Dolan v. Sammons

124 N.W. 880, 147 Iowa 466
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 15, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 124 N.W. 880 (Dolan v. Sammons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dolan v. Sammons, 124 N.W. 880, 147 Iowa 466 (iowa 1910).

Opinion

Deemer, C. J.

These two cases have a very unusual history. The amount involved is very small, yet this is the third time the case has been before us. See 139 Iowa, 64, and 119 N. W. 690, for opinions in former appeals. Each time the case has come here the record has been obscure, and the situation difficult to understand. This time there are numerous amendments to abstracts, mxftions, and additional arguments, tending to obscure rather than to clarify, and we shall have much difficulty in stating the case. Before going to the exact point involved, it is well to say that none of the motions filed by the parties are regarded as well founded, and they are each and all overruled. According to appellant’s contention, plaintiff recovered a judgment before a justice of the peace against the defendant Sammons for the sum of $40, with interest from October 13, 1895, and costs of suit. This judgment was transcripted to the district court some time prior to November 17, 1906. On November 25, 1905, execution issued on the justice’s judgment, and this, was served on the same day by garnishing [468]*468the appellant .Taber Lumber Company. The lumber company was directed “not to hold the weekly wages which it was paying the defendant in execution each week.” It is claimed that the garnishee answered as follows: “The Taber Lumber Company owes the defendant $47, which is in our possession; do not know of any other ■ debts due the defendant. The money due from Taber Lumber Company to defendant was earned under a written contract, which as Exhibit A, is as follows: ‘At the end of the milling, season the Taber Lumber Company agrees to pay to the undersigned a bonus of ten percent on his earnings during the sawing season; but it is understood and agreed that if the undersigned is discharged or quits the employ of Taber Lumber Company before the end of the sawing season, then all claims to this 'bonus is forfeited. I agree to work for the Taber Lumber Co. for the season of 1905. John Sammons.’ The defendant commenced work at the commencement of the sawing season of 1905 for the Taber Lumber Company, and continued to work thereunder until the end of the said season, which season terminated on November 25, 1905, on which day the garnishment was served.”

Defendant Sammons also appeared, and among other things pleaded that he was a resident of the state, the head of a family, and that the indebtedness of the Taber Lumber Company to him was his personal earnings for ninety days next preceding the levy of the execution, and therefore exempt. Plaintiff’s reply admitted that the amount owing was $47, but denied that this was for personal earnings within ninety days. On these issues the justice discharged the garnishee, and appeal was taken to the district court, where the action of the justice was affirmed. Appeal was taken to this court, where the judgment was reversed. See opinion in 139 Iowa, 64. Upon remand the case was again tried in the district court, where a judgment was entered on April 3, 1909, holding that the [469]*469funds were not exempt, and ordering the amount due subjected to the plaintiff’s judgment. Defendant Sammons was granted ten days within which to file a motion for a new trial. This motion was filed April 8th. On April 10th the trial judge filed a certificate of appeal to this court, and by agreement of parties it was signed by the' judge as of the last day of the March term. On June 1, 1909, and during the May term, defendant’s motion for a new trial was .overruled, and the trial judge thereupon certified that the cause was one in which an appeal should be allowed. The appeal was taken June 14, 1909. It also appears that plaintiff sued out an execution on the judgment, which had been transcripted to the district court on November 7, 1906, and that this execution was served on the same day by garnishing the Taber Lumber Company. In the notice of garnishment the garnishee was directed not to hold the weekly wages of the defendant Sammons. It is claimed that on March 12, 1907, the garnishee answered that it owed the defendant $46.91, which was then in its possession, and that the money was due, earned under the following contract: “At the end of the milling season the Taber Lumber Company agrees to pay the undersigned a bonus of ten percent on his earnings during the sawing season, but it is understood and agreed that if the undersigned is discharged or quits the employ :of the Taber Lumber Company before the end of the sawing season, then all claims to this bonus is forfeited. I hereby agree to work for the Taber Lumber Company for the season of 1906. [Signed] John Sammons.” It also pleaded that: “The defendant commenced work at the beginning of the sawing season of 1906 for the said Taber Lumber Company, and continued to work thereunder until the end of said season, which terminated on November 17, 1906, on which day the garnishment was served.”

On April 8, 1909, defendant Sammons filed an an[470]*470swer pleading the prior garnishment proceedings in abatement. Prior to that, and on March 8, 1909, the defendant had appeared and filed an answer or pleading, in which he alleged that he was a resident of the state, the head of a family, and that the amount due him from the garnishee was for his personal services earned within ninety days,' and therefore exempt. On April 3, 1901, the case on the issues then joined was tried to the court, resulting in a finding that the wages were not exempt, and ordering that they be subjected to the payment of plaintiff’s judgment. Defendant excepted, and was given ten days within which to file a motion for a new trial. On April 10th there was filed a certificate allowing an appeal, which recites that it was signed during the term and by consent of parties as of the last day of the term. On April 6th defendant filed his motion for a new trial, which set forth the prior garnishment proceedings, the fact that the earnings were exempt from execution, and that nothing was due the defendant from the lumber company until the day the garnishment was served. This motion was heard at the June term of court, and was overruled; the trial court at the time certifying that the case was one in which an appeal should be allowed. On June 14th defendant Sammons appealed to this court.

Appellee says that no testimony was offered by appellant in the court below, and he also denied that appellant Sammons filed any pleading in the first garnishment proceedings, although he admits that in the motion for a new trial the question of the exemption of the fund was raised. Appellee also denies that the garnishee pleaded any exemption in the second garnishment proceeding, and says the only answer made by it was as follows: “We have down there belonging to the defendant $93.91, $47 of this sum was earned in 1905 and $46.91 in 1906.” He further says: “Appellant on November 30, 1906, filed his motion in (case No.) 1,348 to quash the execution levied [471]*471by garnishment on Taber Lumber Company November 17, 1906, and discharge the garnishee, and among other things alleged that the judgment is void; that the funds in the hands of garnishee is exempt as personal earnings earned within ninety days, he being the head of a family and a resident of the state. On January 7, 1908, appellant dismissed this motion, and an order of dismissal entered that day.”

In another amended abstract appellee denied that any part of the answer of the garnishee in the first garnishment proceeding was made of record. Appellee further says that the only testimony in the court below was that of Dolan, to the effect that Sammons had done no work for the lumber company for months prior to March, 1909.

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Bluebook (online)
124 N.W. 880, 147 Iowa 466, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dolan-v-sammons-iowa-1910.