Alexander v. Jacoby

23 Ohio St. (N.S.) 358
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided December 15, 1872·Published

Opinion

McIlvaine, J.

1. An action on an undertaking for an attachment conditioned “to pay the defendants (in attachment suit) the damages which they may sustain by reason of the attachment, if the order therefor be wrongfully obtained,” where the only injury complained of resulted from the wrongful seizure of property owned by the obligees as partners, may be prosecuted in the names of the obligees as partners.

2. Where an attachment undertaking is executed, under the provisions of the civil code, to two or more persons conditioned “ to pay to them the damages which they may sustain,” etc., and the order of attachment be wrongfully obtained as against some of the obligees only, a right of action on the undertaking accrues to those obligees as against whom the order was wrongfully obtained and who were injured thereby; and in an action thereon by the injured parties, it is not necessary that those obligees, as against whom the order of attachment was rightfully obtained, should be joined either as plaintiffs or defendants.

[384]*384In determining whether the right of action on such undertaking be several or joint only, not only the terms of the bond, but also the provisions of the statute which authorize its execution must be considered, for such provisions must be regarded as much a part of the bond as if they were embodied in its terms.

The undertaking is executed to any or all of the defendants in the action, at the option of the plaintiff, and not by the consent of the obligees. The order of attachment may "be levied upon the separate property of the defendants as-well as upon their joint property. It may be dismissed as to some and enforced against other defendants, and on the final trial of the action, judgment maybe given for some and against others. It seems to us, therefore, that as the injury, against which the undertaking was intended to indemnify, may be several as well as joint, that the right of action thereon must also be several as well as joint. And as the general rule of the code is, that “every action must "be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest,” we are of opinion that in actions on such undertakings, those obligees, and only those, who have an interest in the damages sought to be recovered, must be joined as plaintiffs or made parties to the suit.

3. If the foregoing conclusion be correct, it follows'that in an action on such undertaking by those obligees who-Rave an interest in the damages sought to be recovered, it is not necessary to aver or prove that the attachment had been discharged as against other obligees who have no interest therein and who are not necessary parties to the action.

4. The execution by the defendant in attachment of a redelivery bond, as provided for in section 199 of the code, can not be regarded as an admission of record that the order of attachment was rightfully obtained.

The true doctrine was stated, by way of argument, in the opinion of Judge Scott, in Fortman v. Rottier, 8 Ohio St. 553, as follows:

[385]*385“ The interests of a party may imperatively require that his property shall be released from a wrongful attachment without delay. May he not, in such a case, promptly procure the discharge of the attachment by payment of the-claim on which it is founded, or by executing an undertaking-according to statute, and thus arrest the threatened ruin, without abandoning his right to redress for the injury already-done?- The proceedings in attachment would thus be terminated, but not adversely to the claim of the party who-sued out the process. Nor would such a terminaton conclusively show that the process was rightfully sued out.”

5. In an action on an undertaking for am attachment for the recovery of damages resulting from the wrongful seizure and detention of a stock of goods kept for sale by retail, the jury, in awarding compensation to the owners,, may allow for natural and necessary losses occasioned by an interruption in the owner’s business, or, in other-' words, “for the loss of business during the time the same-was suspended.”

6. Compensatory damages in such cases includes reasonable costs and expenses incurred in procuring the discharge-of the attachment, and the restoration of the attached property, but not the costs and expenses incurred in the-defense of the principal suit.

7. On the trial in the court below, the plaintiffs were permitted (under exceptions) to introduce the following-testimony, by a witness who had no knowledge of the goods-seized in attachment at Marysville, Ohio, but who was engaged in the sale of like goods at another place, to wit:.

Q. “ Supposing a stock of goods belonging to the plaintiff's at Marysville, Ohio, composed of hardware, tinware, of all kinds of cutlery, and agricultural tools, of the market-value of $6,000, is seized on attachment, inventoried, and appraised, using ordinary care in handling the goods, and said stock remains in the store, closed, in the hands of the-sheriff', in the mouth of August, 1865, but receiving no attention to preserve the goods from injury, for the period of [386]*386•five days, and are then returned to the owner, what, in .your opinion, would be their market value to the owners?”

To which the witness answered: “ That the market value would be diminished in his opinion from ten to twenty-three centum.”

Q. “ Supposing a stock of goods composed of hardware, cutlery, tinware of all sorts, and agricultural tools, of the market value of $6,000, owned by the plaiutiffs, at Marysville, Ohio, and used in carrying on the retail business, which retail business amounted to $125 per diem, what is the value per diem of the use of such a stock of goods for five days, to the retail merghant owning them during the forepart of August, 1865?”

To which the witness answered: “ That it would be worth from $75 to $100 per day, and that the damage, by reason of the interruption to their business, would be as .much more.”

Q. “ "What would be the effect of the mere interruption, for that length of time, of such a business, by the sheriff', on •the market value of the goods?”

The witness answered: “ That such an interruption might very seriously injure the business by the loss of jobs and the -derangement of the trade, which might amount to more than the amounts of all the sales they might have made •during the time of the interruption.”

On cross-examination the said witness further testified: That it would, to some extent, cause an actual and intrinsic damage to the stock of goods, and that, in addition to that, there would, by the mere act of the seizure and levy of attachment be a stigma or discredit east on them, which would diminish the market value thereof in the hands of the owners, to whom they were returned, and included for this from five to fifteen per centum on the stock. It arises from the fact that the community ivould expect to buy the goods lower, on account of the fact that they had been seized by the sheriff. That it depended to some extent on the length of time the sheriff held them, and the extent it was known in the community, and the amount of -competition which existed at the time in that business at [387]*387that place, and the extent of the interruption of the business.”

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Alexander v. Jacoby, 23 Ohio St. (N.S.) 358 (Ohio 1872).

23 Ohio St. (N.S.) 358 (Alexander v. Jacoby) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.