Gist v. Equitable Surety Co.

151 N.W. 382, 161 Wis. 79, 1915 Wisc. LEXIS 171
Wisconsin Supreme Court·Decided May 18, 1915·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Tbe following opinion was filed March 2, 1915:

Siebecker, J.

It is claimed that tbe court erred in denying removal of tbe original action from tbe state to tbe federal court. Tbe plaintiffs in tbe original suit, Wm. M. and George W. Gist, at tbe time they commenced action against tbe Johnson-Carey Company were residents respectively of tbe states of Missouri and Illinois and tbe defendant Jobn-son-Carey Company was a corporation created under tbe laws of Delaware, and for tbe purposes of tbe proceeding to remove tbe action to tbe federal court was a citizen and resident of tbe state of Delaware. Before defendant was required to answer it made an application to tbe Columbia [83] county circuit court and prayed for “removal of said suit into tbe district court of tbe United States to be beld in tbe district where said suit is pending, viz. district court of tbe United States in and for tbe Western district of Wisconsin.” Tbe bond accompanying tbis application bound tbe obligors upon condition tbat tbe Jobnson-Carey Company enter, in tbe district court for tbe Western district of Wisconsin within tbe time therein specified, a certified copy of tbe record in tbe suit. Tbe face of tbe removal proceedings shows tbat it was an application to remove tbe action from tbe state court to tbe federal district court for tbe Western district of Wisconsin. It is manifest tbat tbe application for removal did not ask to have tbe case removed to tbe federal court of tbe district of tbe residence of either tbe plaintiffs or tbe defendant. Tbe record shows affirmatively tbat tbe case is not one arising under tbe laws of tbe United States and tbat tbe application for removal is based upon tbe diversity of citizenship of tbe parties. Tbe defendant is a Delaware corporation and hence under tbe federal statute for removal of tbe case from state to federal court is deemed to be a resident of tbat state and is accorded tbe same rights as a citizen. It is established by tbe adjudications of tbe federal courts tbat a suit commenced in a state court in a federal district of .which neither plaintiff nor defendant is a resident, though they are residents of different states, cannot be removed to tbe federal court of tbe state wherein tbe action is pending, for tbe reason tbat such federal court bad no jurisdiction of tbe original suit. Ex parte Wisner, 203 U. S. 449, 27 Sup. Ct. 150; Western L. & S. Co. v. Butte & B. C. M. Co. 210 U. S. 368, 28 Sup. Ct. 120; Stewart v. Cybur L. Co. 211 Fed. 343; Gruetter v. Cumberland T. & T. Co. 181 Fed. 248. Tbe citizenship of tbe defendant Jobnson-Carey Company is conclusively presumed to be tbe state of Delaware and under tbe federal removal statute is limited thereto, though it may have been licensed to do business in Wisconsin. St. Louis & S. [84] F. R. Co. v. James, 161 U. S. 545, 16 Sup. Ct. 621; Baldwin v. Pacific P. & L. Co. 199 Fed. 291, and cases there cited.

It is strenuously contended that the defendant, the Surety Company, is released from the obligations of the undertaking given by it for the release of the garnishees, upon the ground that the amendment of the plaintiffs’ complaint at the trial' from one on express contract to one on quantum meruit so changed the grounds of liability of the defendants in the case' as to constitute a complete change in the cause of action and thereby released the surety. The rights of a creditor to proceed by garnishment in aid of a recovery on express or implied contract are to be liberally enforced in such proceedings and the undertaking given pursuant to the provisions of sec. 2111, Stats. 1913, is to be liberally construed. Smith v. Lockwood, 34 Wis. 12. The undertaking in terms is an agreement “on demand to pay to the plaintiffs the amount of the judgment, with all costs that may be recovered against such defendant in the action.” The purpose of the statute is to hold the parties to the undertaking for the full amount of the judgment in place of the garnishees, regardless of the amount impounded by the garnishment. The provisions of the statute have always received a liberal construction to accomplish the purpose of the remedy, namely, protection of a creditor to receive payment of the judgment awarded him in the main action. Sutro v. Bigelow, 31 Wis. 521; Smith v. Lockwood, 34 Wis. 12; Wilkinson v. United States F. & G. Co. 119 Wis. 226, 96 N. W. 560. As stated in the Sutro Case respecting the liability of the parties to an undertaking under this statute, “they make his [garnishee’s] liability to the plaintiffs in the action their liability to the extent named in the undertaking; and, identifying themselves in interest with him, agree to abide the results of the litigation so far as he is concerned.” The whole proceeding of substituting the undertaking in place of the garnishee presupposes that all the stops required to be taken in a judicial trial .of the original-[85] action in prosecuting it to judgment are authorized as within the scope of such undertaking. It is clear that the right of amending the complaint existed and that the court on the trial of the original action properly amended the complaint from one on express contract to one on quantum meruit. Gist v. Johnson-Carey Co. 158 Wis. 188, 147 N. W. 1079. It is urged that this was a prejudicial proceeding against the sureties. How this operated to the sureties’ prejudice is not manifest. An inspection of the two complaints shows that, the allegations covered and embraced the identical transactions, resting on the same basic claim, namely, compensation for the work and labor performed, at the same price throughout, with this difference, that in the original complaint the agreements in relation thereto were alleged to be express,, while in the amended complaint they were implied, but in their totality and substance they were identical; the only difference being in the way these agreements were evidenced. Under such a state of affairs there is no difference in the substance of the claim made by plaintiffs in their two complaints, and allowance of the amendment was plainly authorized as. within the undertaking of the surety and cannot be held to-have prejudiced its rights. Thomas v. Hatch, 53 Wis. 296, 10 N. W. 393; Tilton v. Cofield, 93 U. S. 163.

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Gist v. Equitable Surety Co., 151 N.W. 382, 161 Wis. 79, 1915 Wisc. LEXIS 171 (Wis. 1915).

151 N.W. 382 (Gist v. Equitable Surety Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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