O'Neil v. Brooks

147 N.W. 537, 180 Mich. 540, 1914 Mich. LEXIS 928
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 1, 1914
DocketDocket No. 62
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 147 N.W. 537 (O'Neil v. Brooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neil v. Brooks, 147 N.W. 537, 180 Mich. 540, 1914 Mich. LEXIS 928 (Mich. 1914).

Opinion

Steere, J.

This is an action in replevin, involving two teams of horses and their harnesses, brought here for review from the circuit court of Marquette county, where, upon trial by jury, judgment was rendered on a directed verdict for defendant.

Before, and at the time, the parties to this suit became interested in the property in question it belonged to Reichel Bros., a lumbering firm of Marquette county, whose title defendant subsequently acquired on execution sale. Plaintiff’s claim is based upon a chattel mortgage given him by Reichel Bros.

On September 12, 1911, the corporation of A. G. Wells Company commenced an action against Reichel Bros, upon a note given in March, 1911, maturing in July, 1911, and at the same time instituted garnishment proceedings against the Consolidated Fuel & Lumber Company, as garnishees of Reichel Bros. Said fuel and lumber company disclosed that the [542]*542horses and harnesses involved were held by it under a contract with the principal defendants, whereby the garnishee defendant had use and possession thereof until satisfaction of a debt due it from the Reichel Bros.; which contract provided that Reichel Bros, were to be credited with the sum of $35 per month for the use of each team and its harness, and that there was at the time of the disclosure yet’ owing and unpaid upon said indebtedness the sum of $317.19, for which a lien upon said property was claimed by the garnishee defendant.

On December 6> 1911, A. G. Wells Company recovered in the action upon its note a judgment against Reichel Bros, for $311.81 damages and costs. On the concurrent proceedings in garnishment a judgment was entered providing in part as, follows:

“It is hereby determined that at the time of the service of the writ of garnishment in this cause upon said garnishee it had' in its possession and under its custody and control the following goods and chattels of the said principal defendants, viz.: One team of horses [describing them] and two sets of heavy double harness, including collars, which said goods and chattels were then and are now held by the said garnishee under a contract with said principal defendants, whereby the said garnishee has a lien thereon and a right to retain possession of said goods and chattels and have the use thereof until the full payment to said garnishee of the sum of $71.69, which constitutes the amount of said lien at the rate of $35 per month for the use of each of said teams and harness.”

By said judgment the garnishee defendant was also ordered to deliver said property to the sheriff on demand, to be sold by him to satisfy the execution to be issued upon said judgment, subject to the amount of said lien.

An execution was issued in said garnishee proceedings, reciting the principal judgment, the garnishment, and the garnishee judgment, commanding the [543]*543sheriff to satisfy thereunder, out of the property, the amount of the principal judgment and costs in the garnishee proceedings, subject, however, to the lien of the garnishee.

Under this execution the sheriff levied upon said property March 1, 1912, and, after seizure, on'the same day made an arrangement with the garnishee defendant, by which the latter gave him a receipt for the property, agreeing therein to hold possession thereof until the 14th of said month, and then turn the same over to him, subject to its lien; that being the day set by the sheriff for execution sale. On that date the sheriff sold said property to defendant, Brooks, as the highest bidder, for the sum of $375, subject to said lien of garnishee defendant, amounting at the date of sale to $17.69. Brooks at that time had also levied an execution upon this property to satisfy a judgment against Reichel Bros, for the sum of $707.98 obtained by him March 8, 1911, with similar ancillary proceedings in garnishment against the same garnishee defendants.

After Brooks secured possession of the property, plaintiff seized it under a writ of replevin, as being property covered by a chattel mortgage dated January 9, 1911, given him by Reichel Bros, to secure the sum of $2,000 which he had loaned them. Said mortgage was not, however, filed for record until January 10, 1912.

On January 14, 1911, after said loan was negotiated, but before the chattel mortgage was delivered,' Reichel Bros., with plaintiff’s consent, gave possession of this property to the fuel and lumber company, under a contract to turn the same over to the latter, to be worked and used in payment of a debt Reichel Bros, then owed it, amounting to $522; said fuel and lumber company agreeing to credit upon said indebtedness the sum of $70 per month for the use of said property, keep and care for the same, and furnish [544]*544food and drivers for said horses while in its possession.

Shortly after the fuel and lumber company received possession of this property under said contract, it further agreed with Reichel Bros, to furnish the latter from time to time certain supplies, the amount of which should be charged in and become a part of the original indebtedness owing from the latter to the former, and did so furnish the same to the amount of $460, of which supplemental agreement plaintiff was informed by Reichel Bros., and to them gave his consent thereto.

The fuel and lumber company retained, used, and worked said property until the entire indebtedness owing it by Reichel Bros, was paid, including the $18 yet due when defendant bought the same on execution sale, after which he took possession, and plaintiff took it from him, after demand, by writ of replevin, claiming right thereto under his chattel mortgage.

After the property was replevied, default was entered by defendant against plaintiff for failing to file a declaration, and before the case came to trial a stipulation was entered into by counsel of record, providing in part:

“ * * * That the default of the plaintiff heretofore entered in this cause may be, and the same is, hereby set aside, and the plaintiff allowed to serve copy of his declaration in this cause instanter; * * * that upon the trial of the above-entitled cause it will be admitted that all the proceedings in the case of A. G. Wells Co., a corporation, v. George Reichel et al., principal defendants, and the Consolidated Fuel & Lumber Company, garnishee defendant, and also all the proceedings .in the case of Arthur Brooks against the same principal and garnishee defendants, were regular and proper and effective for the purposes thereof, it being the intention hereby to give the said defendant all the benefit that he could derive from such proceedings when regularly and properly carried [545]*545through, but not to admit that such proceedings, when so conducted, operated to give to the plaintiffs therein such prior rights in the property seized under the writ in this cause as to enable them, or either of them, to sell the same free of the chattel mortgage lien of this plaintiff thereon, that question to remain to be litigated the same as though this stipulation had not been entered into; said O’Neil not admitting these said plaintiffs did not have notice of his chattel mortgage and rights prior to and after judgment in said garnishee proceedings, either by themselves or agents or attorneys.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
147 N.W. 537, 180 Mich. 540, 1914 Mich. LEXIS 928, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneil-v-brooks-mich-1914.