Oliver v. Boynton

138 S.E. 795, 37 Ga. App. 13, 1927 Ga. App. LEXIS 430
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided June 14, 1927·No. 18066·Published

Opinion

Luke, J.

This case arises out of a bail-trover proceeding of Mrs. J. C. Boynton against E. F. Dollar. W. E. Oliver signed the bail-bond as security for Dollar, and plaintiff procured a judgment against Dollar as principal and Oliver as security. After this judgment was affirmed (Dollar v. Boynton, 17 Ga. App. 540, 87 S. E. 827), the fi. fa. issued thereon, March 17, 1916, was levied, June 8, 1925, upon the property of Oliver. On July 7, 1925, Oliver filed an affidavit of illegality, and this was traversed by the plaintiff. By agreement of counsel the case was- tried by the court upon an agreed statement of facts; and upon the hearing the court adjiidged that the affidavit of illegality be dismissed and the fi. fa. proceed. Oliver excepted.

[14] In his affidavit of illegality Oliver set np that the said fi. fa., which had been levied on described land, “did issue illegally and is proceeding illegally for the following reasons, to wit:” (1) “Because the judgment in said case has become dormant, and the execution issuing thereon has therefore become null and void, and said judgment does not authorize the levying of said execution or the collection of same.” (2) “Because affiant was merely a surety, and his risk has been increased and he has been discharged from any liability as a surety in this case and become discharged from the judgment rendered in said case against him as the surety for E. E. Dollar, by the following facts and conduct of the plaintiff in fi. fa. since the rendition of the judgment on which the execution issued against him, to wit: After the rendition of the judgment against E. E. Dollar and affiant as his surety, the said E. E. Dollar entered an appeal in said ease to the Court of Appeals, and gave a supersedeas, bond in said ease, with R. W. Ponder as Iris surety, conditioned to pay the final judgment rendered in said case. Said ease was affirmed in the appellate court, and on the return of the remittitur to the city court of Cairo a judgment was entered on the 16th day of March, 1916, against the said E. E. Dollar and R. W. Ponder, his said surety. The said R. W. Ponder on said date, and until his death in 1921, was at all times solvent, and the amount of said judgment could have been realized out of the property belonging to the said Ponder. No execution was issued by the plaintiff on said judgmént, and the plaintiff failed and refused to issue an execution against the said Ponder, and allowed his estate to be set aside and delivered over to the heirs of the said Ponder, and by said conduct has failed to realize any part of said judgment out of the said' Ponder, and has allowed her judgment against the said Ponder to become dormant, and to lose her lien on the property of the said Ponder, thereby depriving affiant of any right or remedy under said judgment against the said Ponder, and thereby increasing his risk as a surety, and by said conduct has discharged affiant from any liability under the said judgment and execution; and for the foregoing reasons said execution is proceeding illegally and should be held to be null and void as to affiant.”

The grounds of this affidavit of illegality were traversed by Mrs. Boynton, for the following reasons: (1) “That said fi. fa. is [15] not dormant, for the reason that a claim has been filed, and injunction served in said case, also an illegality, which legal delays prevent a dormancy of said fi. fa., plaintiff in fi. fa. being ready to show said facts by the records of the courts.” (2) “That the second ground of illegality is not good in law, because the same does not constitute an increase of risk as contemplated by law. It is only an accumulative protection for the plaintiff provided by statute, and could not have the effect of releasing the surety’ required to be given at the institution of bail-trover.” (3) “Plaintiff alleges that the said E. W. Ponder was not solvent, and that the setting apart of his estate, or any part thereof, to his widow and orphans as a twelve months support could in no event afford any remedy to the surety on the bond of E. E. Dollar in this case, and the judgment against E. E. Dollar and the surety, E. W. Ponder, would not be a prior lien to a twelve months support; and there are several liens unpaid which would be prior to this judgment -even if the contentions of the bondsman, W. E. Oliver, as to the law were correct.”

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Oliver v. Boynton, 138 S.E. 795, 37 Ga. App. 13, 1927 Ga. App. LEXIS 430 (Ga. Ct. App. 1927).

138 S.E. 795 (Oliver v. Boynton) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Harris v. Woodard
82 S.E. 902 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1914)
Dollar v. Boynton
87 S.E. 827 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1916)