Adams v. Thibault

297 P.2d 954, 49 Wash. 2d 24, 57 A.L.R. 2d 1372, 1956 Wash. LEXIS 225
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1956
DocketNo. 33395
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 297 P.2d 954 (Adams v. Thibault) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Thibault, 297 P.2d 954, 49 Wash. 2d 24, 57 A.L.R. 2d 1372, 1956 Wash. LEXIS 225 (Wash. 1956).

Opinion

Finley, J.

In this appeal, we must determine whether the trial court acted properly in dismissing with prejudice an action for damages for an allegedly wrongful attachment of the plaintiff’s automobile. The underlying or basic legal question is whether the posting of a redelivery bond by a defendant in attachment proceedings, and his repossession of his property thereunder, constitutes a waiver of damages in [25]*25a lawsuit subsequently initiated by him for wrongful attachment.

In April, 1954, Nellie Thibault and Leo Thibault instituted an action against Louise Adams, seeking to recover a money judgment in excess of twenty-three hundred dollars. In connection therewith, the Thibaults obtained a writ of attachment. A bond for the attachment was issued by the defendant Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company. In execution of the writ of attachment, the sheriff took possession of the automobile of Louise Adams. On May 24, 1954, she posted a redelivery bond and regained possession of her automobile. The lawsuit of the Thibaults for a money judgment against Louise Adams went to trial. The Thibaults lost, and judgment was entered dismissing their case with prejudice.

Louise Adams, as a plaintiff, instituted the instant lawsuit for wrongful attachment. She claimed damages for (a) the loss of the use of her automobile, (b) attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the defense of the original action, and (c) exemplary damages in the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars. As the basis for her lawsuit, she alleged the issuance of the writ of attachment was wrongful, oppressive, and malicious. The trial judge sustained a demurrer to Louise Adams’ complaint and dismissed her lawsuit with prejudice. This disposition of the matter was based upon the decision of the court in the case of Gutter v. Joiner, 56 Wash. 202, 105 Pac. 457. Louise Adams initiated the instant appeal.

In the Gutter case, the court held that the posting of a redelivery bond by a defendant whose property had been attached constituted a waiver by that defendant of any subsequent right of action for damages for wrongful attachment. The pertinent statutes are:

RCW 7.12.080: “In an action on the bond, the plaintiff therein may recover, if he shows that the attachment was wrongfully sued out, and that there was no reasonable cause to believe the ground upon which it was issued to be true, the actual damages sustained and reasonable attorney’s fees to be fixed by the court; and if it is shown that the attachment was sued out maliciously, he may recover [26]*26exemplary damages, nor need he wait until the principal suit is determined before suing on the bond.”
RCW 7.12.250: “If the defendant, at any time before judgment, causes a bond to be executed to the plaintiff with sufficient sureties, to be approved by the officer having the attachment, or after the return thereof, by the clerk, to the effect that he will perform the judgment of the court, the attachment shall be discharged and restitution made of property taken or proceeds thereof. The execution of such bond shall be deemed an appearance of the defendant to the action.”
RCW 7.12.270: “The defendant may at any time after he has appeared in the action and before he has given bond to the effect that he will perform the judgment of the court, apply on motion, upon reasonable notice to the plaintiff, to the court in which the action is brought, that the writ of attachment be discharged on the ground that it was improperly or irregularly issued.”
RCW 7.12.290: “If upon application it satisfactorily appears that the writ of attachment was improperly or irregularly issued, it must be discharged.”

In Brady v. Onffroy, 37 Wash. 482, 79 Pac. 1004, the defendant secured a discharge of an attachment by posting a redelivery bond. Thereafter in the initial lawsuit, judgment was rendered against the defendant, and the plaintiff in the initial lawsuit proceeded against the surety company on the redelivery bond. The surety denied liability because of an alleged irregularity in the attachment proceedings. The court, in the Brady case, held that, by posting the redelivery bond, the original attachment defendant and his surety had waived their right to question the regularity of the attachment proceedings.

The decision in the Gutter case, supra, was based almost entirely on language quoted from the Brady case. However, the facts were entirely different in the two cases. In the Gutter case, the defendant gave a redelivery bond and regained possession of the attached property without first moving against the attachment. A judgment was subsequently rendered against the attachment plaintiff and in favor of the attachment defendant. The latter brought an action on the attachment bond to recover damages allegedly [27]*27sustained. The majority of the court held that he had waived his right to do so and cited the Brady case. The significant distinction between the Brady case and the Gutter case was recognized and clearly explained in Judge Parker’s dissenting opinion in the Gutter case. He said:

“In my opinion the authorities cited, as well as the numerous citations in Brady v. Onffroy, 37 Wash. 482, 79 Pac. 1004, go no farther than to support a holding to the effect, that when a redelivery bond is given, the defendant and his sureties thereby waive the right to question the attachment proceedings in that case or in any proceeding wherein a judgment rendered against defendant in that case is sought to he enforced. But it does not follow that when the defendant successfully resists plaintiff’s claim upon the merits and judgment is rendered accordingly, as is here alleged, he has waived actual damage caused by the seizure under the attachment, by the giving of redelivery bond and reclaiming his property.
“. . . There is sound reason for holding that the giving of a redelivery bond is in effect an admission of the regularity of the attachment so far as defenses to the attachment proceedings then available to defendant are concerned. But it certainly cannot be said that the giving of a redelivery bond is a waiver of all actual damage on account of the wrongful attachment, when such wrongfulness results from the nonexistence of the debt alleged as a basis of the attachment, when such fact cannot be invoked to show the wrongful suing out of the attachment until the original suit has been determined in defendants’ favor upon the merits.” (Additional italics ours.)

The result reached in the majority opinion in the Gutter case is not supported by the prevailing rule in other jurisdictions. St. Joseph Stock Yards Co. v. Love, 57 Utah 450, 195 Pac. 305, 25 A. L. R. 569; Heine v. Wright, 76 Cal. App. 338, 244 Pac. 955; Anvil Gold Min. Co. v. Hoxsie, 125 Fed. 724; Alexander v. Jacoby, 23 Ohio St. 358; 7 C. J. S. 667, § 528; 5 Am. Jur. 192, § 985; 32 L. R.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
297 P.2d 954, 49 Wash. 2d 24, 57 A.L.R. 2d 1372, 1956 Wash. LEXIS 225, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-thibault-wash-1956.