McCarthy v. Speed

94 N.W. 411, 16 S.D. 584, 1903 S.D. LEXIS 117
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 7, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 N.W. 411 (McCarthy v. Speed) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCarthy v. Speed, 94 N.W. 411, 16 S.D. 584, 1903 S.D. LEXIS 117 (S.D. 1903).

Opinion

Corson, J.

This is an appeal from an order vacating and setting aside certain execution sales of personal property, and granting certain other relief to John S. George, respondent. On January 13, 1899, judgment; was entered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants, of which the said George, as executor of the estate of John J. Fayel, was one, whereby it was, among other things, adjudged that the plaintiff recover of the . defendants his costs and disbursements in the Circuit and Supreme Courts, agregating $458.35. Two executions were issued upon this judgment, and three sheriffs sales made thereon. As to the first sale, it is recited in the abstract that “execution in the usual form was duly issued upon said judgment on the 11th day of February, 1901, and delivered to the [586]*586sheriff on said date, who thereafter, and by virtue of said executions, duly levied upon and seized the following described personal property of the said John S. George, to-wit, twenty-six hundred shares of the capital stock of the Holy Terror Mining Company, a corporation.” After due and proper notice the sheriff sold said property at public auction to the plaintiff for the aggregate sum of $57, he being the highest bidder therefor. Subsequently, on March 29, 1901, by authority of said execution the sheriff levied upon and seized 25,000 shares of the capital stock of the Holy Terror Mining Company, belonging to the said John S. George, and on April 11, 1901, “duly sold the same at public auction for the aggregate sum of $125 to the purchasers and at the prices following, to-wit: ' To Charles J. Buell, 10,000 shares, $50; to the plaintiff, 5,000 shares, $25; to John P. McElroy, Jr., 5,000 shares, $25; to Joseph Van Buskirk, 5,000 shares, $25.” Subsequently the secoud execution was issued upon said judgment to said sheriff, who thereafter levied upon and seized 100,000 shares of the capital stock of the said company, belonging to the said John S. George, and thereafter sold the same for $225 to sundry purchasers, one of whom was the plaintiff. The sheriff made due return of such execution as required by law. On June 17, 1901, the attorneys for John S. George served upon the plaintiff and his attorneys, and upon the sheriff and the clerk of the said court, and upon the said several purchasers at said execution sales, a notice to the effect that said John S. George would move the Court on June 25, 1901, for an order vacating and setting aside the said execution sales; said notice stating that said motion would be made upon the judgment, the said several executions and upon all the proceedings connected with said [587]*587levies and sales. This motion was granted, and the Court entered its order vacating and setting aside the said execution sales, and directing and ordering the clerk of the said court below to take said executions, and each of them, from the files of his office, and replace them in the hands of the sheriff, and directing the said clerk “to make restitution of the said judgment upon the proper records of his office. ’’ From this order the plaintiff, the sheriff of Pennington county, the clerk of the courts, and certain of the purchasers have appealed to this Court.

In the original action, as before stated, John S. George appears to have been made a party defendant, as one of the executors of the last will and testament of John J. Fay el, deceased, but not in his individual capacity. The motion, however, was made by John S. George, but not in his capacity of executor. It is contended by the appellants that the remedy of John S. George was by an action in the proper court, and not by a motion in this case. In this contention we are inclined to the opinion that the appellants, other than the plaintiff, are correct. It will be noticed that it is not claimed that there was any irregularity or defect in the judgment or executions, and it will be observed that several of the purchasers were not parties to the action. It would seem, therefore, upon principle, that parties purchasing under execution sales, when the executions are valid and the proceedings regular, could not be deprived of the property purchased by them, upon motion, in an action to which they are not parties. And such seems to be the view taker! by the courts. In Bryan v. Berry, 8 Cal. 180, the Supreme Court of California, in discussing this question says: “It was too late to move to set aside [588]*588the execution after the sale, as a part of the property had been purchased by third persons, not parties to the suit. The motion was to set aside the execution and levy;- and’ the effect of this motion, if sustained,, would have been to declare void the sales made of the property — as well as that portion sold to third parties as that portion sold to the plaintiff in the execution. In the case of Day v. Graham, 1 Gilman, 435, this question is very fully considered, the authorities reviewed, and the correct doctrine laid down. In that case the court says: ‘Upon these authorities, we are of the opinion that when the plaintiff in the execution is the purchaser, and before he conveys to another, the court will set aside the sale, upon motion. But after he conveys to a third person, and when a third person becomes a purchaser, the court will not determine in this summary way questions which may effect the rights of others not before the court, and without opportunity of explaining away those circumstances which might destroy his title.” This court, in Froelich v. Aylward, 11 S. D. 635, 80 N. W. 131, lays down substantially the same rule, and quotes with approval the following from the case of Dorsey v. Hall, 5 Dak. 505, 41 N. W. 471: “While a motion to set aside or quash an execution may be made to the court which issued it, for errors and irregularities which affect the writ itself, the same is not true, in the absence of statute, regarding errors and irregularities arising out of the acts of the officer executing the writ.”

The same rule, however, does not apply to Patrick B. McCarthy, the plaintiff in the action. He being a party to the action, the motion was properly made to vacate and set aside 'the sales under the execution as to him, .and hence it becomes 'necessary to determine (1) whether or not the individual prop[589]*589erty of Mr. George could be sold under the judgment rendered against him as one of the executors of the estate of Fayel, deceased; (2) whether or not John S. George could, in his individual capacity, make this motion in the court below, he not. being a party to the action, other than as executor.

It was evidently the theory of the counsel for Mr. George, and was probably adopted by the court, that George, being a defendant as executor, and not in his individual capacity, was nbt individually liable for the costs in the action, and that the levy upon and sales of his individual property for such costs was illegal and void. It is contended on the part of the appellant, however, that, though the judgment was rendered against said George as executor, he was nevertheless personally liable for the costs of the action, and that the levy upon and sales of his individual property was therefore regular and legal. Our Probate Code and Code of Civil Procedure contain two sections bearing upon this question.

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Bluebook (online)
94 N.W. 411, 16 S.D. 584, 1903 S.D. LEXIS 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccarthy-v-speed-sd-1903.