Anvil Gold Mining Co. v. Hoxsie

125 F. 724, 60 C.C.A. 492, 2 Alaska Fed. 188
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 14, 1903
DocketNo. 900
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 125 F. 724 (Anvil Gold Mining Co. v. Hoxsie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anvil Gold Mining Co. v. Hoxsie, 125 F. 724, 60 C.C.A. 492, 2 Alaska Fed. 188 (9th Cir. 1903).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge,

after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

The Alaska Code of Civil Procedure provides, in chapter 14 (Act June 6, 1900, c. 786, 30 Stat. 353), for an attachment proceeding. Section 135 provides when plaintiff may have defendant’s property attached. Section 136 provides that the writ of attachment shall be issued by the clerk of the court in which the action is pending whenever the plaintiff, or any one in his behalf, shall make and file an affidavit showing certain particulars concerning defendant’s indebtedness, the absence of security, and that the attachment is not sought nor the action prosecuted to hinder,' delay, or defraud any creditor of the defendant. Section 137 provides as follows: “Upon filing the affidavit with the clerk, the plaintiff shall be entitled to have the writ issued as ■ soon thereafter as he shall file with the clerk his undertaking, with one or more sureties, in a sum not less than one hundred dollars, and- equal to the amount for [193]*193which the plaintiff demands judgment, and to the effect that the plaintiff will pay all costs that may be adjudged to the defendant, and all damages that he may sustain by reason of the attachment, if the same be wrongful or without sufficient cause, not exceeding the sum specified in the undertaking. With the undertaking the plaintiff shall also file the affidavits of the sureties, from which affidavits it must appear that such sureties are qualified, and that taken together they are worth double the amount of the sum specified in the undertaking, over all debts and liabilities and property exempt from execution.”

The complaint in the present case alleged that the attachment in the suit of Carrie B. Lee v. The Anvil Gold Mining Company was wrongful and without sufficient cause. This allegation was denied in defendants’ answer. The judgment in the attachment suit set forth in the complaint determined that the plaintiff had no cause of action against the defendant upon the facts stated in the complaint in that action. What effect did this judgment have upon the attachment? Did it not determine that the attachment was wrongful .and without sufficient cause? In other words, can an attachment of the defendant’s property be right and for a sufficient cause when the plaintiff has no cause of action against the defendant? Can an attachment issued to secure the satisfaction of a judgment be right and sufficient where there is no debt upon which a judgment can be entered? We think not. If the attachment suit terminates by a finding in favor of the defendant on an issue as to the truth of the facts alleged as the ground for the attachment, then the judgment conclusively establishes that the attachment was wrongfully obtained; and the same result follows if, when the attachment was obtained, there was no debt due from the defendant to the plaintiff. Drake on Attachment (7th Ed.) § 173; Lockhart v. Woods, 38 Ala. 631; Tucker v. Adams, 52 Ala. 254; Steen v. Ross, 22 Fla. 480; Young v. Broadbent, 23 Iowa, 539; Wetherell v. Sprigley, 43 Iowa, 41; Harger v. Spofford, 46 Iowa, 11; Farrar v. Talley, 68 Tex. 349, 4 S.W. 558.

The basis of the attachment proceeding is a cause of action upon a contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money. When the cause of action 'fails the [194]*194attachment fails, and for the reason that it is without sufficient cause. The obligation of the undertaking upon attachment is not that the plaintiff will pay all costs that the defendant may incur, and all damages he may sustain by reason of the attachment having been allowed wrongfully, or allowed without sufficient cause, but it is that the plaintiff will pay all costs that may be adjudged to the defendant, and all damages that he may sustain by reason of the attachment, if the same be wrongful or without sufficient cause. The liability of the undertaking is determined, not upon a separate issue relating to irregular or defective attachment proceedings, but upon the issues of the case relating to the cause of action. This interpretation of the statute is made clearer by considering other sections of the chapter of the Code relating to attachments. Section 151 provides that “the defendant may at any time before judgment, except where the cause of attachment and the cause of action are the same, apply to the court or judge thereof where the action is pending to discharge the attachment in the manner and with the effect as provided in sections one hundred and twenty-one and one hundred and twenty-two for the discharge of a defendant from arrest.” Section 121 (chapter 12) provides that “a defendant arrested may, at any time before judgment, apply on motion to the court or judge thereof in which the action is pending, upon notice to the plaintiff, to vacate the writ of arrest.” Section 122 provides: “If a motion be made upon affidavits or other proofs on the part of the defendant, .but not otherwise, the plaintiff may oppose the same by affidavits, or other proofs, in addition to those upon which the writ was issued. If upon the hearing of such motion it shall satisfactorily appear that there was not sufficient cause to allow the writ, or that there is other good cause which would entitle him to be discharged on habeas corpus, the same shall be vacated, or in case he has given bail the court may discharge the same or reduce the amount thereof on good cause shown.” Under these sections of the Code, the question to be determined upon a motion to vacate the attachment prior to the judgment in the case is whether there was “sufficient cause to allow the writ” or “other good cause” • shown entitling the defendant to the discharge of the writ. These “causes” necessarily relate to defects* and irregulari[195]*195ties apparent on the face of the proceedings, and not to any question involved in the cause of action. Bank of Winnemucca v. Mullaney, 29 Or. 268, 45 P. 796. It was further held in that case that the statute of Oregon, as it then stood, providing that the writ of attachment might issue in all actions for the payment of money without specifying any other cause, rendered it unavailable for the discharge of the writ of attachment in that case, as the cause of attachment and the cause of action were the same, and within the exception contained in section 145 of Hill’s Code .(section 151, Alaska Code). We now see the significance of the language of section 137 of the Alaska Code, requiring that the undertaking on attachment shall be security for “all costs that may be adjudged to the defendant, and all damages he may sustain by reason of the attachment, if the same be wrongful or without sufficient cause.” It is the final judgment in the case that is to determine the liability of the obligors upon the attachment undertaking. But the appellees contend that the appellant, the defendant in the attachment suit, having given an undertaking for the release of the attachment under section 150 of the Alaska Code, has waived the right to raise the question whether the attachment was wrongful or without sufficient cause, or, as stated by the court below, the defendant waives all irregularities and defects in the original attachment proceedings, and admits an estoppel in the attachment suit against the attachment sureties by giving the bail required by the statute.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 F. 724, 60 C.C.A. 492, 2 Alaska Fed. 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anvil-gold-mining-co-v-hoxsie-ca9-1903.