57 Fla. 311 | Fla. | 1909
On January 13th, 1908, the appellant as complainant below filed its bill in equity in the Circuit Court of Leon County against the appellees as defendants, below, alleging therein as follows:
“1. That on the 23rd day of March, 1906, your orator by insurance policy numbered 1406 insured against all direct loss or damag-e by fire except as in said policy is provided, R. E. Hightower of Tallahasse, Florida, for the term of one year from the 23rd day of March, 1906, at, noon, to the 23rd day of March, 1907, at noon, tO' an amount not exceeding the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars, on his stock of merchandise, consisting principally of .general merchandise, and by proper assignment made on said policy on the 29th day of October, 1906, the loss, if -any, was made payable to The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, above named, as their interest might appear, and that on the 29th day of October, 1906, your orator by written policy of insurance numbered 1420 insured the above named The Tallahassee Mercantile Company for the term of one year from the 29th day
2. That on the 7th day of November, 1906, said stock of merchandise was partially and materially destroyed by fire, and that afterwards an adjustment of .said loss was made by which it was ascertained by and between your orator and said The Tallahassee Mercantile Company that the amount of damage to said stock of merchandise and damages sustained by said firm was -$1111.11 under said two policies, which amount your orator became liable for to said The Tallahassee Mer-cantile Company, the same to be payable according- to the terms of said policies.
3. That at the time of said fire and loos thereby there was insurance in favor of sand 7’allahassee Mercantile Company on said stock of merchandise against "loss and damage by fire under policies issued by the British America Assurance Company, a corporation under the laws of Canada, in the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars, and by the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, a corporation under the laws of the State of Minnesota, in the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars and by the Georgia Home Insurance Company, a 'corporation under the laws of the State of Georgia, in the sum of twelve hundred and fifty dollars, and an adjustment was made between said British America Assurance Company and said assumed at $666.67; and an
4. That on the 15th day of November, 1906, the said Kingan & Company instituted in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida, in and for Leon county, an action at law against said R. E. Hightower and Gilbert Hartsfield as partners doing business under the name and style of The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, and hereinafter spoken of as the ‘Insured,’ for the recovery of an alleged indebtedness from said insured to said Kingan & Company, and on the same day of said month there was issued from- said Circuit Court on the application of said Kingan & Company a writ of garnishment against your orator, which said writ of garnishment was served on the 16th day of November, 1906, and on January 8, 1907, judgment was rendered in favor of said Kingan & Company against said insured for the sum Of $243.26, principal and interest, and $10.38 costs; and on the 22nd day of March, 1907, judgment was rendered in favor of said Kingan & Company against your orator as defendant in garnishment for the sum- of $97.65; that on the 15th day of November, 1906, the said Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company instituted in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida, in and for Leon county, an action at law against said insured -for the recovery of an alleged indebtedness from said insured to said Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company, -and on the same day of said month there was issued from said Circuit Court on the application of said W-ertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company a writ of garnishment against your orator, which said writ of garnishment was served on your orator on the TÓth day of November, 1906, and on January 8, 1907, judgment was
5. That writs of garnishment were also issued against the British America Assurance Company and the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company in the suits otf Kingan & Company and Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company on the same date and served at 'the same time as the writ of garnishment was served upon your orator in said sui; and writs of garnishment were also issued against the above named Insurance Companies and also the Georgia Home Insurance Company in the suits against the insured by Levy Brothers, and the Tallahassee Grocery Company, on the following named dates and were served as hereinafter stated. In the case of Levy Brothers against the insured, writs of garnishment were issued against all of the above named Insurance Companies on the 19th day of November, 1906, and served on them on the 23rd day of said month, except that against the Aetna, which was served on the day of its issue; and in the case of The Tallahassee Grocery Gompany, the writs of garnishment were issued against each of said above named Insurance Companies on the 20th day of November, 1906, and served on said Companies on the 23rd day of said month, except that against the Aetna Insurance Company, which was served on the day of its issue; and on the 23rd day of March, 1907, judgment was rendered against said British America Assurance Company, as defendant in garnishment, in the principal suit of Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company against the insured, for the sum of $184.63; and against said St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, as defendant in garnishment in said suit, for the sum of $308.37; and on the 22nd day of March, 1907, judgment was rendered
6. That all the above writs of garnishment were in the form prescribed by the statute of the State of Florida in such case made and provided.
7. That on the 27th day of March, 1907, a petition was filed in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Florida, by J. PI. McLaurin & Company, a Florida corporation, and Bass & Company, a Florida corporation, and William B. Carhart, William E. Carhart and Plenry B. Carhart, partners doing business under the firm name of Carhart & Brothers, of New York City, praying that the said R. E. Hightower and Gilbert Plartsfield, partners aforesaid should be adjudged a bankrupt under the Act of Congress of the United States in such case -made and provided, and on the 2nd day of May, 1907, the said Tallahassee Mercantile Company was, upon such petition adjudged a bankrupt by
8. That your orator has been notified by the said Evans, as such, trustee in 'bankruptcy, that he claims the said sum of $1111.11 so found to be due to- said Tallahassee Mercantile Company upon an adjustment of its losses as an asset of the estate of said -bankrupt, and has demanded of y-o-ur orator that it pay the said sum to him' as such trustee, and he has- also notified your orator not to pay said money or any part thereof to any of said plaintiffs in garnishment, he claiming that in view of and as a result of said adjudication to bankruptcy and of his appointment as such'trustee he is entitled to the possession of said money as an agent of the estate of said bankrupts, and also claiming that such writs of garnishment and the service thereof did not constitute a lien upon or an appropriation of said -moneys, and that such judgments did not as aga-inst the effect of such proceedings and adjudication in bankruptcy -constitute such an appropriation •or lien, and on the other hand, the said plaintiffs in garnishment, and particularly those who have obtained judgments in garnishment, claim that said moneys should be applied to -the payment of said judgments and writs of garnishment, because and on account of the effect of the service of said writs of garnishment hereinabo-ve set forth, a-nd of such service and of the judgments in garnishment, where there has been a judgment, to appropriate said moneys to the payment of said judgments and writs of -garnishment as against said Tallahassee Mercantile Company, and also as against said Evans as- such trustee in 'bankruptcy, and as against the estate of said bankrupts, and that said Evans is not entitled to- have such moneys or any part thereof paid to- him. That your
Several of the defendants answered said bill admitting its allegations to be true, while others of said defendants answered said bill incorporating in their answers demurrers thereto. These demurrers came on to be heard before the chancellor who sustained the same and dismissed said bill as to the demurring defendants, from which said order the appeal is taken to this court. The
Sub-division “F” of section 67 of the Act of Congress approved July 1st, 1898, entitled “An Act to Establish a Uniform System of Bankruptcy Throughout the United States,” provides as follows: “That all levies, judgments, attachments, or other liens, obtained through legal proceedings against a person who is insolvent, at any time within four months prior to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against him, shall be deemed null and void in case he is adjudged a bankrupt, and the property affected by the levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien shall be deemed wholly discharged and released from the. same, and shall pass to the trustee as a part of the estate of the bankrupt, unless the court shall, on due notice,, order that the right under such levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien shall be preserved for the benefit of the estate, and thereupon the same may pass to and shall be preserved by the trustee for the benefit of the estate as aforesaid.”
By the provisions of this section of the bankruptcy statute -all of the judgments in favor of each and every of the defendants to the bill against their bankrupt debtor The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, if not absolutely annulled, were at least stripped of their effectiveness as enforceable prior liens upon the bankrupt’s estate, and such judgment creditors are thereby deprived of. the right to enforce or collect such judgments out of any part of the bankrupt’s estate, be it lands, personalty or debts due from others to such bankrupt, in preference to the other creditors at large of such bankrupt who have not reduced their claims to' judgment. Under our garnishment statutes the service of a writ of garnishment does not create a lien upon anything, but amounts to nothing more than a summons citing the garnishee to come in as
By the second section of the bankruptcy statute of Congress above referred to the bankruptcy courts of the
It seems to me that the appellants make out in their bill a clear and complete right to have the defendants in the bill interplead, and thus settle among themselves their respective rights to the moneys due to the Tallahasse Mercantile Company, the bankrupt and their debtor, from the Insurance Company. It may be that the complainant Insurance Company might have petitioned the Federal Court to have taken jurisdiction of this matter and that that court has the authority to settle all the questions which are presented in this record. In re McCartney, 109 Fed. Rep. 621; Bryan v. Bernheimer, 181 U. S. 188, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 557, 45 L. Ed. 814; 1 Remington on Bankruptcy, §§1696, 1697. But I see no reason why the State court should not have taken jurisdiction of the questions presented. 1 Ib. §1652 et sec.; Brandenburg on Bankruptcy (2nd ed.) p. 365.
Whether the construction of the garnishment statutes is to be liberal or strict is also unsettled. 14 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law. (2nd ed.) 745-746; Rood on Garnishment, §§8, 9 and 10. There are some reasons why our statute should be strictly construed. So far as the defendant in a pending suit- is concerned it is in some respects a harsh remedy unsupported by equitable principles. It does not require as some statutes do (Id. p. 754, and 20 Cyc. 1059) that the plaintiff shall give a bond to indemnify, the defendant or garnishee Tor any
Neither do I think the bill shows any laches on the part of the complainant in filing the bill of interpleader. It alleges, in substance, that a few days' after the garnishment judgments were entered the petition in bankruptcy was filed, that complaina.nt was notified by the officer of the Federal court not to pay the money to- the creditors, but that it must be. paid to the trustee, and that complainant exerted itself to have the complicated and unsettled questions of law arising out of the condition in which it found itself determined and settled by a submission of them either to the Circuit Court of the State or to the
Time consumed in reasonable efforts to bring about compromises or settlements of disputed rights are not regarded in equity as affording any ground for the application of the doctrine of laches. Such efforts have always been heretofore encouraged by the law. 18 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2nd ed.) 112.
It cannot reasonably be contended that the complainant was guilty of laches in not paying the garnishment judgments entered against it on the 23rd of March and thereby 'have anticipated and overcome the effect of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy on the 27th of March. In the first place four days’ delay in paying a judgment is not, and never has been held to- be negligent, delay, and in the second, if it had done so, it would still’ be in the predicament of having the judgments it had" paid declared void under the bankruptcy law, and of' being liable to pay the amount it owed over again. It seems to me to be eminently reasonable that the complainant garnishee should not be placed in such a situation. It certainly cannot be the purpose of the law that a garnishee should be the victim of the uncertainties and difficulties which attach to its construction. I also think that under the circumstances the amendments proposed to the bill should have been allowed, in order that the justice- and merits of the case might have been determined in the Circuit Court. I think the order appealed from should be reversed.
Such a diversity of opinion prevails among the members of the court upon the points
On the 13th day of January, 1908, the appellant filed its bill in chancery in the Circuit Court for Leon county against R. J. Evans, Trustee in Bankruptcy of the estate of R. E. 'Hightower and Gilbert Hartsfield, partners lately 'doing business under the firm name and style of The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, and certain other named defendants, some of whom are alleged therein to be judgment creditors of The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, but there are no allegations as to what claim, right, title or interest, if any, certain other defendants have in the property described in the bill, and we are mot informed by the bill why such persons were made •parties defendant.
I shall not undertake to set out the allegations of the '.bill in full but only such portions thereof as are necessary to render this opinion intelligible as to the points decided. It is alleged that on the 23rd day of March, 1906, the appellant issued an insurance policy to R. E. Hightower, whereby his stock of merchandise was insured against loss or damage by fire to an amount not exceeding $750, for the period of one year, which policy was properly assigned to the Tallahassee Mercantile Company on the 29th day of October, 1906; that also on said last named date the appellant also issued an insurance policy to 'The Tallahassee Mercantile Company, wherebv Hieir stock of merchandise was insured against loss or damage 'by fire to an amount not exceeding $'500, for the period of one year; that on the 7th day'of November, 1906, such stock of merchandise was partially and materially damaged by fire, and that afterwards an adjustment of such loss was made, by -which the appellant became liable to The Tallahassee Mercantile Company in the sum of $1,hi.11 under the two- policies. The bill also con
The prayers of the bill are as follows: ‘To the endl therefore, that the said defendants may interplead ani'
Some of the defendants filed answers to the bill, also incorporating demurrers therein, while the other defendants, with the exception of the C. B. VanDeman Company, a corporation, filed answers in which, either expressly or impliedly, they admitted the allegations of the bill. The C. B. VanDeman Company appears to have filed nothing. The demurrer incorporated in the answers question the equity of the bill.
On the 4th day of May, 1908, the appellant set down the demurrers for argument ,and on the 13th day of June, 1908, the appellant filed an application for leave to amend its bill as follows:
“That plaintiffs in garnishment have never caused to be issued writs of execution or other process for the enforcement of said judgments, and that within a few days after the entry of such judgments and on or about March 25th, or 26th, Geo. B. Perkins, attorney for the
‘Pensacola, Fla. 3-27-1907.
Under special warrant in bankruptcy issued to me this day, -by the U. S. District Court, I require to hold for me, or my order, any and all monies or credits due the Tallahassee Mercantile Company, or any of its members, regardless of judgments of garnishment.
Thos. F. McGourin, >U. S. Marshal.’.
That one or two days thereafter, to wit, March 29th, 1907, the United States Deputy Marshal, in said Bank
Insert between the word ‘him’ and the word ‘that’ in the 2nd line of page 9 the following: ‘Such notification w’as first given by said Evans within a few days after his appointment as Trustee.’
Insert between the word ‘orator’ and the word ‘is’ in line 22 of page 9, the following words, to wit: ‘has finally, after continued and repeated efforts to such end found itself compelled and.”
On the 13th day of June, 1908, a decree was'rendered by the court, which omitting the caption, is as follows :
“This cause came on to be heard upon the separate demurrers of the defendants Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company, Kingan and Company, A. M. Robinson Company, Cleveland Brothers, Cumberland Mills, Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Company and Parker Fain Grocery Company, to the bill of interpleader, and was argued by counsel and upon consideration thereof it was ordered, adjudged and decreed that the said separate demurrers of the said several defendants be sustained and allowed.
And it was further ordered, adjudged and decreed that the application of the plaintiff for leave to amend its bill in the particulars set out in said application and filed in this court of even date with -this order be refused and denied, and that said bill be dismissed at plaintiff’s costs as to said several defendants.
Ordered, adjudged and decreed at Chambers this 13th day of June, A. D. 1908.”
From this decree the appellant has entered its appeal
As we said in Knight, Norman & Co. v. J. C. Turner Cypress Lumber Co., 55 Fla. 690, text 697, 45 South. Rep. 1016, text 1018: “It is settled law in this court that in equity, as well as at law, a pleading is to be most strictly construed against the pleader thereof, and in passing upon a demurrer to a bill every presumption is against the bill. It is incumbent upon a complainant to allege in his bill every fact, clearly, and definitely, that is necessary to entitle him to relief; and if he omits essential facts therefrom; or states such facts therein, as show that he is not entitled to relief in a court of equity, he must suffer thee consequences of his so doing.” Also see authorities there cited, especially Durham v. Edwards, 50 Fla. 495, 38 South. Rep. 926, where a number of prior decisions of this court are collected. As we held in Hancock v. Hancock, 55 Fla. 680, 45 South. Rep. 1020, S. C. 15 L. R. A. (N. S.) 670, “the facts and circumstances upon which a complainant bases his claim and right to the relief which he seeks are matters peculiarly within his own knowledge, and he will be presumed to have stated them as strongly and as favorably to himself as he could, exercising his privilege of selecting his own language in which to couch them.” I would also refer to King v.Hooten, 56 Fla. 805, 47 South. Rep. 394, text 398, and City of Miami v. Miami Realty, Loan & Guaranty Co., decided here at the present term. As we also held in Durham v. Edwards, supra, “a court of equity cannot grant relief when the complainant’s own showing in his bill demonstrates a want of equity in his prayer.” Also see Godwin v. Phifer, 51 Fla. 441, text 453, 41 South. Rep. 597, text 601.1.
This court seems never to have had occasion to pass
As was said by Chancellor Walworth in Bedell v. Hoffman, 2 Paige (N. Y.) 199, text 201, “the filing of bills of interpleader ought not to be encouraged; and they should never he brought except in cases where the complainant can in no other way protect himself from an unjust litigation, in which he has no interest.” See to the same effect Metcalf v. Harby, 1 Ves. Sen. 248; Green v. Mumford, 4 R. I. 313; Haseltine v. Brickey, 16 Gratt. (Va.) 116, text 124. As to the definition of interpleader, we cannot do better than to quote the following language from Lord Cottenham’s opinion in Hoggart v. Cutts, 1 Craig & P. 204: “The definition of interpleader is not and cannot now be disputed. It is where the plaintiff says, T have a fund in my possession in which I claim no personal interest, and to which you, the defendants, set up conflicting claims; pay me my costs, and I will bring the fund into court, and you shall contest it between your
As is further said by Judge Freeman, in his note on page 703 of 35 Amer. Dec., “It is undoubtedly the general rule that to entitle a party to relief by a bill of inter-pleader he must apply before verdict or judgment at law, in favor of either of the claimants,” though he adds that such rule is not universal. See the authorities there cited, from which as well as from many others which we have examined we select the following as being especially applicable to the instant case; Cornish v. Tanner, 1 Younge & J. 333; Holmes v. Clark, 46 Vt. 22; Danaher v. Prentiss, 22 Wis. 311; Yarborough v. Thompson, 3 Smed. & M. (Miss.) 291, S. C. 41 Amer. Dec. 626; Home Life Ins. Co. of New York v. Caulk, 86 Md. 385, 38 Atl. Rep. 901; Haseltine v. Brickey, 16 Gratt. (Va.) 116; Mitchell v. N. W. Mfg. & Car Co., 26 Ill. App. 295; Tralles v. Metropolitan Club, 18 App. Cas. D. C. 588; Wabash R. Co. v. Flannigan, 95 Mo. App. 477, 75 S. W. Rep. 691. The following language used in Mitchell v. N. W. Mfg. & Car. Co., supra, in which a garnishee filed a bill of interpleader is in point: “The bill shows that complainant had incurred liability to the Nel
As we have already seen three of the judgments against the appellant as garnishee were rendered on the 22nd. day of March and the other on the 23rd day of such
Since the appellant by the amendment which it proposed to its bill, leave to file which was denied and upon which error is assigned, seeks' to show that a few days after the judgments in question were rendered he was notified by the Marshal of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that under a special
No extended discussion of the effect of the quoted portion of such section is called for. That would come more properly from the Federal Courts. Suffice it to say that it seems to be well settled that “judgments, whose liens are rendered null and void under Section 67
“2134. (1670.) Effect of service of writ. The service of the writ shall make the garnishee, answerable for all indebtedness due by him to the defendant, and for any goods, money, chattels or effects of the defendant in his hands, possession or control, at the time of the service of the writ or at any time between such service and the time of his answer.”
I realize that upon the question as to whether or not the service of a writ of garnishment creates a lien upon the property in the hands of the garnishee the authorities are in irreconcilable conflict. There is also much force in the contention that section nine of chapter forty-three, of the laws of 1845 was omitted by the Revisors both from the Revised Statutes of 1892 and the General Statutes of 1906, which evinced an intention upon the part of the lawmaking body not to create a lien upon the property in the hands of the garnishee or to have the same bound from the time of the service of the writ. Such omitted section was as follows:
“Sec. g.‘ Be it further enacted, That all property in the hands of such garnishee or garnishees, belonging to any such defendant or defendants, at the time of serving any such process of garnishment, shall be bound by such process.”
This section will also be found as section ten on page 550 of McClellan’s Digest. I shall not attempt to set forth or discuss the many authorities which I have ex
In Stockton v. National Bank of Jacksonville, 45 Fla. 590, 34 South. Rep. 897, we followed the prior decision in McClellan v. Solomon, 23 Fla. 437, 2 South. Rep. 825, S. C. 11 Amer. St. Rep. 381, holding that the' lien of a judgment rendered in an action at law dates, as to property previously attached in such action, from the time of the levy of the writ of attachment. Applying the same reasoning", it would seem' to necessarily follow that by the service of the writ of garnishment a hen upon the property of the defendant in the hands of the garnishee is thereby acquired, and, when the same is. matured by the entry of a judgment against the garnishee, such judgment relates back and dates from the time of the service of such writ. “No subsequent transfer of such property, or subsequent arrangement or cancellation of the indebtedness between the garnishee and', defendant can destroy the lien or affect the rights of the plaintiff.” 20 Cyc. 1058. Also see authorities cited in note 33, and 14 A. & E. Ency. of Law (2nd ed.) 744, 867, and authorities there cited. As was held in Bethel v. Judge of Superior Court, 57 Mich. 379, 24 N. W. Rep. 112, “Garnishment process is in the nature of an equitable attachment of assets belonging to a defendant
The bill in the instant case alleges “that of' the above writs of garnishment were in the form prescribed by the statute of the State of Florida in such case made and provided.” The bill further alleges that such writs of garnishment, in which judgments were subsequently entered, as set forth above, were all served upon it prior to the 21st day of November, 1906, giving the date of the service of each writ. Now, as our statute, which we have copied above, in effect provides that “the service of the writ” upon the garnishee binds all property of the defendant in the hands of such garnishee at the time of such service, or which may come into his hands at any time between such service and the time of' his answer, it would seem that the liens upon the funds in the Lands of the garnishee were created by the service of such writs, and, as service of all such writs was perfected upon such garnishee more than four months prior;to the filing of the petition in bankruptcy against the bankrupt, I do not see how, under the cited authorities, such Lens could “be deemed null and void” or affected in any way by the quoted section of the Bankruptcy Act. See, also, Bloch Bros. v. Moore. Ala. , 39 South. Rep. 1025, and authorities there cited. As we have already seen, the judgments related back and became effective as of the date of service of such writs of garnishment. In other words, the liens in question were obtained by. the service of such writs, and the office to be performed by
If the foregoing principles be sound, the bill is fatally defective. As was held in the leading case of Shaw v. Coster, 8 Paige 339, S. C. 35 Amer. Dec. 690, to which we have had occasion to- refer: “The complainant in an interpleading- bill must show that he is Ignorant of the 'rights of the respective parties,’who are called upon by him to interplead and settle their rights between themselves, or a-t least, that there is some doubt, -in point of fact, to- which claimant the debt or duty belongs. And therefore, if he states a case in his bill which shows that one defendant is entitled to the debt or duty, and that the other is not, both defendants may demur.” As was also said, in Smith v. Grand Lodge A. O. U. W., 124 Mo. App. 181, 101 S. W. Rep. 662, text 668: “It has been
I fail to see wherein the proposed amendment (to the bill would have materially strengthened the case of the appellant. Certainly no abuse of judicial discretion is made to appear to us in its refusal, so- we would not be-warranted in holding it error.
I have given this case my most careful consideration- and have examined all of the authorities -cited to us by the respective counsel, as well as numerous others. Looked at from every viewpoint, I 'have been unable to-find any error in the decree from which the -appeal was entered, but am clear that the bill was well open to attach by demurrer, therefore aim of the opinion that such decree should be affirmed: