Hart v. Andrews

103 Ohio St. (N.S.) 218
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 12, 1921
DocketNo. 16614
StatusPublished

This text of 103 Ohio St. (N.S.) 218 (Hart v. Andrews) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. Andrews, 103 Ohio St. (N.S.) 218 (Ohio 1921).

Opinion

Wanamaker, J.

The sole question in this case is this: Does the affidavit in attachment, especially in conjunction with the verified petition, present a ground of attachment without bond under the provision of Section 10253, General Code, upon the theory that “the claim is for a debt or demand arising upon contract, judgment or decree?”

It is substantially admitted in this case by counsel upon both sides, as well as by the court of appeals reversing the court of common pleas, that if the case of Weirick v. Mansfield Lumber Co., 96 Ohio St., 386, applies to the case at bar a contrary judgment should have been rendered by the court of appeals; that is, instead of reversing the court of common pleas it should have affirmed the court of common pleas.

But the court of appeals in its opinion reviews the. Weirick case, and holds that it is clearly distinguishable in principle from the case at bar. At the threshold of this opinion, therefore, it is pertinent to inquire:

1. What the Weirick case was.

2. What was decided in that case?

The Weirick case likewise involved:

(a) A sale of stock.

(b) The allegation that stock was sold upon false and fraudulent representation, and that as a matter of fact it was wholly worthless.

[221]*221(c) An affidavit in attachment upon the ground of non-residence was duly filed, and a writ of attachment issued.

(d) The question arose as to the sufficiency of fact in that attachment affidavit in order to comply with the statute authorizing, the writ of attachment. That question is not in this case, except as it involves the matter of law.

(e) The Weirick case did involve the question of "what is meant by the language in Section 10253, General Code, particularly the words, “the claim for a debt or demand arising upon contract.” True, the syllabus itself does not deal with this phase of the question. . The opinion clearly shows that challenge had been made as to this language in that the verified petition and the affidavit in attachment did not show such a claim, and that is the vital question in this case. .

The syllabus is the language of the court. The opinion is more particularly the language of the judge preparing the same, and yet so much of the opinion as is reasonably necessary to sustain the judgment must of necessity be concurred in by the court.

In this behalf the language of the opinion, dealing directly with the words “arising upon contract,” reads as follows, at page 401:

“The language of the affidavit clearly shows that the claim arose out of a sale of stock and that said sale was brought about by fraud and deception upon the part of the defendant Walters.
“There might be a question as to whether the fraud preceded the contract or the contract pre[222]*222ceded the fraud. This may well be left to the casuist.
“One thing is quite sure, had there been no fraud there would have been no contract, and had there been no contract there would have been no fraud.
“It might be more correct to say that the claim was one ‘arising from a contract,’ or ‘because of a' contract,’ or was one ‘arising upon fraud that induced a contract.’ But it is not the purpose of courts to play with phrases in order to juggle justice.
“There was a contract of sale. The plaintiff in error paid his money pursuant to that contract. His injury was due to that contract, and no matter how deep such contract may have been steeped in crookedness and crime, within the spirit of the law this wa,s a claim ‘arising upon contract.’ Here is a practical illustration of ‘The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.’
“It must be admitted that if the contract were an honest one, and culminated in a promissory note, upon which suit was brought, and an attachment ordered and had, that then clearly said claim, would be, one ‘arising upon contract.’ When, however, the contract made by the parties is crooked, fraudulent or criminal, and the party seeks to recover back the. money paid upon such contract, why should it then be held that it sounds exclusively in tort and the right of attachment does not exist?
“The plain paramount purpose of this statute was to provide a remedy for an injury within, the scope of the several statutes providing for attach[223]*223ment; that injury was not to be limited merely to honest transactions and honest debts resulting therefrom, but certainly with equal force and reason applies to dishonest transactions inducing contracts growing out of frauds and crimes. To hold that the attachment statutes related only to the former, and did not include the latter, is too absurd to require further argument. It is just such judicial jugglery that has put some courts into deserved disrepute. Such distinctions are too technical to promote justice, and the legislature evidently meant what it said when it laid down for courts the rule of construction in such cases in the following language, ‘shall be liberally construed, in order to promote its object, and assist the parties in ob-taining justice/
“Within the provisions of this statute the claim was one ‘arising upon contract,’ and the ‘nature of the plaintiff’s claim’ was sufficiently shown by the affidavit.
“And the further fact that the affidavit charges fraud in connection with the contract shows sufficiently that the debt or claim was fraudulently incurred.
“This is not inconsistent with the claim that it arose on contract, because a contract may grow out of dishonest as well as honest transactions.”

These quotations from the Weirick case, decided in 1917, and in which all the judges concurred, seem to fit, indeed almost parallel, the case at bar. In both cases there is a sale of stock by private contract. In both cases that contract was induced or caused by false or fraudulent representations [224]*224duly pleaded. In both cases there was a substantial loss by reason of said false and fraudulent representations. In the Weirick, case the loss was pleaded impliedly as total; in the case at bar only partial, but in excess of fifty per cent. On its face it would appear that the essential facts of the Weirick case and the course of reasoning applied thereto should be decisive in the case at bar.

The Weirick case was under review in the court of appeals, which court in its opinion undertook to distinguish it, from the case at bar in the following respects:

“Justification for the proceedings is based upon the case of Weirick v. Lumber Co., 96 Ohio St., 386, and one must confess that that case, if taken in its entirety, might justify the argument that was made on behalf of the defendant in error in this section, but I think an analysis of the case will show that the case is clearly within the well-recognized rules already alluded to. That action was brought after a rescission of the contract that was made between the parties, and it was brought to recover the money that was paid by virtue of the contract,

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Bluebook (online)
103 Ohio St. (N.S.) 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-andrews-ohio-1921.