Joseph v. Pyle

2 W. Va. 449
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1868
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2 W. Va. 449 (Joseph v. Pyle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joseph v. Pyle, 2 W. Va. 449 (W. Va. 1868).

Opinion

Maxwell, J.

The first cause of error assigned is that the attachment, and the return of the officer thereon, are insufficient. There was no objection of this sort made in the court below, and as the garnishee appeared and denied his indebtedness on the merits of the case it is too late now to make the objection for the first time. Pulliam, &c., vs. Aler, 15 Gratt., 54. The second ground of error assigned is that the attachment was made returnable to the fall term, 1854, but that it does not appear that it was returned until October term, 1857. The record shows that the garnishee, Joseph, appeared on the first day of October, 1857, in court, and testified as to his indebtedness to Cox, without making the objection now made. It is too late now to make it for the first time. The third cause assigned for error is that the proceedings against Joseph, the garnishee, are not warranted by the 17th, 18th and 19th sections of chapter 151, of the code.

I think the proceedings are in precise conformity to the said sections.

The fourth cause of error assigned is that the manner in which the jury were sworn was erroneous. There were two jury trials in the case and two verdicts; one at the April term, 1866, and the other at the June term, following. The verdict found at the April term was set aside by the court, and the verdict found at the June term is the one on which the judgment was rendered, which is complained of here. The jury at the June term were sworn in substantial, and almost in literal conformity to the statute.

The fifth and last ground of error assigned in the petition is that the judgment is erroneous in this, that the jury found a verdict for 525 dollars, with interest from September, 1854, and the judgment is for 400 dollars, to be applied to the judgment in favor of Maiy Duty, &c. This cause of error is abandoned by the counsel who argued the cause here, but they insist that the judgment is erroneous in this, that [452]*452the verdict of the jury was that the defendant was indebted to Ulysses D. Cox in the sum of 525 dollars with interest from the 5th day of September, 1854, and the judgment of the court rendered on the verdict is that the plaintiff, Pyle, and wife, recover of the defendant, Joseph, the sum of 400 dollars, which the plaintiff, Mary Pyle, formerly Mary Duty, recovered against the said Cox, in the said court, with interest thereon from the 30th day of September, 1857, and her costs by her about her action of trespass on the case aforesaid in that behalf expended, and that they also recover of the defendant, Joseph, their costs, &c. When instead of rendering this judgment it is insisted that the court should have ordered the amount found by the jury due from Joseph to be paid by him to the receiver of the court according to the 17th section of chapter 151, of the code. This section provides that if it shall appear that the garnishee at or after the service of the attachment was indebted to the defendant against whom the claim is, or had in his possession or control any goods, chattels, money, securities or other effects belonging to the said defendant, the court may order Mm to pay the amount so due by him, and deliver such effects to such person as it may appoint as receiver, or such garnishee may give bond, &c.

It is claimed that the court had no authority whatever to render the judgment it did render. The case of The B. & O. R. R. Co. vs. Gallaher’s adm’r, 14 Gratt., 563, was a case of an attachment in favor of Gallaher’s adm’rs vs. P. & F. C. Crawley in which the railroad company was garnisheed, and in which the court below had rendered a judgment against the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company for 1,066 dollars and 79 cents and interest, the whole amount of the plaintiff’s claim. This judgment of the court below was reversed and the court proceeding to enter the judgment which the court below ought to have entered, rendered the judgment that the defendants in error recover of the plaintiff in error 309 dollars and 26 cents, with interest from the 14th day of January, 1852, till paid, aud the costs of any execution for the recovery thereof. The form of the judg[453]*453ment just reeited is in substance the same that had been rendered by the court below in the same case, and both judgments are in form, in substance precise!}’ like the one under review.

But it is insisted by the counsel for the plaintiff in error that the point as to the form of the judgment was not made in the case of the B. & O. R. R. Co. vs. Gallaher's adm'r nor decided by the court, therefore it is no authority for this court.

The case of Pulliam, &c., vs. Aler, 15 Gratt., 54, was an action of debt in the name of Aler against James iu which an attachment was sued out and served on Pulliam, of the firm of Pulliam & Davis, as garnishee. There was a judgment in favor of Aler against James. Afterwards, at the same term of the court, the order entered says: “ eame as well the plaintiff aforesaid as David M. Pulliam a garnishee summoned by virtue of the attachment aforesaid, who being examined on oath, and it appearing on such examination that at the time of the service of the said attachment there was in the possession of the firm of Pulliam & Davis, of which he is a member, money belonging to said, defendant sufficient to pay the amount of the judgment aforesaid, it was therefore ordered that the said Pulliam & Davis pay over to the said plaintiff the amount of said judgment.” This was the judgment complained of, and is very much like that in the case of the B. & O. R. R. Co. vs. Gallaher’s adm’r ; after full consideration the judgment was affirmed, all the judges being present But here, again, the point as to the form of the judgment was neither made nor decided, so far as the report of the ease shows. The case of Kyle & Co. vs. Connelly, in 3 Leigh, 719, was an attachment in the name of Kyle & Co. vs. Connelly for a debt not due. The attachment was levied on some personal property belonging to Connelly, and several persons were summoned as garnishees who were supposed to be indebted to him. There was judgment in favor of the plaintiffs against Connelly for 1,103 dollars and. costs, and it was ordered that the sheriff* should make sale of the property attached on a credit till the date when the [454]*454debt due the plaintiff should become payable, and it appearing that there were debts due to the defendant from the garnishees, who appeared according to the summons to the amount of 382 dollars, the court ordered said garnishees to pay to the plaintiffs the several debts by them respectively due to the defendant, with stay of execution against the garnishees till the date when the defendant’s debt to the plaintiffs should become due and payable.

This judgment was rendered in the county court. Con-nelly took the case to the circuit court, which reversed the judgment of the county court. The case was then taken to the court of appeals by Kyle & Co., where the judgment of the circuit court was reversed and that of the county court affirmed. In this case, like the others referred to, the question as to the sufficiency of the judgment against the garnishees was neither raised nor decided, as far as appeal’s from the report. I should not like to say that the judgments in these cases are all contrary to law, even if I should think so, as they are all the same in substance. I think, however, that they are all clearly in conformity to law.

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Bluebook (online)
2 W. Va. 449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joseph-v-pyle-wva-1868.