Frey v. Drahos

10 Neb. 594
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1880
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 10 Neb. 594 (Frey v. Drahos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frey v. Drahos, 10 Neb. 594 (Neb. 1880).

Opinion

Cobb, J.

The plaintiff in error makes several points upon the admission of testimony by the court below and the striking from the bill of exceptions of the return of the execution. But if there was error in any of these proceedings it was error without prejudice, as in my view of the case none of the acts complained of could in any event have been material in controlling the final disposition of the case. The first made is that “the facts set forth are not sufficient in law to maintain the action, &e.” But the plaintiffs nowhere in their brief point out in what respect the petition fails in its facts, and upon a careful examination of it I fail to see to what part of it the objection applies, or wherein it is defective in substance. I will therefore pass to the more meritorious points presented, which may be grouped ancl considered together.

Y. That the verdict given in the case is against and contrary to the weight of evidence and the law of the case.

■ YI. That the findings of the court upon questions of law and fact are against and contrary to the weight of evidence.

IX. That the said court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial, &c.

The pleadings and testimony as preserved by the bill of exceptions show that on the 4th day of March, 1876, the plaintiff in error, as sheriff of Cuming county, had in his hands for service two writs of execution, aggregating in amount to ‘$812.51, against the Cuming County Grange Company. That on the said day he levied said executions upon the following property as the property of said Cuming County Grange Company, but which property was in the possession of and claimed by the defendant in error, to-wit: one ten-horse [596]*596power steam engine and boiler, one grate bar, five wrenches, one gauge cock, one cast iron pump and pipe, one driving belt, 4 bars of iron, one engine house, one Fairbanks hay scales complete, one office 10x12 feet. That on the 15th day of March, 1876, the defendant in error commenced an action in the district court of Cuming county against the plaintiff in error, C. H. Erey, and replevied the above described property. That the said Charles II. Erey answered and defended in said action, that he levied upon the said goods and chattels as the property of said Cuming County Grange Company by virtue of two writs of execution, &c., denied the ownership of the said Wenzel Drahos, &c. That on the fourth day of January, 1878, the said cause came on for trial before the said district court, which found in effect that the defendant therein (plaintiff in error Charles II. Erey) did not wrongfully detain the said goods and chattels. That said goods and chattels, when levied upon by said sheriff Charles II. Erey, were in the possession of the said Wenzel Drahos, who held them under color of title in good faith, but that he did not have the right to the possession thereof at the time of the commencement of the said action. The court further found that the defendant (plaintiff in error Charles H. Erey) was, by virtue of two executions in his hands as sheriff, &c., and a levy upon said goods and chattels made by virtue thereof, entitled to the possession thereof. That the value of said goods and chattels was one thousand and ten dollars, &c. And the said district court rendered judgment upon the said finding, that the said defendant (the plaintiff in error, Charles II. Erey) have a return of the property replevied in the said action, and in ease the plaintiff fail for twenty days to return to the said defendant the said goods and chattels, -that the said defendant have and recover judgment against [597]*597the said plaintiff for the sum of $418.51, the amount of said executions and interest to date of this judgment, together with his costs, taxed at $78.83.” That the said property had not been removed by the said Charles H. Erey when he levied upon it, nor was it removed when replevied, but remained in the same place and substantially in the same condition at the time of the rendition of the said judgment as at the time of the levy of the said executions. That on or about the twelfth day of January, 1878, and within twenty days after the rendition of the said judgment, the said property still remaining in the same place and substantially in the same condition as when levied upon, the defendant in error offered to deliver the same to the plaintiff, Charles H. Erey, who refused to receive the same. That the said Charles IT. Erey was dissatisfied with the judgment of the district court hereinbefore referred to, and shortly after the rendition thereof and before the said offer of the said Wenzel Drahos to return the said property to him, had taken the initiatory steps to bring the said case to this court on error, and that the said Wenzel Drahos, through his attorney, had entered into a stipulation with the said Charles H. Erey, whereby he had waived the issuance and service of a summons in error in the said cause, and agreed that the said cause in error might be brought on at the then pending term of this court.

The said cause was brought to a hearing and final determination in this court at the term thereof in January, 1878, and the judgment of the district court affirmed. See 7 Neb., 194.

It further appears from the record that the said Wenzel Drahos paid all the costs in the said replevin suit, to-wit: the sum of $78.83; that on the second day of July, 1878, the said Charles H. Erey caused an execution to be issued out of said court and placed in the [598]*598hands of the said Ferdinand Koch, sheriff of said county (successor to said Frey), for the recovery of the $418.51 damages assessed in said cause in case said Wenzel Drahos failed to return said property according to the judgment of said court, and that said sheriff was about to levy upon the property of the said Wenzel Drahos to make the amount of said judgement, &c.

The district court rendered a decree perpetually enjoining the enforcement of the said alternative judgment. The defendant thereupon brought the case to this court by petition in error.

The property involved was of such cumbrous and' bulky nature as to render its removal quite inconvenient, so that when levied on by Charles H. Frey as sheriff, as well as when replevied from him by Wenzel Drahos, it was allowed to remain in its original position and situation, and so continued when, under the judgment, Frey, as sheriff, became entitled to its return to him. That being the case, it seems to me quite clear that the judgment of the court executed itself, so far as the return of this property was concerned. And if Drahos continued to exercise acts of ownership over it, inconsistent with its sale by Frey, as sheriff, and its delivery to the purchaser, the power was certainly not wanting in the latter to put a stop to such interference. But it seems that Drahos did not propose to interfere with the said sheriff in the possession and disposal of said property, but on the contrary, within the proper time, through his attorney, he called on the said sheriff and offered him possession of the property, which, after mature consideration and advising counsel, he refused to accept.

Charles II. Frey, as sheriff, had, by virtue of his levy, a special property in said goods and chattels to the amount of the principal, interest, costs, and accruing costs, as expressed in the said two writs of execu[599]*599tion, and no more.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Neb. 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frey-v-drahos-neb-1880.