King v. Vance

46 Ind. 246
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1874
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 46 Ind. 246 (King v. Vance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. Vance, 46 Ind. 246 (Ind. 1874).

Opinion

Buskirk, J.

This was an action by the appellant against the appellee on a note and a mortgage given to secure its payment. The note was executed by the appellee to one Seth M. Moore, and by him assigned to one G. W. King, who assigned it to appellant. The note was as follows:

“Note $1,000, Lebanon, Ind., November 13th, 1871.

“ One year after date, I promise to pay to the order of Seth M. Moore one thousand dollars ($1,000) with interest, at the rate of ten per cent, per annum after maturity; and with attorney’s fee if suit be instituted on this note; and value received, without any relief whatever from the valuation and appraisement laws. The drawers and indorsers severally waive presentment for payment and notice of protest and non-payment of this note. David M. Vance.”

The appellee answered as follows :

“ David M. Vance, defendant herein, for answer to the plaintiff’s complaint, says that he admits the execution of the note sued on in this cause, but says, that on the 9th day of December, 1871, Thomas C. Moore, administrator of the estate of Edward Moore, deceased, et al., instituted a suit in the Boone Circuit Court against Seth M. Moore, the assignor of the note sued on, for twenty-five hundred dollars ; that on the same day they procured an attachment against the goods and chattels of said Seth M. Moore, and also filed their affidavit that defendant Vance was indebted to said Seth M. Moore, the then defendant, on the same promissory note now in suit; that thereupon they procured a summons against the said Vance as garnishee, to appear at the next term of court and answer as to said indebtedness, and that said Vance was summoned as garnishee on the — day of-; and that at the next ensuing term of said Boone Circuit Court, to wit, the March term, 1872, of the Boone Circuit Court, said defendant answered to said summons of garnishment that he had executed to the said Seth M. Moore the note on which this suit is brought; and that he had no knowledge whatever of said Seth M. Moore having assigned or in any manner trans[248]*248ferred it; and that at said term of court, the said plaintiffs in said attachment suit recovered judgment against Seth M. Moore, and'also a judgment against said defendant Vance, as garnishee, on the note now in suit, for the full amount of its principal and interest; copies of which are filed and made part hereof; and he, in fact, says that at all the times above stated he had no notice or knowledge of the assignment by Moore to the plaintiff or any other person of said note; wherefore,” etc.

There was filed with the answer a full and complete copy of the proceedings and judgment in the attachment suit, from which it appears that proper affidavits in attachment and garnishment were filed, and that the defendant Seth M. Moore, who-was shown to be a non-resident of this State, was duly notified of the pendency, of said suit and proceedings by publication, and that an appearance was entered for the said, Moore,- but, upon such appearance being withdrawn, he was called-and defaulted.

■ To this 'answer a demurrer was overruled, and the appellant excepted.

The appellant then,replied in two paragraphs. The first was the general denial. ' The second-was as follows: “2d. Par. The- plaintiff,' for a second and further reply to the defendant’s answer herein, says that he is a bona fide holder of said note for value, the same having been assigned to him before maturity, at Carroll’s, City, Carroll’s County, Iowa, and that at the time judgment was rendered against the defendant as garnishee, the payee of said note,” Seth M. Moore, “ was a non-resident of the State of Indiana, and not before the court that rendered the judgment against the defendant as garnishee, and that the plaintiffs did not, at the time judgment was rendered against the defendant as garnishee, show to the court that said note was due and in the hands of the original payee, or if in the hands of a third - person, that he held it fraudulently; wherefore,” etc.

A demurrer was sustained to the second paragraph of the reply, and the appellant again excepted.

[249]*249There was a trial by the court, resulting, in a finding for the appellee, and, over a motion for a new trial, judgment was rendered on the finding.

The errors assigned are: i.’ In overruling the demurrer to the answer. 2. In sustaining the demurrer to the second paragraph of the reply, 3. In overruling’ the motion for a new trial.

The objection urged against the answer is, that it appears therefrom that the judgment against the garnishee was irreg•ular and erroneous, in this, that the nóte was not due at the time of the rendition of the judgment, and' that the payee thereof was at that time a resident of the State of Indiana. In support of this position we are referred to the cases of The Junction Railroad Co. v. Cleneay, 13 Ind. 161, Cleneay v. The Junction Railroad Company, 26 Ind. 375, and Cadwalader v. Hartley, 17 Ind. 520.

In the case first cited this court say: “ A person indebted .by an unnegotiable note, or a note not assignable by the law merchant, maybe made liable as a garnishee after such note has become due and before it is assigned. But he can not be, before it becomes due (Smith v. Blatchford, 2 Ind. R. 184), nor after he has had notice of the ássignment of the note, if he rely upon such notice in his answer.” The case of Smith v. Blatchford, supra, does not support the’proposition of law announced by the court.. In that case, the note was governed by the law merchant, and the court held, when such a note was assigned before maturity, the assignee would be protected. In a subsequent part of the opinion in the case first cited, the court say: “ It was said above,that the maker of a note could not be subject to a judgment as garnishee, before the note fell due. This assertion should be qualified to some extent. He may be, where all the parties are residents of the State, and before the court, so that the maker may be protected from a second liability ¡.though he can not be compelled to pay. till the note falls due. Brisco v. Askey, 12 Ind; R. 666.” The case of Brisco v. Askey, supra, was a proceed-ing supplementary to execution, and had no relation to .a [250]*250proceeding in attachment and garnishment, and consequently had no application to the point then under examination. The learned judge who delivered the opinion of the court in the case under review was doubtless misled in his references to authorities, and in applying to a nonnegotiable note the law applicable to a note governed by the law merchant.

The only point decided in Cadwalader v. Hartley, supra,. was, that where a person summoned as a garnishee answers that he was indebted to the attachment defendant, but that. ■ before the service of the writ of garnishment, he was notified of the assignment of the note constituting such indebtedness, if the plaintiff desires to dispute such, assignment for want of consideration or for fraud, it is proper, if not necessary,, to bring the person claiming to hold as assignee before the-court, so that he may be bound by the judgment; and on the trial of the issue thus formed, the attachment defendant would be a competent witness. We are unable to perceive-the bearing of this case upon the one under examination. We think it has no application to the present case.

The case of Cleneay v. The Junction Railroad Co,,

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Bluebook (online)
46 Ind. 246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-vance-ind-1874.