Combs v. Combs

Non-Arkansas creditors (plaintiffs) sued joint-debtor brothers (defendants) in a Kentucky court for a personal judgment for the amount the brothers owed on a debt. A lien to secure the debt had been previously obtained on a tract of Arkansas land owned by one of the brothers, A. T. Combs. Service was not made on Combs for a considerable amount of time after he was proceeded against. During that time, Combs filed an equity action in chancery in an Arkansas court against the creditors in this action. In the Arkansas action, the creditors, all non-Arkansas citizens, were proceeded against exclusively by constructive process, which was allowed by Arkansas law. Combs convinced the Arkansas court that he had paid part of the loan, and he got the court to enter a judgment fixing the amount of the balance Combs owed the creditors. And the court permitted Combs to pay that amount to an Arkansas commissioner followed by a court decree releasing the lien on Combs’s Arkansas property. All of that was done without the creditors entering an appearance. Thereafter, Combs filed his answers in the creditor’s Kentucky action and attached a copy of the Arkansas judgment to bar recovery by the creditors against him. The Kentucky court denied Combs’s request and instead entered judgment against Combs for the amount the court found was due to the creditors. Combs appealed and argued that the Arkansas judgment was entitled to full faith and credit in the Kentucky action.