Hamilton Bros. v. Hartinger

64 N.W. 592, 96 Iowa 7
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 17, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 64 N.W. 592 (Hamilton Bros. v. Hartinger) 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
Hamilton Bros. v. Hartinger, 64 N.W. 592, 96 Iowa 7 (iowa 1895).

Opinion

Given, C. J.

1 [9]*92 [10]*103 [8]*8I. Plaintiffs contend that there was no valid levy of the attachment upon any personal property, because no written notice of such levy was given to the defendant, and- because the sheriff did not take any of said property into his custody, and therefore the plaintiffs are not liable to the defendant in damages for what was done to said personal property. The sheriff’s return on the attachment shows that on the third day of February, 1894, the writ came into his hands and that on the same day he attached certain real estate described, “by giving the defendant personal notice of said levy, as- shown by exhibit A, hereto attached: ‘Exhibit A. To [9]*9James Hartinger, Defendant: You are hereby notified that on the third day of February, 1894, a writ of attachment was issued front the office of the cleric of the district court of Hardin county, Iowa, in the above-entitled cause; and by virtue thereof I did on the third day of February, 1894, levy upon the following described real estate, to-wit: The west ■} of southeast 4 of section 21-88-21, in Hardin county, state of Iowa, - as your property, by making entry thereof on page 167 of the Incumbrance Book of said1 county.’ Jno. T. Boylan, Sheriff.” The return further show® that on.the fifth day of February, 1894, “I further served the same, by attaching, as the property of the defendant, the personal property as shown in Exhibit B, hereto attached, and made a part hereof:. ‘Exhibit B. Sheriff’s inventory on, attachment: One Globe windmill; 1 one-hole eornsheller; 1 Shoudy windmill.attachment; 4 barrels and casks of machine oil, part full; 1 Charles City Seeder; 4 walking plows; 3 Walton; 1 Weir; 3 Peoria seeders; 1 Caekadden feedmill; 1 pair.sleds; 1 Norwegian disk harrow; 1 Walton 72-tooth harrow; 1 Evans 72-tooth harrow; 2 pump heads and box pump repairs; 1 box sections and rivets.; 4 cans machine oil; 2 dozen boxes of axle grease; 1 Alpine office safe; 1 office table; 1 letter box; 1 office stove; 3 sleighs, (said to be commission); 1 strawstacker (Newark Machine Co.)’ ” On the fourth day of May, 1894, the sheriff made the following amendment tt> his return: “Comes now Jno. T. Boylan, sheriff of said county, and makes, this amended return of his doings under the writ of attachment in this cause, under the direction of the court; and do further certify and return that on the fifth day of February, 1894, I entered upon the premises of the defendant, James Hartinger, at Alden, Iowa, being his place of business, in the sale of farm machinery, agricultural implements, etc., and informed [10]*10■him that 1 had a writ of attachment against him in favor of the plaintiff, and that by virtue thereof I levied and do levy on bis ‘stock of implements and machinery of every nature and description, pumps and everything of every kind, stock of all kinds/ all of which property was then and there present. I gave him personal notice, by word of mouth, of said levy and informed him that I would place the same -in the hands of his son, Charles Hartinger, a man of lawful age,' as my bailee. That I did not remove any of the said stock from the building in which the said James Hartinger wasi doing business, but placed the same in the possession of said Charles Hartinger as bailee, and so- informed said defendant, to which he absented; and I now hold the levy on said personal property through my said bailee, wlm receipted to' me for all of said goods, which receipt I still hold. That I found said James Hartinger in the possession of said personal property so levied upon, and not only gave him notice that I would make said levy, but by word of mouth, in his presence and hearing, that I had made said levy. May 4th, 1894. Jno. T. Boylan, Sheriff.” In addition to what appears in Ms: return, the sheriff testifies that after having informed the defendant of the attachment, and notified him that he took possession of the property under the attachment, he went around and made a memorandum of the property from which Exhibit B was afterwards made, and then and there turned the property over to Charles Hartinger, and took hisi receipt therefor, and directed Charles that “he must hold that property, and every particle of it, until order of the court.” The defendant then delivered to- Charles a key to the building, and Charles remained in control of the goods in the building where they were up to the time of the trial. The defendant kept another key by which he had access to the building, and, with the permission of Charles, he [11]*11sometimes used the office, the safe, table and stove therein. It appears that the articles enumerated in exhibit B did not include all the property which the defendant had in his establishment. There was some four hundred dollars worth of twine, and one hundred dollars worth of mower guards, and other articles. After the levy the defendant sold two harrows that were outside of the building, on the platform, under the belief that they were not included in the levy.

4 II. Subdivision 2 of section 2967 of the Code provides that, “if the property is capable of manual delivery, the sheriff must take it into his custody, if it can be found.” This property was capable of manual delivery, and was found. The right to possession and custody unquestionably passed to the sheriff the moment he levied the attachment. It is true that he might have removed the goods, and held them in his individual control; but, instead of incurring that cost, he pursued the more usual practice of retaining the goods in his custody through one whom he selected to take supervision thereof for him, in the place where they were. That the defendant was allowed access to' the office, and to use the safe, stove, and table therein, and that, because of a misunderstanding as to. what was levied upon, he sold two of the harrows, certainly did not divest the sheriff of his custody of the other goods levied upon. None of the cases cited by appellants on this question are in point, as the facts, are materially different. Thist mode of taking and holding custody of attached property has been too often approved to require citation of authorities. It seems to us entirely clear that, so far as custody isi concerned, the levy was legal.

[12]*125 6 [11]*11III. Subdivision 1 of section 2967 of the Code requires that “notice of attachment” be given to the defendant, if found in the county. In First Nat. Bank of Newton v. Jasper Co. Bank, 71 Iowa, 487 (32 N. W. [12]*12Rep. 400), it is held that this “direction extends to the levies upon all property subject to. attachment.” Subdivision 3 of said section, provide® that “stock in a company is attached by notifying the president.” In Moore v. Opera-House Co., 81 Iowa, 46 (46 N. W. Rep. 750), it is held that, “until the notice required by this provision of the law is given, no. valid levy can be said to be made.” It'is further said: “This notice implies more than a mere verbal declaration of the officer holding the writ. It should be a notice in writing.” It will be observed that the language of said subdivision®! is the same as to notice, neither specifying the kind of notice. We see no reason why the same rule should not apply to levies of attachments under either; therefore, hold' that written notice is required in all cases: See, also, Bank v. Kellog, 81 Iowa, 125 (46 N. W. Rep. 859).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 N.W. 592, 96 Iowa 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamilton-bros-v-hartinger-iowa-1895.