptcy proceedings.
On the trial the court, over defendant’s objection, received evidence on plaintiff’s part tending to show that the deed to plaintiff was never delivered to him, that he never had any beneficial interest in the property described therein, and that this deed and the one from him to Wheeler were executed to enable plaintiff to obtain a
The main question involved is: Was plaintiff entitled, under the facts so appearing, to have the judgment absolutely satisfied of record? And this involves the further inquiry as to the court’s power to determine in this action whether plaintiff ever acquired any interest in the land to which defendant’s judgment attached as a lien.
As a preliminary to consideration of the question, it is necessary to have in mind the status of liens as affected by proceedings in bankruptcy; excluding, however, liens specially annulled by the bankruptcy act, with which we have no present concern, the alleged lien involved not being of such character. The general rule is that liens are not affected by the act, but remain untouched by the bankrupt’s discharge. Collier, Bankruptcy, (9th ed.) 362. Neither is a judgment evidencing a lien annulled or extinguished except in so far as it imposes a personal liability upon the bankrupt, the discharge being personal to the debtor. Gregory Co. v. Cale, 115 Minn. 508, 133 N. W. 75, 37 L.R.A.(N.S.) 156; Leslie Paper Co. v. Wheeler, 23 N. D. 477, 137 N. W. 412, 42 L.R.A.(N.S.) 292; Collier, Bankruptcy (9th ed.) 362. Since, therefore, the rendition and docketing of defendant’s judgment prior to plaintiff’s adjudication in bankruptcy and its validity under the act was established, this case must of necessity turn upon the question above stated.
True it is that the sufficiency of the complaint as stating any equitable grounds for relief or cause of action seems doubtful; the allegations being merely the rendition and docketing of the judgment, plaintiff’s adjudication, surrender of his property, and discharge in bankruptcy, and that no execution was ever issued on the judgment. Defendant, however, makes no point in this regard. Furthermore, in the view we take of the case, no such point need be determined, for even should the complaint be held insufficient in the respects referred to, the action may he treated as a motion under G. S. 1913, § 7914, which reads as follows':
“Any person discharged from his debts pursuant to the act of Congress known as ‘An act to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States, approved July first, eighteen
It will be noted that by the terms of the statute a motion thereunder cannot be made until the expiration of one year from the date of the bankrupt’s discharge, and it appears from the return on this appeal that the action was commenced within the year; but the complaint was amended after the period of limitation upon a motion had run. The action may, therefore, be viewed as such or as a statutory motion. Arne v. Holland, 85 Minn. 401, 404, 89 N. W. 3. Considered -as the former, however, it cannot be held broader — the judgment debtor and creditor being the only parties — than a statutory motion; for under the latter the court, in its discretion, might have heard oral evidence to the same extent as in the former. Dunnell, Minn. Prac. § 2068. In short the case stands as if plaintiff had proceeded against defendant by motion and the court had, as it might do (Woodford v. Heynolds, 36 Minn. 155, 30 N. W. 151), relegated the parties to an action, but plaintiff, pursuant thereto, had neither enlarged the issues nor made the owner of the property claimed to be affected by the lien a party defendant.
Regarding plaintiff’s application as an action, we are led to the same result. Prima facie defendant’s judgment was a lien, and any decree pronounced therein should ascertain and determine all rights and conflicting relations, to the end that all questions relating to the subject-matter be settled. Controversies should not be determined by piecemeal when readily presentable in entirety, and such can be
Defendant’s claim that we should consider his right of lien as established by the testimony, cannot be sustained, for the reason, among others, that the same considerations precluding an absolute cancelation of the judgment of record militate with equal force against the establishment of the lien.
Following the New York practice as indicated in Pickert v. Eaton, 81 App. Div. 423, 424, 81 N. Y. Supp. 50, the court below should strike out the third finding of fact and its conclusions of law, and substitute for the latter the following: That the said judgment be discharged and satisfied of record; such discharge and satisfaction, however, is not to impair any rights or lien which defendant may have acquired in or against the property of plaintiff, the judgment debtor, prior to the discharge in bankruptcy, and the clerk should be directed to limit the entry of satisfaction accordingly. With such modification the order appealed from will stand affirmed.