50 Neb. 177 | Neb. | 1897
Louis M. Finklestein recovered judgment in tbe court below against Gottlieb Storz, Joseph D. Iler, and Theodore Olsen upon an attachment bond. The defendants jointly and severally prosecuted error to this court, and a judgment of reversal was entered at the last term, the opinion being reported in 48 Nebraska, 27. A motion for a rehearing, based upon three grounds, was sustained, and the cause again submitted for consideration.
It is urged that the judgment of the lower court should, in any event, be affirmed as to the defendant Olsen. The
“1. In order that plaintiff may recover in this action, he must satisfy you by a preponderance of all the evidence: First, that defendants Storz and Iler, in a suit brought by them against him, caused an attachment to be issued aud levied on his bottling works; second, that said attachment was dissolved in due course of law; third, as to the amount of damages, if any, suffered by him as a direct result of the issuance and levy of said attachment; fourth, that the attachment bond was duly executed by defendant Olsen.”
An examination of the briefs and arguments has failed to convince the writer that this instruction stated the correct rule applicable to the issues made by the pleadings either as to Olsen or his co-defendants. It will be observed that the suit is upon an attachment undertaking* conditioned in accordance with the provisions of section 200 of the Code of Civil Procedure, “that the plaintiff shall pay the defendant all damages which he may sustain by reason of the attachment if the order be wrongfully obtained.” There is no possible room for doubt that no liability arises upon such a bond unless the attachment was wrongfully issued, and the burden of establishing that fact is upon the plaintiff. No decision rendered under a statute like our own holds the contrary to be true. The element of the wrongful issuance of the attachment was omitted from the instruction quoted except it is contained in the second subdivision thereof, namely: “That said attachment was dissolved in due course of law.” In the former opinion it was held that this language was not sufficient to show that the attachment was wrongfully sued out, and that view is evidently sound, inasmuch as the attachment may have been dissolved for mere defects, omissions, or irregularities committed by the officer in issuing the writ. Doubtless, the discharge of an attachment on a finding in favor of the defendant, on an issue as to the truth of the facts alleged
The statute of Florida requires the plaintiff in attachment to give a bond with at least two or more sureties in double the amount claimed conditioned “to pay all costs and damages which the defendant may sustain in consequence of improperly suing out said attachment.” (Statutes of Florida, 1892, sec. 1046.) The court, in construing the above provision in Steen v. Ross, 22 Fla., 480, say: “We think the word ‘improperly,’ as used in the statute, has a broader signification than a mere irregularity, and that it is insufficient to allege as a breach of the condition, although in the express words of the bond, that it was improperly issued. The breach should state with distinction in what its impropriety consisted.. It is only improperly issued when the plaintiff has no meritorious cause of action, of that class of actions in which the law
Sharpe v. Hunter, 16 Ala., 765, was a suit upon an attachment bond conditioned substantially like the one at bar. The order for attachment was quashed for a defect in the affidavit upon which it issued. The trial court charged the jury that if they believed the writ of attachment sued out was abated on plea, the plaintiff was entitled to recover his actual damages sustained. The supreme court held this instruction erroneous. Chilton, J., in the course of his opinion, observed: “What is meant by the term ‘wrongful’ as used in the statute to which this bond conforms? Was it, as is contended by counsel for the defendant in error, designed to apply to defects in the form of the proceedings, on account of which the attachment should be quashed, as well as to the ground upon which it was to be issued? Or was the object of the framers of the act merely to provide a remedy against persons who should resort to this extraordinary remedy to. the prejudice of another, without cause or sufficient ground therefor? It is, to my mind, perfectly clear that the LTter construction is the correct one. * * * We think that by the wrongful suing out of the attachment is meant, not the omissions, irregularities, or informalities which the officer issuing the process may have committed in its issuance, but that
City Nat. Bank v. Jeffries, 73 Ala., 183, was founded on an attachment bond. The court on defining the term “wrongful” say: “The meaning of this is, not that the attachment proceedings are faulty and liable to be abated or quashed. Such defects furnish no grounds for recovery of damages. To be ‘wrongful’ within the statute, none of the statutory grounds for attachment must exist. (Sharpe v. Hunter, 16 Ala., 765; Drake, Attachment, sec. 170; Durr v. Jackson, 39 Ala,, 203.) To justify an attachment there must be a debt, due or to become due, and one of the enumerated statutory grounds for attachment must exist. (Lockhart v. Woods, 38 Ala., 631; Durr v. Jackson, supra.) If either of these be wanting in fact, no matter how sincerely the attaching creditor may believe it to exist, then the attachment is wrongful. In such case the measure of recovery in a suit on the bond is the actual injury sustained. * * * And in such action the onus rests with the plaintiff to prove the falsity of the affidavit, or, what is the same thing, the nonexistence of the ground on which the attachment was sued out.”
In Calhoun v. Hannan, 87 Ala., 277, it was ruled that an action could not be maintained on an attachment bond unless the attachment was wrongfully sued out; that is, unless it was issued without the existence of any one of the facts which authorize a resort to the process.
In Garretson v. Zacharie, 8 Martin, n. s. [La.], 181, it was decided that the surety on an attachment bond is not liable when the attaching creditor failed in his cause' of action by reason of some irregularity in the proceedings, posterior to the bond.
In Pettit v. Mercer, 8 B. Mon. [Ky.], 51, it was decided' that the mere failure of the plaintiff in attachment to
In the first opinion filed herein, Eaton v. Bartscherer, 5 Neb., 469, — two cases, — was cited to sustain the doctrine that a suit on an attachment bond cannot be maintained merely on account of the attachment having been dissolved for omissions or irregularities in issuing the writ. A reference to the opinion will disclose that it is decisive of the question under consideration. Both of those cases were suits upon attachment undertakings conditioned, like the one before us, according to the requirements of the statute. The petitions averred that the attachments were dissolved on proceedings in error, but contained no allegation showing that the orders of attachments were wrongfully issued. This court, by Lake, C. J., held that each petition failed to state a cause of action. In the opinion it is said: “The undertakings upon which these actions were brought contain simply the statutory requirements, by which the obligors therein promise to pay the defendant all damages Avhich he might sustain by reason of the attachments, if the orders therefor were ‘wrongfully obtained.’ There is no agreement to pay all damages that might be occasioned by the attachments, in any event, but only in case it should be established that the orders of attachment were ‘wrongfully’ sued out. In these petitions there is no charge that these orders of attachment were wrongfully or unjustly obtained, nor is there any statement from which that fact can possibly be inferred. There is, to be sure, in each of them an allegation that after the attached property had been sold, and the proceeds applied upon the judgment in pursuance of the order of the court, proceedings in error were prosecuted which resulted in the dissolution of the attachments. But there is nothing to show upon what this decision was based; and for aught that appears, it may have been for a mere tech
In the last brief filed by plaintiffs below they say they do not question the soundness, as an abstract proposition, of the criticism made in the former opinion upon this instruction, but it is insisted that the instruction was not prejudicial to the defendants. As to Storz & Iler this contention is not well founded, for the reason the charge of the court permitted the jury to find against them even though they' did not execute the bond. The instruction on the question of signing the undertaking only required them to find that it was executed by Olsen. The instrument declared on disclosed on its face that Storz & Iler never signed; hence they were not liable thereon to tire attaching creditor, as we shall presently stow. The writer is, however, convinced upon further reflection that the record fails to establish that Olsen was in any manner prejudiced by this instruction. In the previous opinion it was mentioned that the bill of exceptions on its face revealed the fact that it did not contain all the
Wolf v. Hahn, 28 Kan., 588, is not in point. That was not an action upon an attachment, nor any other kind of a bond. In that case Rhoda Parkin sued out an attachment against Jacob Poorman which was levied on certain personal property in the possession of Fred Hahn. Subsequently the latter procured one Wells to execute a redelivery bond for the forthcoming of the property, or its appraisal, to answer the judgment. Thereupon the officer returned the attached property to Hahn, who retained possession until after judgment had been rendered in the attachment case, when he delivered the property to the officer, by whom it was sold. Afterwards Hahn commenced an action against the officer to recover the value of said property. In Kansas the statute requires a forthcoming bond to be executed by the person in whose possession the property is found, with one or more sureties. The court held that Hahn having procured the bond to be executed, he thereby estopped himself to deny that the attached property belonged to Poorman, the attaching debtor. That was the only question before the court in that case. Whether Hahn was liable on the bond was neither involved nor adjudicated.
Another case relied on is Pierse v. Miles, 5 Mont., 549, which was an appeal from an order dissolving an attachment, on the ground, among others, that the undertaking was not signed by the plaintiff in attachment. The court held the statute did not require him to sign it. The same question, and none other, was involved in McIntosh v. Hurst, 6 Mont., 287, where it was held it was no defense to an action against a surety on an undertaking to pre
Hoskins v. White, 13 Mont., 70, 32 Pac. Rep., 163, was an action upon an attachment bond, signed only by the sureties. The court decided the plaintiffs in attachment were properly joined as parties defendant. The opinion cites Jennings v. Joiner, 1 Cold. [Tenn.], 645, which was an action upon an attachment bond executed by the plaintiff in attachment and another as his surety. It was properly held that the principal and surety could be joined in an action on the bond, since it was the obligation of both, both having executed the instrument. But it is not an authority for holding that an attaching creditor is bound upon an attachment undertaking which he never signed, and was not required to execute in order to obtain the writ.
Shinn, Attachment & Garnishment, sec. 169, states that “the sureties, by executing the bond, and the plaintiff, by invoking the writ only, all become liable to actual damages occasioned by the wrongful issuing of the writ.” The only decision cited by the author to sustain the doctrine is State v. Fortinberry, 54 Miss., 316. There the attachment bond was executed by the plaintiff in attachment and sureties, so that the proposition above quoted, which was taken from the opinion in that case, was mere obiter.
Attention is called to sections 41 and 50a of the Code of Civil Procedure, which read as follows:
“Sec. 41. Any person can be made a defendant who has or claims an interest in the controversy adverse to the plaintiff, or who is a necessary party to a complete determination or settlement of the question involved therein.”
“Sec. 50a. Any person who has or claims an interest in the matter in litigation, in the success in either of the parties to an action, or against both, in an action pending*189 or to be brought in any of the courts of the state of Nebraska, may become a party,” etc.
These sections merely provide who may be made parties to a suit. Obviously they do not create any contract or statutory liability. They certainly confer no authority for holding that one who does not sign an attachment bond is liable thereon. Conceding that Storz & Iler, by reason of their implied promise to-make good to Olsen any damages he might be compelled to pay by reason of the wrongful suing out of the attachment, have such an interest in this litigation adverse to the attaching debtor as to make them proper parties in this litigation, it is no reason for holding them liable on this bond to the plaintiff. They had the right to set off against their claim of the attaching debtor the amount of the judgment they recovered against him in the attachment suit, not because they are primarily liable to Finklestein for the damages committed by the wrongful'attachment, but for the reason they are required to reimburse Olsen for whatever sum he is compelled to pay to satisfy the judgment obtained against him. (Gerson v. Harrison, 34 Kan., 590.) The question in this case is not whether under our Code Storz & Her are proper parties defendant, but are they liable to the attaching debtor on an undertaking which they never signed, and which does not on its face purport to bind them? The answer must be in the negative. It follows that the judgment should be affirmed as to Olsen, and reversed and dismissed as to Storz & Iler.
Judgment accordingly.
Ragan and Ryan, CC.,
dissenting.
Section 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: “Any person may be made a defendant who has or claims an interest in the controversy adverse to the plaintiff, or who is a necessary party to a complete determination or settlement of the question involved therein.” Cer
It is the policy of the Code that all disputes existing and arising between parties, growing Put of the same .transaction, shall be settled in one action. The question now under consideration was before the supreme court of Montana in Hoskins v. White, 32 Pac. Rep., 163. That was a suit on an attachment bond for damages because the order of attachment had been wrongfully obtained. The plaintiffs in the attachment suit had not
1. In the case at bar the plaintiff pleaded the issuing of the attachment; its levy upon the plaintiff’s property; that the attachment was wrongfully obtained and was afterwards, by the court issuing it, discharged. The answer of the surety traversed these allegations, while the answer of the plaintiffs in the attachment admitted the dissolution of the attachment. The evidence shows that a motion was filed to discharge the attachment; that on the same day the plaintiffs therein filed affidavits in support of their attachment; that the defendant in the attachment filed affidavits in support of his motion to discharge, and that on hearing by the court the motion to dissolve the attachment was sustained. There is no intimation in the record that the order discharging the attachment was superseded, or that it was procured by collusion or fraud. The district court instructed the jury that to entitle the plaintiff in this case to recover they must find from the evidence, among other things, that the attachment had been dissolved in due course of law. On the former hearing we held that this instruction was erroneous, because the court did not tell the jury that to enable, the plaintiff to recover they must find from the evidence not only that the attachment had been dissolved, but that it had been dissolved because the facts alleged to procure its issuance did not exist or were untrue. We think in that, conclusion we were mistaken. To sustain us in that view we cited Eaton v. Bartscherer, 5 Neb., 469, but a careful examination of that case leads to the conclusion that it is not in point here. That case was a suit on an attachment bond, and the question was whether the petition filed stated a cause of action. This court said: “There is no agreement to pay all damages that might be occasioned by the attachments, in any event, but only in case it should be established that the orders of attachment were wrongfully sued out. In these petitions there is no charge that these orders of attach
Is this judgment or order dissolving the attachment conclusive evidence that the order of attachment was wrongfully obtained? There is a seeming conflict among the authorities, but this is largely due to the peculiar provisions of the attachment laws of the various states. The rule, and the correct rule, we think, is laid down in Jerman v. Stewart, 12 Fed. Rep., 266, where the court, in a suit upon an attachment bond, construing the attachment law of the state of Tennessee, said: “The wrongful suing out contemplated by these sections is conclusively proved by a judgment of the court in favor of the defendant in the attachment proceeding.” In Kennedy v. Meacham, 18 Fed. Rep., 312, a suit for damages on an attachment bond for wrongfully issuing the attachment, the court charged the jury that the order dissolving the attachment was conclusive on the right of the plaintiff “to secure the actual damages resulting to him from the wrongful suing out of the attachment. The only possible question for you on this branch of the case is the amount of the actual damages.” This case was another construction of the attachment law of the state of Tennessee, and the ruling was followed by the supreme court of that state in Renkart v. Elliott, 11 Lea [Tenn.], 235. In McDaniel v. Gardner, 34 La. Ann., 341, it was held that when “the judgment is simply one of non-suit, the fact of the dissolution of the attachment is a finality and entitles defendant to damages for a wrongfully taken attachment.” In Drake, Attachment [7th ed.], section 185b, it is said: “Though a writ issued by competent authority and regular on its face will afford protection to an officer acting under it, it does not, if issued irregularly, afford the same protection to the party who caused its issue. The responsibility rests upon him not only to see that it is right in those particulars, but that it was regularly issued; for if it be set aside for irregularity, that makes the party a trespasser at initio and affords him no protection as to
The principle underlying this question under consideration was extensively discussed in Broaden v. Mercer, 44 O. St., 339. This was an action upon a guardian’s bond for the recovery of the amount found due his wards upon a final settlement and order of the guardian’s account in the probate court. The sureties on the bond contended that they were not concluded by that settlement; but the court held that, in the absence of fraud or collusion, the judgment of the probate court against the guardian was conclusive evidence against the sureties of the amount owing by him to his wards. Owen, C. J., said: “By their bond the sureties contract with reference to the action of a court, and that their principal will obey its orders and conform to such action. Can they say they are strangers to such proceedings? Upon their principal’s failure to obey the orders of the court, there is clearly a breach of the bond. The relation they assume to such court and its action so far makes them privy to the proceedings affecting their principal as to deny to them the right, when called upon to answer for the breach of the bond, to call in question the grounds upon which the court based its action, and to have the same cause retried. We find in our 1 aw numerous illustrations of this principle. The sureties in an undertaking in attachment contract to pay the defendant all damages sustained by reason of the attachment if the order prove to have been wrongfully obtained. Has it ever been doubted that the determination by the court in the at
In order that the litigant should have an attachment the statute requires him to swear that the cause for which he sues is just. Suppose that all the requirements of the statute are complied with except that the affidavit for attachment contains no such averment. The absence of this averment would not render the attachment proceedings void, but merely irregular, and the affidavit for attachment could be amended. (Struthers v. McDowell, 5 Neb., 491.) But suppose the attachment is assailed by motion to dissolve because of the absence of this averment from the affidavit and the plaintiff in attachment does not seek to amend and the court discharges the attachment. In the meantime the property of the defendant has been seized and he has been injured, perhaps ruined. Has he no remedy on the bond? If the averment required by the statute had been in the affidavit it would have been rightfully obtained and the surety on the undertaking would have been protected; but as the averment was not there, and as the statute forbade the resort to the attachment remedy without such an averment, the attachment was wrongfully obtained. In the
2. In the fourth paragraph of the syllabus of this case as reported in 48 Neb., 27, we said: “To maintain an action independently of the statute, and not on the bond, malice in suing out the writ and want of probable cause-must be averred and shown;” citing Palmer v. Keith, 16 Neb., 91, and Jones v. Fruin, 26 Neb., 76. Those cases are not authority for any question involved in this action, as neither of them was a suit upon an attachment bond. It has always been the policy of the law to encourage the citizen to resort to the courts for the redress of his grievances, and in conformity with this policy the rule of law is that one cannot be made liable in damages for using the process of the courts in any action, provided he acted