15 W. Va. 609 | W. Va. | 1879
delivered the opinion of the Court:
On the 25th day of May, 1878, the plaintiff below,
“In- the CircuitCourt of Harrison County:
“ JohN A. Kephart ads. P. Mahany, assignee of
Daniel Schaffer. — In debt.
“And the said defendant in his ojvn proper person comes and says that this court ought not to have or take further cognizance of the action aforesaid, because he says that at the time the said action was commenced in this court, he did not reside in the said county of Harrison, but resided in the city of Baltimore, and State of Maryland; and from thence hitherto has continued and still does reside in the said city of Baltimore, and State of Maryland; that at the time the said action was commenced, the said defendant had no estate or debts due him in the said county of Harrison, nor has he since then had any such estate or debts due him in the said last named county, nor did the said cause of action, or any part thereof, arise in the said county of Harrison or elsewhere within the jurisdiction of this court, or within the State of West Virginia, but the said supposed cause of action, and each part thereof, if any such has accrued to the plaintiff, did accrue and arise without the jurisdiction of the said court, to-wit: in the said city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, and this the said defendant is ready to verify; wherefore he prays judgment whether the court can or yvill take cognizance of the action aforesaid.”
This plea is verified by the affidavit of the defendant (Kephart).
The record states that the plaintift replied generally to
It appears that on the 22d day of June, 1878, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company appeared in court and filed its answer in writing under its corporate seal to the order of attachment and garnishee process against it in the cause; and thereupon the plaintiff prayed judgment against the said company for the sum of $105.00, the amount which it appears by its answer aforesaid to be indebted to the said Kephart, the defendant; and the said company objected to the court rendering such judgment. The said answer of The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company filed as aforesaid is as follows:
“P. Mahany, assignee, plaintiff v. John A. Kephart, defendant, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, garnishee. In the Circuit Court of Harrison County.
“ The answer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, garnishee, to the order of attachment in the above entitled cause:
“ The said garnishee says at the time the said order of attachment was served upon it, it was a corporation of the State of Maryland, created and organized as such*615 under and pursuant to the laws of that State, and still is such corporation, with its principal office and place of business in the city of Baltimore, in the said State of Maryland, and at the time the said attachment was served upon the said garnishee, the said defendant was in its employment in the said city of Baltimore, and it was indebted to the said defendant for wages in the sum of $105.00 and no more, which said debt was due and payable for wages earned therein to the said defendant, who then and still resides therein, and not in. the State of West Virginia, nor was the said garnishee liable to pay the said defendant any money in the State of West Virginia, nor had it then, nor has it since had in its possession or control any goods, chattels, money, securities or other efleets belonging to the said defendant in the said county of Harrison, or elsewhere in the State of West Virginia.
“Given under the corporate seal of the said Baltimore and Ohio Bailroad Company, this 6th day of June, 1878.
“Attest:
“[Seal] “W. H. Ijams,
“Irectsurer B. & 0. R. R. Co.”
It further appears that on the 28th day of June, 1878, the parties, by their attorneys, appeared in court, and neither party requiring a jury, filed an agreement in writing of all the facts of this case and submitted the same and the law thereof to the judgment of the court; and thereupon the court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff agaiust-the defendant for $106.00 with interest thereon from the 7th day of April, 1878, until paid, and costs. And immediately following said judgment the court further rendered judgment against the said railroad company as garnishee for $105.00. But it appears that just before this court rendered said last named judgment the said railroad company moved to be discharged from said attachment, and the court in effect overruled said motion in entering the last named judgment against said
“P. Mahany, assignee, (fee. v. Jno A. Kephaet — In debt.
“The parties to this cause agree to the following as all tlié facts to be used upon the trial of the issue joined therein, viz :
“That the defendant was, on the 6th day of April, 1878, indebted to the said Daniel Schaffer in the sum of $106.00, and for that sum made the promissory note mentioned in the declaration, and payable one day after date ; that at that time the defendant and the said Schaffer were both citizens and residents of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, and from that time until now have continued to be citizens and residents of the same city and State and not elsewhere ; that in the month of May, in the year 1878, after the said promissory note became due and payable, the said Daniel Schaffer assigned and transferred the said promissory note to the plaintiff, who at the time of the said assignment was and still is a citizen and resident of the State of West Virginia ; that at the time of the commencement of this suit and suing out the attachment therein, th,e Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company was indebted to the said defendant in the sum of $105.00 for work and labor performed by the said defendant for the said railroad company in the said city of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, and whilst the said defendant resided therein; that the said Baltimore & Ohio Railroa,d Company was at the time and still is, a corporation created by the laws of the State of Maryland, with its principal office and' place of business in the said city of Baltimore, in said State of Maryland ; that the said Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company owned and was at that time the owner of and operating a railroad, partly in the State of West Virginia, and had an*617 agent residing in tbe county of Harrison for other purposes, but not for the settlement of its accounts or payment of its debts; that without the said money so due and owing to the said defendant by the said Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company the said defendant,, at the time the said suit was commenced and the said attachment was issued, had no property, estate or debts due him in the county of Harrison or the State of West Virginia.
“C. Boggess,
Attorney for the defendant.
J. T. McGraw,
Attorney for plaintiff.”
The foregoing statement contains the material facts, so far as they appear in the record. To the said judgments of said circuit court rendered on the 28th day of June, 1878, the said Kephart and the said railroad company have on petition and assignments of error obtained a supersedeas from this Court; and thus the case is before us for consideration and determination. The said Kephart and said railroad’company in their petition for said supersedeas, have assigned the following errors only, viz:
“First. The court erred in finding the issue upon the plea to the jurisdiction for the plaintiff, and entering judgment for the amount of the debt claimed. See Code W. Va. ch. 123, p. 594, prescribing in what counties proceedings shall be commenced.
“Second. The court erred in giving judgment for $105.00 against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, which was under no legal or moral obligation to pay the claim of the plaintiff upon its creditor at any other place than to the creditor himself.”
The same points of error, and none other, are relied on by the plaintiffs in error in their first brief filed in the cause in this Court, and also their second brief, although in the second brief the points of error are enlarged upon, and authorities cited which counsel supposes sustain the said points of error. There was no objection made to the
In the case of The Bank of the Valley v. The Bank of Berkeley, 3 W. Va. 386, it was held : 1. “The object of
In the case of Harvey v. Skipwith, 16 Gratt. 410, it was held that “by appearing and pleading to the action, or by taking or consenting to a continuance, the defendant waives all defects in the process and the service thereof.” In this case Judge Daniel in 'delivering the opinion of
From the foregoing authorities it seems to me that the decision in 3 W. Va., above cited is substantially correct. As before stated no objection was made or raised in the court below to the sufficiency of said plea, and none has been made here, and under the circumstances Ido not feel called upon to definitely pass upon the sufficiency of said plea, especially as the defendant has had the full benefit of it in the court below, whether it is sufficient or insufficient in law. The 21st section of chapter 125 of the Code of 1868 of this State provides: that “The defendant may plead in abatement and in bar at the same time, but the issue on the plea in abatement shall be first tried ; and if such issue be found against the defendant, he may nevertheless make any other defense he may have to the action.” In the case at bar the said Kephart, does not appear to have filed, or offered or asked to file, any other plea to the action than that of said plea to the jurisdiction, and the reasonable presumption is that he did not do so. In the case of O'Brien et al. v. Stephens et al., 11 Gratt. 610, it was held that “If an absent defendant does not appear in the cause, there cannot be a personal decree against him; but the attached
I am therefore of opinion that the circuit court did not err in rendering a personal judgment in this case unless
In the case of Beirne v. Rosser & Turner, 26 Gratt. 538, the first division of the syllabus is as follows : “ 1. K,. brings assumpsit against B. in the county of N., and the process is served upon him. B. appears at the rules, and files a plea in abatement, that at the time of the service of the process upon him, and at this time he was not and is not a resident of N., but was and is an inhabitant of and resides in M. county, West Virginia. This plea does not give the plaintiff a better writ in this case ; and is
It seems however that it is not necessary that a plea to the jurisdiction of the court should in all cases give the plaintiff a better writ. See Warren v. Saunders, 27 Gratt. 259.
The 7th section of chapter 124 of the Code of this State provides that “It shall be sufficient to serve any process against or notice to a corporation, on its mayor,
At the time of the last named decision the Baltimore & Ohio railroad west of the Potomac river at Harper’s Ferry was mostly in the State of Virginia, butthe same fell into West Virginia on its becoming a State of the Union. The statutes in force in this State are substantially the same for
In the case of The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company v. Wightman’s adm’r, 29 Gratt. 431, it was held that “when a railroad company which was incorporated in another State, leases a railroad lying in this State, and operates the same as owner thereof, and an injury occurs on said railroad the person having the right of action for such injury may sue the railroad company in the courts of this State, and such company has no right to remove the suit to the Federal Courts.” Seethe opinion of Judge Staples who delivered the opinion of the court, at pages 434, 435, 436, 437 and cases there cited.
In the case of Sturtevant v. Robinson, 18 Pick. 175, it was held that “the circumstance that by contract between the principal defendant and one summoned as his trustee, money due from the latter to the former is payable in another State, does not prevent it from being liable to attachment on the trustee process.” See also as bearing upon the subject under consideration McCallister v. Pennsylvania Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, 28 Mo. 214; Fithian v. New York & Erie R. R. Co., 13 Pa. St. 114; Brauser v. New England F. I. Co., 21 Wis. 506; Drake on Attachments, 5th ed., §478.
In the case of Rollo, assignee, v. Andes Insurance Co., 23 Gratt. 509, Judge Staples, who delivered the opinion of the court, at pp. 512, 513, says: “It is important, in the first place, properly to understand the nature and
Drake, in his work on Attachments, 5th ed., §479, says: “ Where, as is sometimes the case, a corporation is chartered by two or more States, it is not in any of these States a foreign corporation, and may be subjected to garnishment in any of them, though its office and place of business be not in the State in which the garnishment takes place.” And he cites The B. & O. R. R. Co. v. Gallahue, 12 Gratt. 655, to which I have before referred, also Smith v. B. C. & M. R. R., 2 N. H. 337, and Sprague v. Hart for P. & T. R. R. Co., 5 R. I. 233.
I do not think it was necessary in this case for the plaintiff, to suggest that the garnishee had not fully disclosed the debts by it, or effects in its “hands” of the defendant, Kephart, because the garnishee in its answer fully answered upon that subject. The only question at issue between the parties upon the answer was a question of law arising directly upon the answer, upon the facts therein stated, to-wit: whether upon the facts stated in the answer the garnishee was legally liable in this proceeding upon the attachment in this State for’ the $105.00, which it acknowledged in its answer was due and owing to the defendant, Kephart. The latter part of the garnishee’s answer is manifestly simply its conclu-
We have not had the benefit of any argument, oral or written, from the counsel for the defendant in error. I have carefully examined and considered all the authorities cited by the learned counsel of the plaintiff in error; and after an examination of all the authorities • cited by counsel and those hereinbefore cited and others, my conclusion is that the court below did not err in rendering the judgment against said Kephart which it did; nor in oi’dering the said Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to pay the said' $105.00 to the plaintiff. It is true that some parts of the judgment and order are not as formal and full in some respects as desirable ; but it seems to me that they are substantially sufficient, and that neither of the plaintiffs can be prejudiced thereby.
For the foregoing reasons the said judgment of the circuit court of said county of Harrison, rendered in this case on the 28th day of June, 1878, against the plaintiff in error, John A. Kephart, for the sum of $106.00, with interest thereon from the 7th day of April, 1878; until paid, and his costs by him expended, and also the order and judgment of the said court made at the same time in said case against the plaintiff, in error, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, as garnishee in the case, for the sum of $105.00, and in favor of the de