196 Pa. 123 | Pa. | 1900
Opinion by
Two months prior to the institution of this suit the defendants therein were made garnishees in a foreign attachment proceeding against the plaintiff, by George Shupert. The defendants in the suit aforesaid admitted that they were indebted in the sum of $1,018.43 for merchandise purchased by them of Barnes & Company, between March 22, and April 13, 1898, . and expressed their willingness to pay said sum into court on such terms as would relieve them from liability to be put to the expense of defending two suits, and to the risk of being compelled to pay said sum twice. After the plaintiff’s statement of claim was filed and before a plea was entered the defendants presented a petition for an interpleader between the plaintiff and Shupert and in which they averred that the garishee proceedings were served on them before they had any ‘notice of the assignment of the claim to the use plaintiff. The petition contained an offer by the defendants to pay into court the sum they owed for merchandise bought of Barnes & Company or to dispose thereof as the court should order. On July 13,1898, the petition ivas filed, with the affidavit, and on
The defendants having brought themselves within the letter and spirit of the act of March 11, 1836, and disclaimed all interest in the subject-matter of the action, the court should without delay or hesitation, have granted the interpleader prayed for. The payment of the money into court was not a condition precedent to the order for an interpleader, nor was the entry of a judgment in the suit of Barnes & Company to the use of Meade, under the circumstances, a justifiable proceeding. There is nothing discoverable in the conduct of the defendants which excused the action of the court, and the interpleader act ■does not contemplate a payment of the money into court and a disposition of the controversy by the court without a jury. In any view of the case presented by the record it was error .in the court to discharge that part of the rule relating to the interpleader, and to enter judgment against the defendants.
“ A foreign attachment suspends the interest on so much of the debt attached as will be required to satisfy the plaintiff’s demand, whether the defendant be the real owner or not, if the debt is wrongfully attached the owner has his remedy over against the plaintiff in the attachment: ” Mackey v. Hodgson, 9 Pa. 468.
Judgment reversed and rule to interplead reinstated and. made absolute.