B. J. Carney & Co. v. Murphy

195 P.2d 339, 68 Idaho 376, 1948 Ida. LEXIS 137
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 23, 1948
DocketNo. 7425.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 195 P.2d 339 (B. J. Carney & Co. v. Murphy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B. J. Carney & Co. v. Murphy, 195 P.2d 339, 68 Idaho 376, 1948 Ida. LEXIS 137 (Idaho 1948).

Opinion

HYATT, Justice.

Plaintiff corporation sued defendant for $25,199.41, alleging in substance that early in the year 1941 defendant, a pole maker, agreed to make and sell, and plaintiff agreed to purchase, at going prices, cedar poles and other wood products; that plaintiff agreed to assist defendant financially in the purchase of stumpage and timber lands, and to furnish supplies, and also advance reasonable sums to aid him in meeting his payrolls in the course of making and supplying such poles and wood products; that it was further agreed that credit would be given the defendant upon the books of the plaintiff for poles and wood products supplied it by defendant; that from the year 1941 to November 20, 1947, there was maintained between the parties a mutual, open and current account, with each party furnishing goods, materials and ■cash to and for the benefit of the other; that ever since the fall of 1945 defendant has failed and refused to deliver to plaintiff any poles or wood products whatsoever; that the last item on the account was entered November 20, 1947, by allowance of a credit- - which defendant *380 claimed; that there remains due and owing to plaintiff a balance under said account of $25,199.41, which is unpaid, and which the defendant refuses to pay.

The complaint was filed December 2, 1947, and on December 3, 1947, the affidavit and undertaking for attachment being also filed, a writ of attachment issued, by which the Sheriff attached certain real and personal property of the defendant. On December 17, 1947, defendant served and filed a written notice of motion to discharge said writ on the ground that the same was improperly and irregularly issued, in that (so far as material to this appeal) the action is not upon contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money, but is one- for damages for breach of contract; and the affidavit for attachment is insufficient.

The transcript on appeal contains no written motion nor any showing of an oral motion to discharge the writ, but the order discharging the attachment recites among other things that: “Defendant’s motion to discharge attachment coming on regularly to be heard this 22nd day of December, 1947, pursuant to notice had and given * * * the plaintiff appearing by its attorneys of record * * * and the defendant appearing by his attorneys * * * and the matter having been argued to the court * * *

Appellant assigns as error the discharge of the attachment for the reasons:

(a) No motion to discharge attachment was ever made;

(b) The writ was properly issued in compliance with the law.

Appellant’s first assignment is without merit. The order discharging the attachment recites that the motion came on to be heard. The record discloses no objection by appellant to the lack of any motion, written or oral. The situation is practically identical with that in Leggett v. Evans, 16 Idaho 760, 102 P. 486, 487, where, in support of a motion to dismiss an appeal, it was urged that no motion for a new trial was ever filed. The court said: “The transcript in the case at bar as certified shows that a motion for a new trial was made and passed upon by the trial court or judge. That being a court of general jurisdiction, the presumption is that its acts were all regular, and that it would not pass upon a motion for a new trial unless such motion were made. No objection was raised in the court below that a motion for a new trial had not been properly made, and the judge recites in his order as follows : ‘The motion of the defendant in the above-entitled action asking that the verdict of the said cause be set aside and vacated and a new trial granted, the said action coming on to be heard this 9th day of Nov., 1908,’ etc., and that ‘It is hereby ordered that the said motion be and the same hereby is overruled.’ The record, therefore, on its face shows that a motion for a new trial was made. As bearing upon this question, see *381 State v. Wright, 12 Idaho 212, 85 P. 493; Stoddard v. Fox [15] (Idaho) [704], 99 P. 122. The presumptions are all in favor of the regularity of the proceedings of courts of general jurisdiction.”

See also Curtis v. Walling, 2 Idaho 416, 18 P. 54, wherein the voluntary appearance by attorney and his participation in the argument of a motion was held to be a waiver of notice of the motion. In the case at bar, appellant’s attorneys appeared in court and argued and resisted the matter of the discharge of the attachment. Therefore, appellant was not misled, nor were its substantial rights affected. As was said in Nobach v. Scott, 20 Idaho 558, 563, 119 P. 295, 296: “ * * * Parties will not be permitted to stand by and not ráise seasonable objections to mere defects in papers and proceedings in a court, and thus permit the court to act as though there were no defects in the proceedings, and thereafter take advantage of such defects on appeal.”

Turning to the question of whether the writ of attachment was properly or improperly issued, we need only to consider the affidavit for attachment and the complaint, since it is undisputed that defendant is an Idaho resident and his property was attached under the writ. The affidavit for attachment is sufficient. It sets forth the particular allegations required by Sec. 6-502, I.C.A. Ross v. Gold Ridge Mining Co., 14 Idaho 687, 95 P. 821; Knutsen v. Phillips, 16 Idaho 267, 101 P. 596.

Sec. 6-501, I.C.A. provides in part:

“The plaintiff * * * may have the property of the defendant attached, as security for the satisfaction of any judgment that may be recovered, * * * in the following cases:
“1. In an action * * * upon contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money * * * ”

The nature of the action is to be determined upon the complaint alone. Heffron v. Thomas, 61 Mont 10, 201 P. 572. The inquiry into its sufficiency to sustain the attachment may not go further than to ascertain whether the action is upon a contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money; whether it states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against the defendants; and, if it does not, whether it can be amended so as to state a cause of action. Union Bank & Trust Co. v. Himmelbauer, 56 Mont 82, 181 P. 332 at page 335. Substantially to the same effect is Ross v. Gold Ridge Mining Co., 14 Idaho 687, 690, 95 P. 821, 822.

In the latter case, it was said: “The statute thus provides that an attachment may issue in an action upon a judgment or upon a contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money. If the complaint discloses that it is not such an action, and an attachment is issued, then it was improperly issued, and upon proper motion will be dissolved.”

*382 Conversely, if the complaint by any reasonable intendment discloses an action upon contract, express or implied, for the direct payment of money, the writ of attachment was properly issued.

Appellant claims the action is one for a balance due on an open, mutual and current account, which theory, if correct, we concede, permits an attachment, there being an implied contract to pay the indebtedness.

Respondent contends that, under the allegations of the complaint, this action can only be one for damages for breach of contract.

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Bluebook (online)
195 P.2d 339, 68 Idaho 376, 1948 Ida. LEXIS 137, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-j-carney-co-v-murphy-idaho-1948.