153 Iowa 289 | Iowa | 1911
The plaintiff was the holder of a judgment against the defendant entered in the superior court of Shenandoah. On July 5, 1910, he caused an execution to issue and to be served by garnishment of the Shenandoah National Bank. Beturn of the execution was made on September 9, 1910. The return stated that the execution was served “by garnishing said bank and taking answer to same in which they claim that they hold $132.52.’'' The following answers of garnishee were attached to the return: “A. First. Are you in any manner indebted to the defendant in this suit, or do you owe money or property which is not yet due? If so, state particulars. Answer. $132.52. Second. Have you in your possession, or under your control, any property, rights, or credits of the defendant? If so, what is the value of the same, and state all particulars. Answer. No.” On September 17th the garnishee bank filed an amendment to its answer as garnishee and paid the money into court. Such amendment contained the following particulars: “That before noon of the 5th day of July, 1910, the defendant, James E. Cross, above named, deposited in the said bank the sum of $132.52, and at the time of making said deposit stated to the officer or clerk of said bank to whom he handed said money to be deposited for him that he made the deposit for the purpose of meeting checks which he had already issued as against such deposit, and that the deposit .was made to take care of said checks, and thereupon the said funds were so taken and received by said bank and placed to the credit of the said James E. Cross. That later, to wit, about the opening of the bank on July 6, 1910, the intervener, B. E. Anderson, presented his check for the sum of $40.73, dated July 5, 1910, and made by the defendant, James E. Cross, to the said intervener, B. E.
To the amended answer of the garnishee, the plaintiff pleaded that the garnishee was estopped by its original answer from pleading the matter in the amendment. The plaintiff also filed a motion to strike the petition of intervention on the following grounds: (1) That the said petition was not filed in said cause until after the trial thereof, and after judgment had been rendered. (2) That the same does not set up any proper or valid ground of intervention.
Plaintiff also .filed a motion for judgment on the following grounds: “(1) That the answer of the garnishee and the amendment thereto state no defense or reason why this amount should not be paid to the said plaintiff. (2) That the answer of the said garnishee and the amendment thereto show on their face that the said garnishee is in
Sec. 3975. Garnishment. Property of the defendant in the possession of another, or debts due him, may be reached by garnishment.
Sec. 3976. Proceedings by garnishment on execution shall not be affected by its expiration or its return. Where parties have been garnished under it, the officer shall return to the next term thereafter a copy of the execution with all his doings thereon, so far as they relate to the garnishments, and the clerk shall docket an action thereon
Section 3953 provides: “An appeal lies in all garnishment cases at the instance of the plaintiff, the defendant, the garnishee or an intervener claiming the money or property.” ■ *
It is manifest from the foregoing that the statute provides an opportunity for issue as to the respective rights of claimants to a garnished fund. It was so held expressly in Edwards v. Cosgro, 71 Iowa, 296. Appellee urges that it was held otherwise in Ball v. Creamery Co., 98 Iowa, 184. An examination of that case does not sustain the contention. That case did not involve a garnishment proceeding at all. An execution was levied, not by garnishment, but by the seizure of property. It was held that the garnishment statute did not apply, and that there was no pending proceeding in which an intervention could be had. We hold, therefore, in this case that the intervener presented his claim by proper procedure.
We reach the conclusion that the deposit in question was special, and not general, and that it did not create the mere relation of debtor and creditor between the bank and the depositor in the ordinary sense, and that the right of the check holders, for whose benefit it was deposited, was superior to that of the garnishing creditor, and that the claim of the intervener thereto to the amount of his check should have been sustained.
The judgment below must therefore be reversed.