Continental Distributing Co. v. Hays

150 P. 416, 86 Wash. 300, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1202
Washington Supreme Court·Decided July 20, 1915·No. No. 12003·Published

Opinion

Crow, J.

Defendant J. W. Hays, at the dates hereinafter mentioned, was the sheriff of Franklin county, and the [301] defendant Pacific Coast Casualty Company, a corporation, was the surety on his official bond. On March 18, 1911, the plaintiff, Continental Distributing Company, having commenced an action, No. 1386, in the superior court of Franklin county against one Dan Jones and Stella Jones, his wife, to recover $441.10, caused an attachment to be issued and delivered to the defendant Hays, as sheriff, who on the same day levied the attachment on personal property belonging to Jones. On May 19,1911, the Davis-Kaser Company, having commenced a second action, No. 1442, against Jones, caused an attachment to be issued and delivered to defendant Hays, who, on June 7, 1911, levied it on the identical property on which he had levied the first attachment in cause No. 1386. On July 5, 1911, judgment was recovered by the Davis-Kaser Company in cause No. 1442, against Jones and wife for $378 and costs, and on September 5, 1911, judgment was recovered by the plaintiff, Continental Distributing Company, in cause No. 1386, for the full amount of its claim with costs.

On December 20, 1911, the Continental Distributing Company, holding the first attachment lien, caused an execution to issue in cause No. 1386, upon its judgment, and delivered the same to the sheriff with directions to sell the property theretofore attached. Two days later, the Davis-Kaser Company, holding the second attachment lien, caused an execution to be issued in cause No. 1442, upon its judgment, and delivered the same to the defendant Hays with directions to satisfy his judgment. The sheriff, over the objections of the Continental Distributing Company, proceeded to sell the property under the second execution and attachment lien in cause No. 1442, he being of the opinion that the sale could be made under either execution. The property sold for $25 only, which, after deducting his expenses of $2.55, the defendant sheriff paid into court for the Continental Distributing Company. The first execution, in cause No. 1386, was returned unsatisfied for the reason that all the property of [302] Jones had been sold under the second execution in cause No. 1442. Thereupon the Continental. Distributing Company commenced this action against Hays and also against the surety company upon his official bond, to recover as damages the value of the attached property, alleged to be $400.10. The trial court found the facts above stated, and further found the value of the attached goods to be $100 at the date of the sale. Upon these findings, judgment was entered for the plaintiff for $22.45, the amount realized from the sale, and for the further sum of $77.55, making a total of $100, the value of the property found. From this judgment, the defendants have appealed.

The questions raised by the assignments of error are, (1) whether the act of the defendant Hays, as sheriff, in selling the goods under the second execution in cause No. 1442, over the objections of respondent, the holder of the prior execution, caused the respondent to sustain any damage, and constituted a breach of his official bond for which the sheriff would be liable; and (2) assuming it to be such a breach, whether the court adopted the correct measure of damages.

A sale of personal property under a junior execution will convey good title to the purchaser. Smallcomb v. Buckingham, 1 Salk. 320, 1 Lord Raymond, 251; Kilby v. Haggin, 26 Ky. (3 J. J. Marsh.) 208; Rogers v. Dickey, 1 Gilman (Ill.) 636, 41 Am. Dec. 204. In Marsh v. Lawrence, 4 Cow. (N. Y.) 461, 468, the court said:

“It is well settled, that if two writs of fieri facias are delivered to the sheriff, and he sells under the junior execution, such sale cannot be avoided, and the party has no remedy but against the sheriff: The property of the goods is bound by the sale; and cannot be taken by the execution first delivered. The reason given is, ‘that sales made by the sheriff ought not to be defeated; for if they were, no man would buy goods levied upon by a writ of execution.’ ... If the executions are in the hands of the same officer, the plaintiff in the first execution has a perfect remedy against him; for it is his duty to sell on the first; and if he does not, he is answerable.”

[303] The rule seems to be that the proceeds of a sale of personalty made under a junior writ must be applied to the satisfaction of the senior writ. 2 Freeman, Executions (3d ed.), § 196; Love v. Williams, 4 Fla. 126; Rogers v. Edmunds, 6 N. H. 70.

It has been stated arguendo in a number of the cases above cited that the officer making a sale under a junior execution will be liable to the holder of the senior execution for any damage done him by such sale, and this doctrine seems to have been generally accepted. We have been unable, however, to find any case in which the liability of a sheriff for making a sale under a junior execution was the issue directly involved. In all the cases cited, the actions were for the recovery of the property sold or for an application of the proceeds of the sale. 25 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.), 682; Marsh v. Lawrence, supra; Arberry v. Noland, 25 Ky. (2 J. J. Marsh.) 421; Grabenheimer v. Budd, 40 La. Ann. 107, 3 South. 724.

Section 515, Rem. & Bal. Code, makes it the duty of the sheriff to “indorse upon the writ of execution the time when he received the same.” In Ohlson v. Pierce, 55 Wis. 205, 12 N. W. 429, where a similar statute was under consideration, the court said:

“The statute requires that, ‘upon the receipt of any execution, the sheriff or other officer shall indorse thereon the year, month, day, and hour of the day, when he received the same.’ Section 2972, R. S. The only possible object of this statute is, that the officer shall proceed to levy executions in the precise order of time in which they are so received and indorsed, and to confer upon an execution plaintiff a priority of right to such levy, and therefore a prior lien upon the property of the execution defendant; for by another statute his personal property is not bound until seized under execution.”

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Continental Distributing Co. v. Hays, 150 P. 416, 86 Wash. 300, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1202 (Wash. 1915).

150 P. 416 (Continental Distributing Co. v. Hays) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Love v. Williams
4 Fla. 126 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1851)
Ohlson v. Pierce
12 N.W. 429 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1882)
Grabenheimer v. Budd
40 La. Ann. 107 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1888)