Bruton v. Tearle

59 P.2d 953, 7 Cal. 2d 48, 106 A.L.R. 580, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 594
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 24, 1936
DocketS. F. 15257
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 59 P.2d 953 (Bruton v. Tearle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bruton v. Tearle, 59 P.2d 953, 7 Cal. 2d 48, 106 A.L.R. 580, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 594 (Cal. 1936).

Opinion

CURTIS, J.

The District Court of Appeal when this cause was before it rendered an opinion therein which in part is as follows:

‘‘ This is an appeal by defendant from an ‘ Order Appointing Receiver in Aid of Execution’.
“The action was originally brought by Josephine ParkTearle to recover a judgment for unpaid alimony due her under the terms of a New York decree. She recovered judgment in excess of $9,000 and defendant appealed. During' the pendency of the appeal said Josephine Park Tearle died. Her administrator was substituted and the judgment was thereafter affirmed. (Bruton v. Tearle, 117 Cal. App. 696 [4 Pac. (2d) 623].) It is unnecessary to set forth the various efforts made to obtain satisfaction of said judgment. Suffice it to state that despite all of these efforts the judgment was only partially satisfied in the sum of approximately $5,000. When defendant returned from an extended trip abroad, he was served with summons in an action brought by Josephine Park Tearle in her lifetime in Los Angeles county in which action judgment was sought for the alimony accruing under the New York decree after the period covered by the judgment in this action. It was also sought by said action to set aside certain alleged fraudulent conveyances. Thereafter a written agreement was entered into in 1932, *51 whereby defendant and his present wife acknowledged that defendant was indebted upon the judgment herein and for alimony subsequently accrued in a total sum in excess of $13,000. They agreed to pay said sum by the payment of 10 per cent of the earnings of either or both of them and they further agreed that, if their earnings in any semi-annual period should exceed $3,000, they would pay one-half of said earnings in excess of $3,000. There were numerous provisions in said agreement but only a few of them need be mentioned here. The defendant and his wife further agreed to procure the execution of a deed of trust by the record owner of certain real property in Los Angeles county to secure their promises. It was also agreed that as long as said parties performed all of the covenants of said agreement, the Los Angeles action would not be brought to trial and that no steps would be taken in the present action to execute the judgment herein or to institute proceedings supplemental to execution.
“Thereafter defendant Tearle engaged in theatrical work in New York and earned in excess of $24,000 up to the end of 1933. He made the payments required only for a short time after the agreement was made, said payments totalling the sum of $1,560. He ceased making payments in February, 1933. He was in default at the end of 1933 under the terms of the agreement in the sum of approximately $8,500, and no payments were forthcoming. In February, 1934, defendant made a contract with RKO Studios to appear in a picture in which he worked for 27 days at $250 per day or a total of $6,750. He started work on February 14. On February 20, pursuant to a writ of execution issued in the present action, a notice of garnishment was served upon RKO Studios in response to which the garnishee answered that it was indebted to defendant in the sum of $1,243.75. On February 23 defendant was examined in proceedings supplemental to execution and it appeared that he had made an arrangement with RKO Studios after the above-mentioned garnishment whereby he was to receive his salary each day in advance, thereby making it impossible for his earnings to be levied upon. It also appeared that defendant had withdrawn his money in the bank in order to prevent a levy thereon. While notice of garnishment had been served on RKO Studios each morning from February 20 to March 1, these services proved *52 futile, as there was no money due. Defendant collected the sum of $2,250 from RKO Studios during this period.
“On Feburary 28,1934, application was made in the present action for the appointment of a receiver in aid of execution and also for a restraining order. An affidavit was filed with said application setting forth the facts and showing that execution had been returned only partially satisfied and that said defendant refused to apply his earnings to the satisfaction of said judgment. It was alleged therein that defendant, his manager and RKO Studios had entered into a conspiracy to defeat the collection of said judgment and that defendant had stated to counsel for respondent that he would not apply any of his earnings to the payment of said judgment. The trial court issued an order to show cause and a restraining order. The hearing was had on March 9, 1934, and other affidavits were filed by the parties. Testimony was taken and the transcript of the testimony on supplementary proceedings was admitted in evidence pursuant to stipulation. On said date, the trial court made an order granting injunction but continued the hearing of the application for a receiver until March 12. On the last-named date the matter was submitted and on March 16 the trial court made its ' Order Appointing Receiver in Aid of Execution’, from which order this appeal was taken.

“Appellant contends ‘that said court was without jurisdiction in making the orders of February 28, 1934, March 9,1934, and March 16,1934, and that the showing made by said plaintiff did not entitle him to any of said orders’. We find no merit in this contention. The order of February 28 was the restraining order and order to show cause. The order of March 9 was the order granting injunction. Appellant argues that the trial court was without jurisdiction to issue either the restraining order on February 28 or the order granting injunction on March 9, but we are not called upon to pass upon these questions. These orders were appeal-able orders (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 963; 14 Cal. Jur. 294), and no appeal was taken therefrom. The only appeal before us is the appeal from the order of March 16, which was an ‘ Order Appointing Receiver in Aid of Execution ’ and we shall therefore confine our discussion to the points raised with respect to the last-mentioned order.

*53 “In our opinion the trial court had jurisdiction to make the order of March 16 appointing a receiver. Section 564, subdivision 4, of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that a receiver may be appointed, ‘After judgment ... in proceedings in aid of execution, when an execution has been returned unsatisfied, or when the judgment debtor refuses to apply his property in satisfaction of the judgment.’ (See, also, Habenicht v. Lissak, 78 Cal. 351 [20 Pac. 874, 12 Am. St. Rep. 63, 5 L. R. A. 713] ; Pacific Bank v. Robinson, 57 Cal. 520; 11 Cal. Jur. 155, 156.) Appellant cites numerous authorities but we find none of them in point. This was not an attempt to bring an independent action in the nature of a creditor’s bill, but respondent here'proceeded strictly in accordance with the statutory provisions for proceedings supplemental to execution. That the trial court had jurisdiction to appoint a receiver in such proceedings is clearly indicated in one of the authorities cited and relied upon by appellant. (McCutcheon v. Superior Court, 134 Cal. App. 5 [24 Pac.

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Bluebook (online)
59 P.2d 953, 7 Cal. 2d 48, 106 A.L.R. 580, 1936 Cal. LEXIS 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bruton-v-tearle-cal-1936.