Collier v. Chamblee

101 So. 372, 136 Miss. 257, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 125
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1924
DocketNo. 24209
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 101 So. 372 (Collier v. Chamblee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collier v. Chamblee, 101 So. 372, 136 Miss. 257, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 125 (Mich. 1924).

Opinion

Ethridge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellant sued out a. writ of attachment against the appellee alleging that appellee was indebted to him in the sum of three hundred twenty-four, dollars and forty-four cents and that he, the said Chamblee, has removed himself out of this state, and that he, the said Chamblee, absconds or conceals himself so he cannot be served with summons. Appellant also made affidavit that the place of residence of Chamblee was unknown to affiant, and that upon diligent inquiry he has not been able to ascertain the same. Thereupon writ of attachment was issued and certain writs of garnishment also issued. The sheriff’s return on the writ of attachment reads as follows:

[264]*264“I have this day executed the within writ by going on said property therein described and declared to Mrs. C. L. Wallace, occupant thereon, that the property described in said writ in favor of C. W. Triplett, Jr. And further executed by this writ by summoning N. F. Wallace, substituted trustee, personally by delivering him a true copy of this writ. This February 7, 1921. And further executed the within attachment by levying on E'ast half of South East quarter and East half of west half of South East quarter, less all that part north of Pioneer road, about thirty acres. This March 26, .192.1.”

N. F. Wallace, the trustee above mentioned, was one of the garnishees,' and answered the writ of garnishment on the 24th day of November, 1921,- admitting having three hundred sixty-six dollars and ninety-three cents held by him as trustee for the said L. C. Chamblee, but that he was not otherwise indebted, and neither knew nor had reason to believe that any other person was indebted to him or had property or1 effects under their control belonging to the said Chamblee.

On the 11th of April, 1921, a summons was issued to L. C. Chamblee, returnable on the second Monday of April, 1921, and was executed personally by delivering to L. C. Chamblee a true copy of the writ.

A plea in abatement was filed by the defendant on the 1.4th of November, 1921, on which the grounds of attachment were denied, and the case went to trial under the attachment issue. Affidavits for the plaintiff by a number of witnesses are to the effect that they had made inquiry for Chamblee in the community, and could not find out where he was; that he disappeared from Carthage, Miss., during the November term of the circuit court of 19201, leaving his wife and children at his home in the town of Carthage; that the wife and other relatives of Chamblee stated to these persons that they did not kpow where Chamblee was; also that an advertise[265]*265ment was inserted in the Commercial Appeal, a newspaper published in Memphis, Tenn., having a wide circulation in southern states, mating inquiry as to the whereabouts of said Chamblee, and purporting to be signed by his wife, having a photograph of Chamblee accompanying the advertisement. It further appeared that Chamblee returned to Carthage, where he had a suit pending in the circuit court, about the 11th of April, and stated he had been herding cattle in Arizona, New Mexico, and old Mexico. It was further testified by one of the brothers of the defendant that the wife of Chamblee went to her father’s home near Carthage soon after he disappeared, but it does not appear from the record whether she abandoned the premises occupied by Chamblee or how long she stayed at her father’s place.. It is suggested in the record, but not proven, that the house of the defendant was sold under a foreclosure proceeding, but the record does not show when the foreclosure was made, if it was made at all prior to the return of Chamblee to his home. There is no proof in the record that Chamblee acquired a place of residence at any other point, but it does appear that his household effects remained at Carthage until after his return there.

The grounds of attachment as set forth are contained in section 125', Hemingway’s Code (section 133, Code 1906), together with other grounds of attachment.

The ordinary process of bringing a defendant into court in an action of law is a summons which may be served under section 2933, Hemingway’s Code (section 3926, Code 1906), which reads as follows:

“The summons from every court shall be served in one of the following modes:

“First. — Upon the defendant personally, if to be found in the county, by handing him a true copy of the process.

“Second. — If the defendant cannot himself be found in the county, then by leaving a true copy of the process at his usual place of abode, with his wife or some other [266]*266person above the age of sixteen years, being one of Ms family, and -willing to receive such copy.

, ‘ < Third. — If the defendant cannot himself be found, and if no person of his family aged sixteen years can be found at his usual place of abode who is willing to receive such copy, then by posting a true copy on a door of the defendant’s usual place of abode.”

And either one of the methods of service confers jurisdiction upon the court of the person of the defendant, and personal judgment may be rendered against the defendant on either one of the methods of service therein provided.

In Alston v. Newcomer, 42 Miss. 186, it was said that the statute giving the remedy by attachment against a nonresident of the state contemplates actual nonresidence without regard to the domicile of the debtor, and was intended to give the remedy against debtors who could not be served with process while their domicile was in the state; that mere absence from the state of a debtor domiciled here, temporarily on business or pleasure, does not make him a nonresident, within the meaning of the attachment law; he must have a fixed abode elsewhere, with an intention to remain permanently, at least for a time, for business or other purposes.

In Dent v. Jones, 50 Miss. 265, the question of absence from the state is involved. The suit was for four hundred dollars for services of plaintiffs as attorneys. Dent, the defendant, with his entire family, left for Europe in the spring of 1870, and returned to his home in the fall of that year. The question before the court and jury on the trial was whether the time of such absence in Europe should be deducted from the period between the date of the accrual of the claim and the commencement of the suit for its recovery. The court held that in said case the mode of service of process is prescribed by statute (Code of 1857, p. 489, art. 64; Code of 1871, section 701), and that process could have been served upon the [267]*267defendant in the manner indicated by the statute, and that therefore the statute of limitation ran.

In Morgan v. Nunes, 54 Miss. 308, it 'was held that there is a distinction between domicile and residence, and that the domicile of a citizen may be in one state and his residence in another, although they are generally at- the same place; that residence implies an established abode, fixed permanently for a time, for business or other purposes, although there may be an intention in the future, at some time or other, to return to the original domicile. At page 310 of the Mississippi report the court said:

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Related

Shelton v. Kindred
279 So. 2d 642 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1973)
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177 So. 772 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 So. 372, 136 Miss. 257, 1924 Miss. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collier-v-chamblee-miss-1924.