Martin v. Wood

370 S.W.2d 478, 212 Tenn. 389, 16 McCanless 389, 1963 Tenn. LEXIS 433
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 1963
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 370 S.W.2d 478 (Martin v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. Wood, 370 S.W.2d 478, 212 Tenn. 389, 16 McCanless 389, 1963 Tenn. LEXIS 433 (Tenn. 1963).

Opinion

Me. Justice Felts

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The bill herein was filed by complainants against their brother Spurgen Wood, individually and as administrator of the estate of their father, George E. Wood, deceased; Frank Hennessee, Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court; and Ora Hillis, Clerk of the Circuit Court, to set aside an attachment of funds of complainants in the hands of the Clerk and Master, and a judg[392]*392ment of the Circuit Court, and to enjoin payment of the funds thereon.

Defendants demurred to the bill, and the Chancellor sustained the demurrers, dissolved the injunction theretofore granted, and dismissed the bill. Complainants appealed to this Court and have assigned the Chancellor’s action as error. The facts alleged by the bill were as follows:

Complainants, Mrs. Manilla Wood Martin and Malcolm Wood, and defendant Spurgen Wood were the children and sole heirs and next of kin of their father, George R. Wood, who died in Cleveland, Ohio, owning two tracts of land in Warren County, Tennessee. He left a paper-writing which was probated as his will in that county, but was later set aside as not his will; and the County Court of that county appointed defendant Spurgen Wood administrator of his estate, and the administration is still pending.

Spurgen Wood filed a bill in the Chancery Court of that county alleging this land could not be partitioned in kind, and seeking a sale of it for partition. That suit proceeded to final decree, the land was sold, the proceeds were paid to the Clerk and Master, and after deducting the costs, etc., there was left in his hands the sum of $7,605.70 belonging to Manilla Wood Martin, and $7,398.21, belonging to Malcolm Wood as their respective net shares of the proceeds of the sale.

On June 7, 1960, Spurgen Wood, administrator, brought in the Circuit Court of that county an action against Manilla Wood Martin and Malcolm Wood, being a summons commanding them “* * * to answer Spurgen Wood, administrator of the estate of George R. Wood, [393]*393in action of debt.” The summons was personally served upon Malcolm Wood in Warren County, as shown by the sheriff’s return made June 8, 1960.

The summons was returned “not to be found” as to Manilla Wood Martin, and, upon a fiat of the County Judge, an attachment issued, and garnishment was served upon the Clerk and Master, and written notice was left with him requiring him to appear and answer, and to hold the funds subject to the orders of the Circuit Court; and publication was made for Manilla Wood Martin as a non-resident.

On January 17, 1961, Spurgen Wood, administrator, filed in that action a declaration in which he sued Malcolm Wood, “a resident of Warren County, Tennessee,” and Manilla Wood Martin, “a non-resident of Tennessee and a resident of the State of Ohio, ’ ’ charging that their father had left a purported will naming Malcolm Wood and Manilla Wood Martin as co-executors; that Malcolm had qualified but she had not; and that this purported will was later set aside on an issue of devisavit vel non.

This declaration further charged that George R. Wood, at the time of his death, had $20,000.00 in U. S. Government bonds, and $10,000.00 in cash, which had come into the hands of defendants Malcolm Wood and Manilla Wood Martin; and she, shortly before the father’s death, had drawn $5,000.00 from his account for “professional services”; and that defendants never accounted for any of said bonds or money, and were “in a conspiracy to defraud the estate, ’ ’ and were justly indebted to Spurgen Wood, administrator, in the sum of $35,000.00.

Neither Malcolm Wood nor Manilla Wood Martin filed any plea or made any defense to this declaration, and on [394]*394January 23, 1961, upon plaintiffs’ motion, judgment was taken against them by default. The judgment recited these facts, and that the jury hearing the case rendered a verdict for plaintiff against defendants for $35,000.00. Upon the verdict, the Circuit Judge entered judgment, awarded execution and ordered the Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court to pay the attached funds to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. ■

Pursuant to that judgment, Prank Hennessee, Clerk and Master, paid the funds to Mrs. Ora Hillis, Circuit Court Clerk, who was holding them on April 4, 1961, when complainants filed the present bill in the Chancery Court asking equitable relief as aforesaid against the judgment at law.

The Chancery Court is not a court of review to correct errors committed by other courts in the exercise of their jurisdiction, and it may not enjoin a judgment merely because it is erroneous; but it will enjoin a judgment which is void, or one which is voidable for certain reasons recognized as grounds of equitable relief. New York Casualty Co. v. Lawson, 160 Tenn. 329, 336, 24 S.W. 2d 881; Brown v. Brown, 198 Tenn. 600, 609, 281 S.W.2d 492; 2 Gibson’s Suits in Chancery (5th ed.), sec. 860(2), p. 62.

Complainants-appellants insist that this judgment is void because (1) the attempted attachment of their funds was void because they were in custodia legis; (2) neither of complainants were given any notice of the filing of the declaration or furnished a copy of it; (3) there was a fatal variance between the summons and the declaration, since the former was an action ex contractu for “debt,” and the latter in tort for conspiracy; and (4) [395]*395since there was no personal service on Manilla Wood Martin, a non-resident, she could not be brought before the court by publication on the void attachment.

It is true the funds in the hands of the Clerk and Master, subject to the orders of the Chancery Court for distribution to appellants in the partition suit, were in custodia legis, and not subject to execution or attachment at law, and could not be reached by legal process of garnishment. So, the attempted attachment of the funds by garnishment was void. Massey v. Holmes, 189 Tenn. 677, 227 S.W.2d 25; Scott County Nat. Bank v. Robinson, 143 Tenn. 356, 362, 226 S.W. 218. Cannon Mills, Inc. v. Spivey, 208 Tenn. 419, 429-430, 346 S.W.2d 266.

But this does not affect the judgment against Malcolm Wood. He was brought before the court by personal service of process upon him in the county, as shown by the sheriff’s return, which the bill does not seek to impeach. Inasmuch as the Circuit Court had jurisdiction of his person and of the subject matter, the default judgment against him was valid, without regard to the attachment; and the bill, as to him, does not aver any ground for relief against the judgment.

Nor is the judgment affected by the alleged failure to give notice of the filing of the declaration or to furnish a copy of it. By our statutes, plaintiff was required to file his declaration within the first three days of the appearance term (T.C.A. sec. 20-802), and defendant Malcolm Wood was bound to plead within the next two days, “otherwise the plaintiff may have judgment by default” (T.C.A. sec. 20-901). T.C.A. sec. 25-108; Gilreath’s Caruther’s History of a Lawsuit (7th ed.), secs. 102,158.

[396]*396It is true our statute (Acts 1955, eh. 68, now T.O.A. secs.

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Bluebook (online)
370 S.W.2d 478, 212 Tenn. 389, 16 McCanless 389, 1963 Tenn. LEXIS 433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-wood-tenn-1963.