78 Iowa 730 | Iowa | 1889
I. ‘ For some years prior to February 5, 1887, the defendant B. W. Halsted was engaged in the business of selling agricultural implements and farm machinery at the city of Fort Bodge. On said day his place of business and his stock of merchandise were destroyed by fire. He was largely in debt. He
II. Our attention is next directed to the question wdiether the transfer of the policies from D. W. Halsted to his wife, so far as the assignment or transfer purported to be for her benefit, was a fraud upon the creditors of D. W. Halsted. It is not necessary to set out the evidence on this branch of the case. It is
The right to priority between the Shaver Wagon and Carriage Company and B. M. Halsted remains to be considered. It is well settled that no attaching creditor can acquire through his attachment a higher or better right to the property or assets attached than the defendant had when the attachment was levied, unless he can show some fraud or collusion by which his rights have been impaired; and this is equally as applicable where the lien is acquired by garnishee process, as when the property is directly seized. Thomas v. Hillhouse, 17 Iowa, 67; Drake, Attachm., sec. 223. But the Shaver Wagon and Carriage Company garnished the defendant H. F. Halsted and the companies before she gave the order to D. D. Halsted. She was the proper person to garnish, .because, by the assignment of the policies to her, she held the legal title thereto, and, in the absence of interference by creditors, she had the right to collect and control the proceeds. We incline to think that, when the insurance companies and Mrs. Halsted were garnished, the plaintiff acquired a lien upon the assets or proceeds of the policies, and that Mrs. Halsted had no right nor power to dispose of the money by the order to D. D. Halsted. The fund was then, in
Reversed.