Dolph v. Cross

133 N.W. 669, 153 Iowa 289
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 14, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 133 N.W. 669 (Dolph v. Cross) 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
Dolph v. Cross, 133 N.W. 669, 153 Iowa 289 (iowa 1911).

Opinion

Evans, J.

The plaintiff was the holder of a judgment against the defendant entered in the superior court of Shenandoah. On July 5, 1910, he caused an execution to issue and to be served by garnishment of the Shenandoah National Bank. Beturn of the execution was made on September 9, 1910. The return stated that the execution was served “by garnishing said bank and taking answer to same in which they claim that they hold $132.52.’'' The following answers of garnishee were attached to the return: “A. First. Are you in any manner indebted to the defendant in this suit, or do you owe money or property which is not yet due? If so, state particulars. Answer. $132.52. Second. Have you in your possession, or under your control, any property, rights, or credits of the defendant? If so, what is the value of the same, and state all particulars. Answer. No.” On September 17th the garnishee bank filed an amendment to its answer as garnishee and paid the money into court. Such amendment contained the following particulars: “That before noon of the 5th day of July, 1910, the defendant, James E. Cross, above named, deposited in the said bank the sum of $132.52, and at the time of making said deposit stated to the officer or clerk of said bank to whom he handed said money to be deposited for him that he made the deposit for the purpose of meeting checks which he had already issued as against such deposit, and that the deposit .was made to take care of said checks, and thereupon the said funds were so taken and received by said bank and placed to the credit of the said James E. Cross. That later, to wit, about the opening of the bank on July 6, 1910, the intervener, B. E. Anderson, presented his check for the sum of $40.73, dated July 5, 1910, and made by the defendant, James E. Cross, to the said intervener, B. E. [291]*291Anderson, and the same would have been paid by this garnishee, but that, previous to the same being presented, it had been garnished on execution issued in the above-entitled cause of Dolph v. Cross, and by reason of such garnishment was unable to take up said check, but reports the same now to this court, that this court may determine-whether the plaintiff or said intervener is entitled to the amount of said check.” On July 22, 1910, the intervener filed a petition of intervention. He averred therein that on July 5, 1910, he sold to the defendant a tierce of lard, and received from him a check in payment therefor on the Shenandoah National Bank, and that afterwards the “defendant, James E. Gross, deposited in the Shenandoah National Bank funds to meet said check about noon on the said date of July 5, 1910, and, upon making said deposit, informed said bank that the funds so deposited were deposited to meet the payment of checks he had already drawn.” He also averred that the deposit was made as a special deposit to meet the intervener’s check, and another which defendant had issued, and that his right thereto was superior to that of garnishing plaintiff.

To the amended answer of the garnishee, the plaintiff pleaded that the garnishee was estopped by its original answer from pleading the matter in the amendment. The plaintiff also filed a motion to strike the petition of intervention on the following grounds: (1) That the said petition was not filed in said cause until after the trial thereof, and after judgment had been rendered. (2) That the same does not set up any proper or valid ground of intervention.

Plaintiff also .filed a motion for judgment on the following grounds: “(1) That the answer of the garnishee and the amendment thereto state no defense or reason why this amount should not be paid to the said plaintiff. (2) That the answer of the said garnishee and the amendment thereto show on their face that the said garnishee is in[292]*292debted to the defendant, James E. Cross, in the sum of $132.52. That the said debt is the property of the said James E.. Cross, and the property of no other person, and that there is no reason why judgment should not be rendered against the garnishee in the said amount, and the same applied to satisfy plaintiff’s judgment fro tanto against the said James E. Cross.” The trial court sustained the motion to strike and the motion for judgment, and entered judgment for plaintiff as heretofore indicated. The case therefore, turns wholly upon the propriety of the procedure, and upon the sufficiency of the facts pleaded to entitle the intervener to relief.

i. Garnishment: intervention. I. The first question presented for our consideration is one of procedure. Was the intervener entitled to intervene in the garnishment proceeding to set up therein his claim for the fund sought to be reached by garnishment? It is argued'by appellee that no such right exists where the garnishment is under execution. It is also argued that there can be no right of intervention after a judgment has been entered. This position can not be sustained. The intervention had nothing to do with the merits of the main case. It had to do with the garnishment proceeding only. This proceeding is in its nature auxiliary to the execution. Sections 3935 to 3953, which constitute chapter 2 of title 19, deal with the subject of garnishment as related to attachment proceedings. The following chapter deals with the subject of executions, and contains the following:

Sec. 3975. Garnishment. Property of the defendant in the possession of another, or debts due him, may be reached by garnishment.

Sec. 3976. Proceedings by garnishment on execution shall not be affected by its expiration or its return. Where parties have been garnished under it, the officer shall return to the next term thereafter a copy of the execution with all his doings thereon, so far as they relate to the garnishments, and the clerk shall docket an action thereon [293]*293without fee, and thereafter the proceedings shall conform to proceedings in garnishment under attachments as nearly ' as may he.

Section 3953 provides: “An appeal lies in all garnishment cases at the instance of the plaintiff, the defendant, the garnishee or an intervener claiming the money or property.” ■ *

It is manifest from the foregoing that the statute provides an opportunity for issue as to the respective rights of claimants to a garnished fund. It was so held expressly in Edwards v. Cosgro, 71 Iowa, 296. Appellee urges that it was held otherwise in Ball v. Creamery Co., 98 Iowa, 184. An examination of that case does not sustain the contention. That case did not involve a garnishment proceeding at all. An execution was levied, not by garnishment, but by the seizure of property. It was held that the garnishment statute did not apply, and that there was no pending proceeding in which an intervention could be had. We hold, therefore, in this case that the intervener presented his claim by proper procedure.

2. Same: answer of garnishee. We may say, also, in this connection that there was nothing in the original answer of the garnishee bank that was inconsistent with the particulars detailed in the form an amendment to its answer. It was the duty, as well as the right, of the garnishee to disclose all facts within its knowledge bearing upon the ownership of the funds sought to be reached. Seymour v. Aultman, 109 Iowa, 297.

3 Same- special priorityepo°/lts: nght thereto. II. Upon the facts appearing in the pleadings, was the right of the intervener superior to that of the garnishing creditor ? We think this question must be answered the affirmative.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Steinbrecher v. Fairfield County Trust Co.
255 A.2d 138 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1968)
Olsen v. Harlan National Bank
162 N.W.2d 755 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)
In Re Will of Lamm
109 N.W.2d 708 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1961)
New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Bookhart
290 N.W. 61 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1940)
First National Bank in Frederick v. Whitelock
1937 OK 678 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1937)
In re Franklin Trust Co.
30 Pa. D. & C. 123 (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, 1937)
Andrew v. Union Savings Bank & Trust Co.
263 N.W. 495 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
Gillett v. American Savings Bank
258 N.W. 99 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)
First Bank & Trust Co. v. Welch
258 N.W. 96 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1934)
Fulton v. Mahoning Valley Council Boy Scouts of America
15 Ohio Law. Abs. 318 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1933)
Hamilton v. Imes
249 N.W. 135 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1933)
Kopp Clay Co. v. State Ex Rel. Fulton
182 N.E. 494 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1932)
Hurley v. Markville State Bank Ex Rel. Veigel
239 N.W. 769 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1931)
Yarborough v. Peoples National Bank
160 S.E. 844 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1931)
Townsend v. Athelstan Bank
237 N.W. 256 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1931)
Andrew v. County Savings Bank of Algona
228 N.W. 55 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1929)
Jacobs v. Colcord
1929 OK 181 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1929)
Gillen v. Wakefield State Bank
224 N.W. 761 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1929)
Heckman v. Ottumwa National Bank
223 N.W. 164 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1929)
Miller v. Andrew
221 N.W. 543 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 N.W. 669, 153 Iowa 289, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dolph-v-cross-iowa-1911.