Christmas v. Buckley

43 F. Supp. 673, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3063
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedFebruary 24, 1942
DocketNo. 763
StatusPublished

This text of 43 F. Supp. 673 (Christmas v. Buckley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Christmas v. Buckley, 43 F. Supp. 673, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3063 (D. Md. 1942).

Opinion

COLEMAN, District Judge.

The question presented relates to the liability of a surety on a supersedeas bond given pursuant to Rule 73(d) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c.

The case is now before the Court on a motion by plaintiff, J. Yancy Christmas, for a judgment against the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, the surety, on the supersedeas bond which was given by the defendant, Mrs. David A. Buckley, when she took an appeal from the judgment which this Court awarded to plaintiff against her on October 4th, 1940, in the sum of $4,764.90, in a suit which had been removed to this Court from the Superior Court of Baltimore City, for breach of contract for personal services as trainer of her horses. The defendant took an appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals and this Court’s judgment was affirmed on June 11th, 1941, 4 Cir., 121 F.2d 323. On July 9th, 1941, the mandate was stayed pending a petition of appellant for a rehearing, and on July 22nd, the appellate court entered an order denying a rehearing. Then, on July 29th the mandate was further stayed pending appellant’s application to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. On November 14th the Supreme Court denied appellant’s petition, 62 S.Ct. 180, 86 L.Ed. -, and the mandate of the Circuit Court of Appeals was filed in this Court on November 15th.

The surety has opposed the granting of plaintiff’s motion on the ground that there is pending an attachment suit against it and the defendant, Mrs. Buckley, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York which had been instituted on November 22nd, 1941, that is, prior to the time when plaintiff filed his motion for judgment against the surety in this Court, which was not until January 2.1st, 1942.

The material facts respecting this attachment proceeding as appear from certified copies of the pleadings therein which have been filed in connection with the hearing on plaintiff’s motion, are as follows: One Max Flick brought suit on November 21st, 1941, against the present plaintiff, Christmas, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, [674]*674for $4,000 And interest, claiming that the plaintiff was indebted to him for the wrongful conversion of a race horse for the training and racing of which Flick had employed the plaintiff. Upon institution of this suit in New York, a warrant of attachment was issued and served upon both the United' States Fidelity & Guaranty Company and Mrs. Buckley, the present defendant, attaching any indebtedness of that Company or Mrs. Buckley due the plaintiff, including the indebtedness represented by the supersedeas bond on which that company was surety for Mrs. Buckley. This New York suit, including the attachments, has not yet been heard. The surety asserts that this Court should -assume the validity of the attachment against it, or at least should not allow the plaintiff to proceed against it until the New York Court has rendered a decision with respect to the attachment, lest, if the surety is required now to pay the amount of the judgment to Christmas, such payment, while releasing the surety on the supersedeas bond here, would not release it in the attachment suit in New York, and that, therefore, the surety might have to pay twice and would not be able to recover back against Mrs. Buckley.

Plaintiff contends that the attachment, according to New' York law by which its validity must be determined, is invalid, on the ground that both garnishees, Mrs. Buckley and the surety company, as well as Christmas who is plaintiff here but defendant in the New York suit, are non-residents of New York, and that a debt owed by a non-resident of New York to another nonresident of New York, is not subject to attachment in that State. In this connection plaintiff has introduced the sworn statement of Mrs. Buckley, made while testifying in the original suit in this Court, to the effect that she was a resident of the State of Virginia; and also, the certification of the Qerk of the Circuit Court of Fauquier County, Virginia, under date of January 27th, 1942, that Mrs. Buckley’s name appears on the list of those persons who have paid their State of Virginia capitation tax for the years 1938, 1939 and 1940 in that County.

That plaintiff is entitled to a judgment against the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, the surety on defendant’s supersedeas bond,.would appear to be beyond question. It appears to be equally true that the appropriate manner in which to seek such a judgment is by motion such as the plaintiff’s. Rule. 73(f) of the Rules of Civil Procedure expressly so provides, as follows: “By entering into an appeal or supersedeas bond given pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d) of this rule, the surety submits himself to the jurisdiction of the court and irrevocably appoints the clerk of the court as his agent upon whom any papers affecting his liability on the bond may be served. His liability may be enforced on motion without the necessity of an independent action. The motion and such notice of the motion as the court prescribes may be served on the clerk of the court who shall forthwith mail copies to the surety if his address is known.” However, the question still remains to be determined- whether plaintiff is entitled to execute upon this judgment in view of the pending attachment suit in New York.'

The surety is a corporation of the State of Maryland, authorized to do business in New York, and the process served upon it there was accordingly valid. We will assume, in the absence of any proof to the contrary, that Mrs. Buckley was still a resident of Virginia at the time the attachment was laid in New York. Also, it is not disputed that the plaintiff’s personal services as a horse trainer, for which this Court awarded him compensation by the judgment, were rendered in Maryland, Virginia and some other States, but not in New York; and, further, that plaintiff was to be paid for these services in Maryland where he lived. It is true that in New York prior to 1936, by virtue of Section 684 of the Civil Practice Act (1921), if a defendant were not domiciled and the garnishee, likewise, were not domiciled in New York, whether corporation or individual, the attachment would be invalid; see Douglass v. Phenix Ins. Co., 138 N.Y. 209, 33 N.E. 938, 20 L.R.A. 118, 34 Am.St.Rep. 448; National Broadway Bank v. Sampson, 179 N.Y. 213, 71 N.E. 766, 66 L.R.A. 606, 103 Am.St.Rep. 851; unless the indebtedness arose in connection with business transacted in New York or was payable there; see Mechanics etc., Bank v. Banque Industrielle, 205 App. Div. 543, 199 N.Y.S. 817; Dos Passos v. Morton, 218 App.Div. 154, 218 N.Y.S. 17; Heydemann v. Westinghouse Electric Co., 2 Cir., 80 F.2d 837. But the law was changed through amendment of Section 916 of the Civil Practice Act, September 1, 1936, whereby levy was permitted upon any [675]*675indebtedness from a non-resident or á foreign corporation upon whom or which service of process may be made within the State of New York, to any person whether a non-resident or a foreign corporation. Brock v. Brock, 173 Misc. 172, 18 N.Y.S.2d 648; Tishman Realty & Construction Co. v. Spencer, Sup.App.T., 24 N.Y.S.2d 297.

In Brock v. Brock, supra, a decision of the Supreme Court, New York County, rendered January 30, 1940, which does not appear to have been appealed, there was an application to vacate garnishee execution.

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Bluebook (online)
43 F. Supp. 673, 1942 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3063, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/christmas-v-buckley-mdd-1942.