Erman-Howell & Co. v. Meltzer

57 Pa. D. & C. 227, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 157
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedJune 21, 1945
Docketno. 632
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Pa. D. & C. 227 (Erman-Howell & Co. v. Meltzer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Erman-Howell & Co. v. Meltzer, 57 Pa. D. & C. 227, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 157 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1945).

Opinion

Soffel, J.,

Erman-Howell & Company, Inc., plaintiff, recovered a judgment against Max Meltzer, defendant, in the sum of $2,816.16, with in[228]*228terest from February 10, 1943, at no. 206, April term, 1942, in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pa. This judgment is unpaid. On April 18, 1945, plaintiff issued a writ of attachment execution and summoned as garnishee Steel Trading Corporation. The writ of attachment execution is in the form prescribed by the Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 755, relating to executions.

Eight interrogatories were addressed to garnishee. The first four interrogatories were answered. Garnishee stated that it employs defendant in an executive capacity at a weekly wage of $175; that said wages had been paid to defendant up to the time of attachment; that under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania said wages are exempt from attachment; further, that defendant owes garnishee $575 on a loan made to defendant by garnishee.

Garnishee refused to answer the following interrogatories :

“Fifth Interrogatory. — State what position, if any, defendant holds with the Steel Trading Corporation and what contract of employment he has with the Steel Trading Corporation, specifying if written or oral and, if in writing, attach a copy thereof to your answer and state the compensation provided for by his contract and when and how payable and whether the same is payable on a percentage basis of business produced and if so the rate of percentage and the amount due him thereunder. at the time of service of this writ upon you.
“Sixth Interrogatory. — State what, if any, stock is owned by defendant in the Steel Trading Corporation, the number of shares, par value of each share.
“Seventh Interrogatory. — State when the stock held by defendant was purchased by him and what part of the purchase price was then paid by him.
“Eighth Interrogatory. — State what, if any, stock in the Steel Trading Corporation is held by defendant’s [229]*229wife, Anna B. Meltzer, number of shares, when acquired, the par value thereof and the amount paid to the company therefor and by whom.”

The case is before the court on petition of defendant to quash the writ of execution attachment or for a dissolution of attachment insofar as it applies to wages, and also on motion of garnishee to strike interrogatories from the record.

At the time of argument the rule to show cause why the writ of execution attachment should not be quashed was made absolute insofar as said writ attempts to attach wages due or to become due from garnishee to defendant.

The fifth interrogatory, which attempts to elicit information relative to wages or compensation due defendant which are expressly exempt from attachment, is therefore stricken from the record.

The eighth interrogatory, which attempts to elicit information relative to stock held by defendant’s wife, is stricken from the record, counsel for plaintiff stating at the time of argument that he does not press a reply to said interrogatory, and it further appearing that the information therein sought to be discovered is wholly incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial to the issue raised by the instant proceedings.

This leaves for consideration the sixth and seventh interrogatories. Involved in the determination of the question whether garnishee should be required to answer said interrogatories is the substantial right of plaintiff to attach stock of Steel Trading Corporation which may belong to defendant.

That stock of a defendant debtor may be attached in an attachment execution proceeding is a well-established principle of law.

Sections 32, 33, 34, and 37 of the Act of June 16, 1836, P. L. 755, 12 PS §2265, provide methods for levying an execution upon stock.

[230]*230The provisions of the Act of 1836, supra, relative to the attachment of stock, are further reenforced by the Uniform Stock Transfer Act of May 5, 1911, P. L. 126, 15 PS §313. Sections 13 and 14 of said act read as follows:

“Section 13. No attachment or levy upon shares of stock for which a certificate is outstanding shall be valid until such certificate be actually seized by the officer making the attachment or levy, or be surrendered to the corporation which issued it, or its transfer by the holder be enjoined. Except where a certificate is lost or destroyed, such corporation shall not be compelled to issue a new certificate for the stock until the old certificate is surrendered to it.
“Section 14. A creditor, whose debtor is the owner of a certificate shall be entitled to such aid from courts of appropriate jurisdiction by injunction and otherwise, in attaching such certificate or in satisfying the claim by means thereof, as is allowed at law or in equity in regard to property which can not readily be attached or levied upon by ordinary legal process.”

It is argued by counsel for garnishee that under the Uniform Stock Transfer Act, supra, no certificate of stock was in fact actually seized by the sheriff; since there has been no attachment of stock as required by the act of assembly, garnishee is not required to answer interrogatories relating to same; plaintiff has sufficient remedies at law to reach such stock if it exists.

In the case of Mills v. Jacobs et al., 333 Pa. 231, on a judgment against defendant, plaintiff issued an attachment execution wherein the Citizens Bank of Parsons, a Pennsylvania corporation, was summoned as garnishee. In answer to interrogatories garnishee stated that it had in its possession four certificates of stock of foreign corporations — one certificate of a Virginia corporation, three certificates of Delaware corporations— [231]*231duly assigned in blank by defendant and delivered to garnishee as collateral security for its demand note. The lower court entered judgment for plaintiff for the certificates and assignments thereof subject to the payment to the garnishee of the amount for which they were pledged, and ordered that a writ of fieri facias be awarded to sell all the right, title and interest of defendant in the stock and the certificates. The writ issued and the sheriff levied upon the certificates and took them into possession. The Supreme Court, in considering these facts, held that under the Uniform Stock Transfer Act certificates of stock of a foreign corporation may be subject to attachment execution in this State, and defendant’s interest in shares assigned and delivered by him to a garnishee bank as collateral security for a note unpaid can be reached if, but not unless, by the law of the State of incorporation the certificate embodies the share for the purpose of attachment execution.

In Bateh v. Shihadeh et al., 21 D. & C. 70, the court considered sections 13 and 14 of the Uniform Stock Transfer Act of 1911 in a petition to dissolve an attachment execution. In this case Bateh obtained a judgment against Shihadeh and issued an attachment execution which was served upon Shihadeh, a corporation. Instead of answering the interrogatories served upon it garnishee obtained a rule to show cause why the attachment should not be dissolved.

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Related

Mills v. Jacobs
4 A.2d 152 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
57 Pa. D. & C. 227, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/erman-howell-co-v-meltzer-pactcomplallegh-1945.