Morgan v. Cummings

117 So. 2d 606, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 856
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 26, 1960
DocketNo. 9149
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 117 So. 2d 606 (Morgan v. Cummings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morgan v. Cummings, 117 So. 2d 606, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 856 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

This is an action on a promissory note in connection with which certain property of the defendant was attached. Release of the property was subsequently obtained by defendant on a bond executed by Sam J. DeFatta as surety. In a supplemental petition, it was alleged that the property bonded had been disposed of and that de[607]*607fendant was unable to produce the same. Accordingly, DeFatta was joined as a party defendant and judgment was sought against him. In the amended petition, it was alleged

“That since the filing of the original petition herein, the said C. C. Cummings filed bankruptcy, being number 7224 in Bankruptcy in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.”

Therefore, plaintiff prayed that he have judgment against both Cummings and De-Fatta but that he, plaintiff, be perpetually restrained from executing judgment against the bankrupt, C. C. Cummings. To plaintiff’s action, DeFatta filed and successfully urged, in the trial court, an exception of no cause and of no right of action, and, from the judgment, plaintiff appealed.

The exception was, in our opinion, properly sustained. The condition of the bond, executed by DeFatta as surety, was that the principal would satisfy such judgment to the value of the property attached as might be rendered against him in the pending action. Code of Practice, Art. 2S9. In this connection, it was stated in Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Co. v. Simms, 129 La. 134, 136-137, 55 So. 739, 740,

“Where an attachment is released on bond, the condition is that the defendant will satisfy such judgment, to the value of the property attached, as may be rendered against him in the pending suit. C.P. Art. 259. No proceeding can be had against the surety on such a bond until after the judgment has been rendered against the defendant, and execution issued thereon, and a return of milla bona made by the sheriff. Id. Where no judgment can be rendered and executed against the defendant in attachment, the statutory liability of the surety on the release bond can never arise.” (Emphasis supplied.)

The ruling thus made is applicable to the facts of the instant case. Here, it is made to appear, by plaintiff’s pleadings, that no judgment has been rendered against defendant, nor has execution issued or been returned nulla bona. Under these facts, sufficient basis is shown for the affirmance of the judgment.

However, it is further urged that the defendant, Cummings, has been adjudicated a bankrupt and granted a discharge; that no judgment, therefore, can be rendered and executed against him. As a consequence, the contention is made that the statutory liability of the surety can never arise. That Cummings was adjudicated a bankrupt within four months of the attachment and seizure of his property appears, so the surety contends, first, from the allegations of plaintiff’s pleadings and, second, by certified copies of the adjudication and discharge in bankruptcy filed on behalf of the defendant. Plaintiff insists, however, first, that the documents, not made a part of his pleadings, cannot be taken into account in giving consideration to an exception of no cause of action and, second, that his pleadings are insufficient to support an affirmative showing on his part, that defendant was either adjudicated a bankrupt or granted a discharge in bankruptcy.

Consideration of the first of plaintiff’s contentions may be entirely dispensed with because we find an affirmative showing in his pleadings that Cummings was adjudicated a bankrupt, as heretofore noted in quoting from plaintiff’s amended petition, and that, from plaintiff’s prayer that he be perpetually restrained from executing judgment against “the bankrupt, C. C. Cummings,” it could only be concluded Cummings was granted a discharge in bankruptcy.

Under a similar state of facts, the surety on the bond for the release of property attached was relieved of all liability. Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Co. v. Simms, supra. There, after quoting Section 67, [608]*608sub. f of the United States Bankruptcy Act of July 1, 1898 (chapter 541, 30 Stat. 565 [U.S.Comp.St.1901, p. 3450]), reading as follows:

“That all levies, judgments, attachments, or other liens, obtained through legal proceedings against a person who is insolvent, at any time within four months prior to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy against him, shall be deemed null and void in case he is adjudged a bankrupt, and the property affected by the levy, judgment, attachment, or other lien, shall be deemed wholly discharged and released from the same, and shall pass to the trustee as a part of the estate of the bankrupt.”

which corresponds with U.S.C.A. Title 11, Bankruptcy, § 107, sub. a(l):

“Every lien against the property of a person obtained by attachment, judgment, levy or other legal or equitable process or proceedings within four months before the filing of a petition initiating a proceeding under this title by or against such person shall be deemed null and void (a) if at the time when such lien was obtained such person was insolvent or (b) if such lien was sought and permitted in fraud of the provisions of this title * *

and, after quoting from Section 16 of the former statute, 11 U.S.C.A. § 34, to the effect that the liability of a person who is a codebtor with, or guarantor, or in any manner a surety for, a bankrupt, shall not be altered by the discharge of such bankrupt, the court stated:

“In Keyes v. Shannon, 8 Rob. 172, 41 Am.Dec. 299, our predecessors decided that where property attached was released on the execution of bond with surety, and the debtor, before judgment, made a surrender of his property under the state insolvent laws, the surety will be discharged. The court held that the bond represented the property so far as the attaching creditors were concerned, that the cession of property dissolved the attachment, and that plaintiff, having no privilege on the property, could have no right of action on the bond.
“TEe court said, inter alia, that the surety bound himself to satisfy such judgment as the plaintiffs might obtain against the defendants in the suit between them, and that the event on which the surety undertook and bound himself to pay never happened.
“The doctrine of this case has* never been overruled or modified. In Serra é Hijo v. Hoffman & Co., 30 La. Ann. 67, it was held that the defendant’s discharge in bankruptcy pendente lite did not release the surety on their appeal bond. In that case a money judgment had been rendered against the defendants, who thereupon appealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the judgment. That case was decided on the well-recognized rule that the liability of a surety is not affected by the discharge in bankruptcy of the principal debtor. Section 16 of the bankrupt act of 1898 merely recognizes this general rule of law. Section 67f of the same statute, however, strikes with nullity all levies, attachments, or liens obtained through legal proceedings against an insolvent at any time within four months prior to the filing of a petition in bankruptcy in case he is adjudged a bankrupt. It is difficult to conceive how attachment proceedings thus pronounced null and void can produce any legal effect. The attachment being dissolved by operation of the statute, nothing is left but a suit in personam which is stayed by the pendency of the bankrupt proceedings.

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117 So. 2d 606, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-cummings-lactapp-1960.