Dunham v. Bentley

72 N.W. 437, 103 Iowa 136
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided October 11, 1897·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Ladd, J.

1 The judgment plaintiff died before the second execution was issued. No indorsement whatever was made by the clerk, as required by section 3130 of the Code of 1873, .and the defendant has entered no complaint of this omission, though, under section 3134, he might have enjoined or moved to quash the execution. The record, then, raises the question whether an execution without indorsement, issued after the death of the judgment plaintiff, is void, or only voidable. A judgment, at common law, became dormant in a year and a day, but it might be revived by resort to the scire facias. An execution issued after the lapse of this time, and without so doing, was only voidable. If the defendant chose to interpose no objection to its regularity, others could not do so for him, and he was not permitted to do so collaterally. Freeman, Executions, section 29. Where the time within which execution may be issued has been- extended by statute, the same rule is adopted. Mariner v. Coon, 16 Wis. 468; Bank v. Spencer, 18 N. Y. 154. So, too, where the time within which an execution may issue after a previous one, is limited, an execution issued therefor, without revivor has been adjudged voidable only. Gardner v. Railway Co., 102 Ala. 635 (48 Am. St. 84, 15 South. Rep. 271); Eddy v. Coldwell, 23 Or. 163 (37 Am. St. 672, 31 Pac. Rep. 475.) In analogy with the principle involved in these cases some courts have held an execution issued after the judgment creditor’s death, and without revivor, hot void. Day v. Sharp, 34 Am. Dec. 509; Hughes v. Wilkinson, 37 Miss. 482; Darlington v. Speakman, 9 Watts & S. 182; Jenness v. Lapeer, 42 Mich. 469 (4 N. W. Rep. 220). With [139] better reason such an execution hag been' adjudged void on two grounds: (1) By the death of plaintiff, the party to whom authority was given to enforce the judgment is withdrawn; (2) a- new party, ben'efited and concerned in the judgment, is introduced in the record. Brown v. Parker, 15 Ill. 307; Meyer v. Mintonye, 106 Ill. 414; Bellinger v. Ford, 21 Barb. 311; Morgan v. Taylor, 38 N. J. Law, 317; Stewart v. Nuckols, 50 Am. Dec. 127. This last case overrules Day v. Sharp, supra. The grounds for holding such an execution void seem unassailable. If the sole plaintiff is dead, the right of another to stand in his stead ought to be first determined, and the record show in whose behalf the benefits accruing under the judgment are taken. This insures the proper application of the amount collected to the satisfaction of the debt. It avoids an unexplained variance in the record. That letters of administration have issued is not presumed, and the authority given plaintiff to resort to the legal processes of compulsory payment ought not to be exercised by another until his rights to do so be fully ascertained. Such a rule serves a double purpose; it guards the rights of the judgment defendant, and protects the property of the deceased plaintiff. The provisions of the statute recognize, rather than obviate, the necessity of some kind of a revivor. Upon the filing of an affidavit with the clerk of court, setting forth the death of the plaintiff, the nam es of his heirs or representatives, and, if the latter, accompanied by a certificate of qualification, he is required to indorse on the execution the fact of such death, and the names of those entitled to the judgment; and when this is done the sheriff proceeds as though the parties whose names are so- indorsed were the only plaintiffs. Sections 3131-3133, Code 1873.. If the personal representatives or heirs are not properly stated in the indorsement, the execution may be quashed; .and, if not entitled to the judgment, its •enforcement may be enjoined. Section 3134, A remedy [140] is thus provided where there is a defective indorsement; none, in event of no indorsement. Nor, in such a case, was any necessary, as the execution, being void, would be no protection in the hands of the officer, and a levy thereunder amount to no more than' a trespass. This view is in harmony with the conclusion arrived at in Meek v. Bunker, 33 Iowa, 169, where it is said of such an execution that it “could not have vitality to sustain a levy,” and that, “being invalid, the property levied upon under it could not be held.” See White v. Secor, 58 Iowa, 533'. It follows that the execution was- void, and the garnishee not held thereunder.

2 II. The issuance of the second execution, as it was void, did not amount to an abandonment of the first one. West v. St. John, 63 Iowa, 287; Friyer v. McNaughton, 67 N. W. Rep. 978 (Mich.). Nor did the return of the first execution in any way affect the garnishment proceedings. Section 3052, Code 18,73. The proceeds thereof maybe readily appropriated, under the order of the court, to. the satisfaction of the judgment, without the use of the original execution. No question .is made as to the sufficiency of the indorsement on the first execution, and any property held by Staman, as administrator of David Bentley, deceased, belonging to the defendant Albert Bentley, must be accounted for.thereunder.

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Dunham v. Bentley, 72 N.W. 437, 103 Iowa 136 (iowa 1897).

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