65 Iowa 157 | Iowa | 1884
A number of parties were joined as plaintiffs. Each party plaintiff is the holder of a valid claim against the insolvent partnership. The lands which it is sought to subject to the payment of these claims are situated partly in Winneshiek and partly in other counties in this state, and some of the defendants are non-residents of Winneshiek county, the place where the action was brought and tried. Much of the argument of counsel for appellants is devoted to the question as to whether the bill is multifarious, and whether there is a misjoinder of parties. In the view we take of the ease, a consideration of these questions becomes unnecessary, and we will proceed at once to a determination of the merits of the controversy, which involves the single ultimate question whether or not the transfers of the several parcels of real estate by Frank Teabout, one of the partners in the firm of Teabout & Yalleau, were fraudulent as to the plaintiffs, who are creditors of the firm.
The record presented to us is very voluminous. The abstract contains 335 pages, and counsel, in their arguments, discuss at length, and in a most admirable manner, every
About the year 1873 Frank Teahout commenced dealing in western lands in the counties of Olay, O’Brien, Osceola, and Sioux, in this state. He took up his residence in the western part of the state about that time, and his wife remained upon the Frankville farm. There was no separation by reason of any disagreement, so far as appears, but it seems that by common consent the wife remained upon the farm, while he, probably for the purpose of giving attention to his business in the west, absented himself from the farm. After that, his wife rented out the farm, collected the rents of the tenants, and, as the tenants understood, she was the owner of the farm and had the undisputed control of it: In 1878 Teabout was not in debt, and it is conceded that he was then worth at least $100,000. We think the evidence shows that he was then worth more than that amount.
On the twenty-ninth day of April, 1878, Emma Teabout executéd and acknowledged a power of attorney to her husband, Frank Teabout, by which he was authorized and empowered to sell and convey any and all of said real estate in her naxne, or in which she' had any interest, including right of dower in any real estate of her husband. This power of attorney was filed for record June 5, 1878, and it does not appear that it has ever been revoked. On the same day on which the power of attorney was filed for record, Frank Tea-bout conveyed the Frankville farm to his wife, Exnma Teabout, by a deed with covenants of general warranty. This deed was duly acknowledged, and was deposited with Warren Walker, the notary before whom the acknowledgment was taken for the grantee therein named. Emma Teabout was not present when the deed was executed. It was not filed for record until after the firm of Teabout & Yalleau became insolvent. It is very satisfactorily shown by the evidence that these instruments were both executed without any purpose upon the part of Frank Teabout to contract indebtedness
The partnership of Teabout & Yalleau was entered into in September, 1878. It contemplated buying and selling-produce, cutting, curing, and marketing hay, and raising and selling cattle, in the counties of O’Brien, Sioux, Clay and Lyon, or such other points as might be agreed upon. Teabout agreed to furnish the sum of $5,000 as capital stock. Yalleau was not a man of any property, and against Teabout’s capital he put in his skill, labor, and service, and each were to share alike in the profits. . The firm had its principal office at Decorah. It did not confine itself to the business above mentioned, and in a short time the partnership had two or three general stores, and several lumber-yards, at points on the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad west of Decorah, in this state, and in the territory of Dakota. A very large business was done, amounting, it is claimed, to about $800,000 a year; and in the last days of April, 1881, the partnership failed, being indebted many thousands of dollars in excess of its assets, and in excess of the individual property of its members. Yalleau was the business man of the firm. Teabout knew nothing about the business, excepting that in the last year he knew that it was in debt, and that he was frequently called upon to provide means for the payment of its debts.
So far as the title of the Frankville farm appeared of record, it was the property of Frank Teabout until after the failure of the partnership, when the deed to Emma Teabout was put on record.
The conveyance of the Frankville farm was not, therefore, a mere voluntary conveyance. It wás upon a good and sufficient consideration, accompanied with possession exclusive in its character, and not such as might as well be considered the possession of the husband as the possession of the wife. Here, then, we have a conveyance for a consideration, coupled with actual possession, which is notice to the world of the rights of the grantee, and the mere neglect to file the deed for record cannot operate as an estoppel against the grantee.
Our conclusion upon the whole case is that the decrees of the circuit court must be
Affirmed.