158 Iowa 220 | Iowa | 1913
In June, 1909, the plaintiff Tait obtained a judgment for about $3,000 against the defendant Reid in the superior court of Cedar. Rapids. Reid was insolvent. Both
This was the state of affairs in February, 1910, when the plaintiff began an action in the courts of Nebraska, on his judgment and levied a writ of attachment upon all the property and garnished various parties as supposed debtors of Reid. This procedure naturally stopped the further progress of the enterprise, though there were many unsold lots. Thereafter Reid came to Cedar Rapids. He was indebted in some amount for services to Crissman and his firm. He conveyed to Crissman all his interest in the Nebraska property, and assigned to him his contract with Taylor. For this transfer there was no special consideration except perhaps the existing indebtedness and a desire on the part of Reid to protect the purchasers from him and- a willingness on the part of Crissman to take the risk of the enterprise for the possible profits which it might give him. Crissman intervened forthwith in the Nebraska suit, and the litigation there is still pending. In May, Taylor served notice of forfeiture. Both Tait and Crissman were advised of this notice, and both refused
It may well be doubted whether this action can be resolved into anything else than an attempt to establish a lien upon the Nebraska property. It is very clear that no such relief could be awarded, and the plaintiff does not in terms ask it. His theory is that a court of equity may find value in the. contracts existing between the parties, and that it may in that way protect the plaintiff by adjudging the defendant Crissman liable to an accounting as for moneys fraudulently received from the plaintiff’s debtor. We will not stop now to deal with this particular question. We look first to the question whether the transaction entered into between Reid and Crissman could in any legal sense be deemed a fraud upon the plaintiff as a creditor of an insolvent debtor. It will not
It is clear from the record before us that the interest of Reid in the Nebraska property at the time of plaintiff’s attachment and afterwards was of no value, and that the plaintiff could have realized nothing thereby by means of any process unless he were willing to protect Reid’s option contract against immediate forfeiture by assuming the balance of the purchase price. This the plaintiff was not willing to do, and the contract was forfeited. Crissman entered into a new contract with Taylor and is bound to Taylor for the purchase price. Taylor was not affected by the attachment. He had a right to
This was the -view of the trial court, and its decree is accordingly Affirmed.