47 S.E. 729 | S.C. | 1904
April 19, 1904. The opinion of the Court was delivered by On March 27th, 1900, the defendants recovered a judgment against the plaintiff, Mutual Insurance Co., for $296.94 and costs. Under execution issued thereon, the sheriff of Greenville County was about to levy upon certain personal property, viz: an iron safe, *460 desk, and other office furniture, alleged to belong to said insurance company, when this action was instituted to enjoin enforcement of said execution upon the ground that said property was not subject to execution under the contract of insurance, charter and by-laws of said association.
The Circuit Court, Judge Purdy, sustained the special referee, B.M. Shuman, Esq., in holding that the question was res judicata under the judgment mentioned in the case of Simpson v. Insurance Co.,
The subject matter, the contract of insurance, is the same in both cases. The precise point decided in the former suit *461
and involved here is the absolute liability of the Mutual Insurance Co. to a money judgment for $296.94, in favor of Augusta A. Simpson, upon the contract of insurance under its charter, and the facts stated in the complaint and admitted by the answer in the former suit. One of the necessary incidents of a money judgment is to subject to levy and sale under execution all the property of the judgment debtor not exempt under the Constitution or some valid statute. The appellant does not claim exemption of the property from levy under any statute. The claim of exemption is based solely upon the contract of insurance under the charter and the by-laws of the insurance company. The argument is that the property in question was purchased out of the annual premiums, and that, under sec. 12 of the by-laws, that fund is applicable to defraying the expenses of the company, and is only applicable to losses by fire, c., where a surplus is accumulated and the directors order such surplus to be so applied, conditions which, it is claimed, do not exist, and, to sustain this view, appellants cite: Burton v. Mass.Safety Fund Association, 1 L.R.A., 146; In re EquitableReserved Fund Life Association of New York,
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed. *462