68 So. 37 | Ala. | 1914
The appellee filed this bill to establish and to enforce a vendor’s lien inuring to his intestate, Mrs. S. E. Camp, in consequence of a sale of land to W. P. Ayers on October 11, 1900. The respondents Silvey & Co., and Grambling-Spalding Company obtained judgments against W. P. Ayers in the circuit court of Cleburne county on March 10, 1901; and in April, 1901, executions to enforce their collection were levied on the property here in question, sale thereof ivas had in due course, and, the named companies being the purchasers at the sum of the judgments and costs, they received a. conveyance of the land from the sheriff. On the 6th day of April, 1910, the companies having theretofore recovered the possession of the property, an ex-ecutory contract of sale ivas made by the companies with C. K. Ayer, a respondent (at the price of $1,200), who made a cash payment of $500, and who has since through annual payments discharged his obligation to the companies, and, in consequence, received a conveyance which is in part a quitclaim and in part a Avarranty of therein described portions of the land.
We find no merit in the insistences that the amended answers were insufficient in the assertion of right to the protection accorded bona fide purchasers, or, that the predicate was too deficient to allow secondary evidence of the contents of the (lost) deed from Gamp to W. P. Ayers.
Undoubtedly, and for even stronger reason, knowledge of the fact of the debtor defendant’s adjudication of bankruptcy must, in consequence of the pleading thereof by him, be conclusively imputed to' the plaintiffs, in those actions, regardless of whether they were actually informed of the fact or not. The concrete question then is: Was knowledge of the fact of the debtor defendant’s adjudication of bankruptcy sufficient or effective to put the duty on the plaintiffs to' consult the petition and proceedings in the bankruptcy matter to ascertain the nature and character of the defendant’s indebtedness and whether it was secured, in whole or in part, by liens, contractual or imposed by law, on '•the lands owned or claimed by the debtor defendant?
We do not think the fact that Ayers Avas by his OAArn assertion and as accordingly adjudicated in the bankruptcy court — both facts knoAvledge of Avhich were imputable to the plaintiffs — insolvent sufficient to deny or to qualify the application of the sound rule announced by the Vermont court. In order to conclude in favor of the imposition of the duty to' make reasonable inquiry, it is essential that the information imparted to the party to be charged should tend to show the existence of the conflicting right or interest as a fact, though, of course, the information “need not be so full as to afford a complete description of the opposing interest.”—Wahl v. Stoy, 72 N. J. Eq. 607, 614, 66 Atl. 176; 3 Pom. Eq. Jur., § 597. Here the facts imputed, as stated, to these plaintiffs, bore no remote suggestion of an outstanding lien on lands. They imported no more than that the defendant was insolvent, and had been so adjudicated. A reasonably prudent man could not find in pondering these facts the suggestion that the debts were secured or that land liens were outstanding. These facts bore no tendency to show or to advise a lien outlay to secure any debt of the sum making defendant insolvent. So Ave conclude the pleaded, and thus known, fact of adjudicated bankruptcy did not devolve a duty of inquiry upon plaintiffs.
Just preceding the matter quoted from the schedule the petitioner listed the following described lands as owned and held by the petitioner: “North y2 of S. W. y2 and N. W. % of section 36, and S. W. % of S. E. 1/4 and N. E. % of S. E. 14 of section 25, township 17, range 10.”
This description did not include all, but did include the major part, of the land here involved.
The decree appealed from is reversed. The cause is remanded to the chancery court, that the conclusions announced in this opinion may be given appropriate effect. All the costs of and on the appeal will be equally apportioned, and so taxed, between the Grambling-Spalding Company and the appellee. The court below will apportion the costs already incurred and those to accrue as it deems fair and just.
Reversed and remanded.