Carter, Rice & Co. v. Koshland

8 P. 556, 12 Or. 492, 1885 Ore. LEXIS 71
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 17, 1885
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 8 P. 556 (Carter, Rice & Co. v. Koshland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter, Rice & Co. v. Koshland, 8 P. 556, 12 Or. 492, 1885 Ore. LEXIS 71 (Or. 1885).

Opinion

Thayer, J.

— This appeal is from a judgment of the Circuit Court for the county of Multnomah, rendered in favor of the respondent against the appellant in certain garnishee proceedings.

It appears from the transcript that on the 13th day of May, 1885, the respondent, a private corporation, commenced an action at law against one L. H. Frank, in said court, to recover [495]*495a debt of some $378.57, due from the latter to the former, and thereupon sued out a writ of attachment, which was issued on the next day. The attachment is in the usual form. The sheriff to whom the writ was delivered certified thereon as follows: —

“ I hereby certify that I received the within writ of attachment on the 14th day of May, 1885, aud executed the same on the 14th day of May, 1885, at Portland, in the county of Multnomah, in said State, by serving a garnishment upon Koshland Bros., as required by law, garnishing all debts, property, moneys, rights, dues, credits of every nature in their hands or under their control, belonging or owing to the said L. H. Frank, to which the said Koshland Bros, made an answer thereto, said answer being hereto attached and made a part of this return.”

The answer referred to is as follows : —

“ I hereby return that we have no property in our hands at this time, nor have we any property, debts, money, dues, credits of any kind or nature belonging to L. H. Frank.

[Signed] “Koshland Bros.”

Thei’e seems to have been a notice signed by the sheriff, directed to said Koshland, to the effect that, by virtue of said writ of attachment, all debts, etc., as mentioned in said return, had been attached and garnished, and. that said answer was indorsed thereon. Said notice bore date the 14th day of May, 1885. Upon June 1, 1885, the said Circuit Court gave judgment in said action at law in favor of said respondent, and against said Frank, for the amount of said debt, and on the 9th day of June, 1885, on motion of the respondent’s attorneys, the judgment was amended by the insertion of a further adjudication, to the effect that the property of said Frank taken under writ of attachment be sold to satisfy said judgment.

Prior to the date of the amendment, on the 6th day of June, 1885, the respondent’s attorneys made and filed an affidavit showing that said action at law had been commenced; that the judgment therein had been recovered on said 1st day of June, 1885; that on the 14th day of May, 1885, the said writ of attachment had been issued, and in which it was stated that garnishee process was duly served upon said Koshland Bros., [496]*496and answer was made by them as before mentioned; that said answer was unsatisfactory to respondent, and that it was of the bpinion and belief that Koshland Bros, had sufficient property in their possession and under their control belonging to said Frank to satisfy said judgment, which property was described in said affidavit, and wherein said attorney asked for an order citing the garnishee, as he termed him, to appear and be examined under oath. The circuit judge, it appears, on the same day, upon the said affidavit, made the following order:—

“ It appearing to my satisfaction, upon the plaintiff’s affidavit herein, that Koshland Bros, have property of the defendant L. H. Frank, I hereby order that said Koshland Bros, appear before me at Circuit Court, Department No. 1, on the 13th day of June, 1885, to answer concerning the same.”

The affidavit and order were served upon Alfred F. Sears, Jr;, an attorney of the said court, who admitted service thereof in writing in the following manner:—

“State of Oregon, 1 County of Multnomah, j ss‘

“Due and legal service of the within affidavit, together with copy of same, served upon me this 6th day of June, 1885, in this county and State.

' ■ “Alfred F. Sears, Jr., of garnishee’s attorneys.”

(Same venue.) “ Due and legal service on me of the within order, together with copies of the same, this 6th day of June, 1885, within this county and State, is hereby aéknowledged.

“ Alfred F. Sears, Jr., of garnishee’s attorneys.”

On the 10th day of June, 1885, the said respondent’s attorneys filed in the office of the clerk of the said Circuit Court, written allegations in the form of a complaint, in which, among' other things, is alleged the issuance of the said attachment, the service of a certified copy thereof, together with a notice upon said Koshland Bros;, whereby all debts, etc., as mentioned in said return, were duly levied upon and garnished to satisfy said judgment, and the making of the answer thereto of said Koshland Bros., which is hereinbefore set out. It is further alleged in said allegations that said Koshland Bros, had property in [497]*497their possession belonging to said Frank, and that they were-holding the same to hinder and delay, etc., said Frank’s creditors. Said attorney also filed a list of interrogatories propounded-, to said Koshland Bros., regarding said property with said complaint, and upon which complaint and interrogatories was an-admission of service by the said Alfred F. Sears, Jr., in the same-form as upon said affidavit and order. No answer was filed to-said allegations or interrogatories; and afterwards, and on the-29th day of June, 1885, the said Circuit Court gave judgment in favor of the respondent and against M. Koshland, who, I understand, is Koshland Bros., for want of answer, in the sum of $378.57, which is the judgment appealed from.

The appellant’s counsel contended, upon the argument, that the said order should have been served upon the garnishee personally, and that no jurisdiction was acquired over the person oi the garnishee by the service made upon Mr. Sears. There is no doubt about the correctness of that position; and it was conceded by the respondent’s counsel upon the argument. But the latter insisted that said garnishee voluntarily appeared in the proceeding, and thereby gave the said court jurisdiction. That an attorney should attempt to serve original process in any case, except in the manner pointed out by the Civil Code, is very-strange, indeed. Koshland was the party required to answer-concerning the property, and disobedience to the order would subject him to punishment for contempt. He was the only party to be served, and nothing less than personal service upon him should have been permitted. The first step to be taken in the proceeding was to bring him into court-. After the order-was allowed, the proceeding had a distinct character, and it was just as important to make personal service of process in such case as in that of the commencement of an action or suit. The service of the summons in the latter proceeding could as well be-dispensed with as that of the order in the former. If it did not appear affirmatively that Mr. Sears was, in fact, the garnishee’s attorney, that they both were before the court when a motion-was made for judgment and the matter was continued, as shown by the nune pro tuno journal entries, f?r several days, upon Mr. [498]*498Seam’ application, and ample time given the garnishee in which to answer the allegations and interrogatories referred to, I should '.be in favor of a prompt reversal of the judgment, for a defect •of service of the order. But it seems to me that that, under the •circumstances of the ease, was equivalent to personal service.

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Bluebook (online)
8 P. 556, 12 Or. 492, 1885 Ore. LEXIS 71, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-rice-co-v-koshland-or-1885.