Alkire Grocery Co. v. Richesin

Citations

• 91 F. 79
• 1899 U.S. App. LEXIS 2889

Syllabus

<p>1. Federal Courts—Jurisdiction-Creditors’ Bill.</p> <p>A judgment creditor in a state court, who lias sued out an execution and obtained a nulla bona return, may file a creditors’ bill based on said judgment and nulla bona return in the circuit court of the United States for the district comprising the county in which the judgment of the state court was rendered.</p> <p>3. Judgment—Res Judicata—Courts — Jurisdictional Amount — Pleas to J urisdiotion—Demurrer.</p> <p>The Alkiro Grocery Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Missouri, recovered a. judgment in the circuit court of Boone county, Ark., against Jesse R. Richesin, and afterwards acquired two judgments, rendered in the same court, against said Richesin, one from Simmons Hardware Company, and one from A. Frankenthal & Bros., both citizens of Missouri, and all of said judgments were for s,ums less than $2,000, but the aggregate more than $3,000. The Alkire Grocery Company sued in the Boone circuit court in Arkansas on all the three judgments, and recovered judgment in its own name for $3,204.00, sued out execution, and procured a nulla bona return, and then filed this bill against the judgment debtor and his wife and son to vacate certain alleged fraudulent conveyances to them. The property held by the son was $400 in value; that held by the wife more than $2,000. Each of the defendants filed pleas to the jurisdiction on the grounds (a) that Alkire Grocery Company only held the judgments of Simmons Hardware Company and A. Frankenthal & Bros. colorably, and sued on them and secured judgment in the Boone circuit court in order to raise the amount so as to give the United States circuit court jurisdiction; and (b) the son also assailed the jurisdiction on the ground that the property claimed by him was worth only $400. Held: (1) That the judgment of the Boone circuit court was conclusive as to the judgment debtor; (2) that, in the absence of allegations of the want of jurisdiction in