Retailers' Credit Ass'n v. Superior Court

65 P.2d 937, 19 Cal. App. 2d 457, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 456
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 1937
DocketCiv. No. 5802
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 65 P.2d 937 (Retailers' Credit Ass'n v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Retailers' Credit Ass'n v. Superior Court, 65 P.2d 937, 19 Cal. App. 2d 457, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 456 (Cal. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

THOMPSON, J.

The Retailers' Credit Association of Sacramento, a corporation, has petitioned this court for a writ of mandamus to require the Superior Court of Glenn County to determine the title to personal property which was attached in a suit in assumpsit pending in that superior court between this petitioner, as plaintiff and Charles A. Nock et al., as defendants. The suit in assumpsit was originally filed in Sacramento County. The property was delivered to the defendants pursuant to separate third party claims to the personal property which were filed as authorized by sections 549 and 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Upon motion therefor the cause was subsequently transferred on September 11, 1936, to Glenn County. Prior to the order for the change of the place of trial this petitioner filed with the Superior Court of Sacramento County its petition under the provisions of section 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure to determine the title to the personal property. The hearing upon the third parties’ claims was set for September 4th, but it was subsequently continued to September 11th. On the last-mentioned date, the third parties appeared before the Sacramento court and objected to the hearing of the proceeding to determine the title to their claims on the ground that the Sacramento court was without jurisdiction to do so on account of the pending motion for a change of venue. The objection was sustained. The petition to determine title to the personal property was then continued to October 5, 1936, and the cause was transferred to Glenn County. The order transferring the cause “directed that all papers filed in the above mentioned action be forthwith sent to the Superior Court ... in and for the County of .Glenn”, which was done. On September 20th the documents and proceedings were filed in Glenn County. On September 29th, by consent of all parties the proceeding to determine title to the personal property was continued to October 23d. On the last-mentioned date the petition to determine the title to the personal property was fully heard. Oral and documentary evidence was adduced by respective parties, and [459]*459the matter was submitted to the court for decision. November 16, 1936, the court determined that it was without jurisdiction to pass upon the merits of the third parties’ claims, and it declined to do so. This petition for a writ of mandamus was then filed seeking for an order to require the Superior Court of Glenn County to determine that issue. The facts are not disputed.

The respondent contends that the petition to determine title to property under attachment which is claimed by strangers to the suit under the provisions of section 549 of the Code of Civil Procedure is a proceeding in the nature of a creditor’s bill such as is referred to in section 720 of the Code of Civil Procedure, separate and distinct from the suit in assumpsit in which the original attachment was issued and that the Sacramento court had no authority to transfer the proceeding to determine title to any other court according to the provisions of section 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure and that the Glenn County court therefore had no jurisdiction to hear or determine that matter. It is claimed that the nature of the proceedings to determine the title to property claimed by strangers to an action as provided by the terms of sections 689 and 720 of the Code of Civil Procedure are exactly the same.

At least three methods of ascertaining the title to property which has been attached are recognized in behalf of strangers to the litigation who have third party claims thereto. One is by interpleading in the suit. Another is by instituting a separate action in the nature of what has been termed a creditor’s bill in equity. (Sec. 720, Code Civ. Proc.; Frankel v. Boyd, 106 Cal. 608, 611 [39 Pac. 939].) The third is by statutory provision for summary relief. (Secs. 549 and 689, Code Civ. Proc.) These various methods are suggested in 6 Corpus Juris, page 386, section 864, in the following language:

“As has been shown, a person claiming property seized under an attachment against another has usually the option of instituting an independent action to protect or enforce his rights or of interpleading or intervening in the attachment suit for that purpose. And in some jurisdictions the claimant may proceed by rule, if the rights of the parties will not be prejudiced, or may have his rights determined [460]*460on a motion to discharge the attachment or in summary proceedings provided for by statute.”

We are of the opinion the method provided for by section 720 of the Code of Civil Procedure is not the same as that which is authorized by sections 549 and 689 of the same code. Section 720 specifically provides that:

“If it appears that a person . . . claims an interest in the property adverse to him [the judgment debtor], the judgment creditor may maintain an action against such person ...”

This section appears to contemplate the maintenance of a separate action to determine the title to the property on the part of a judgment creditor. Sections 549 and 689, supra, provide for summary proceedings incident to the main action, by means of which a stranger to the suit may require the determination of the title to the property which he claims. This summary method is afforded by statute to save the one who claims title to the attached property expense and delay in removing the cloud upon his title which he contends is imposed by a wrongful and invalid attachment. We are of the opinion the summary means provided by sections 549 and 689 are incident to and a part of the main action, and that it is therefore properly transferable on motion for a change of venue. It is true that this proceeding may be separately heard by the court having jurisdiction of the main action, but it is nevertheless incident thereto. The attachment in this case was properly issued under section 537 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The third parties’ claims were filed pursuant to section 549 of the same code. The procedure for determining the disputed title to the property under such circumstances is governed by the provisions of section 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure. That section provides in part:

“ . . . Whenever a verified third party claim is delivered to the officer as herein provided, upon levy of execution or attachment, whether any undertaking hereinabove mentioned be given or not, the plaintiff or the person in whose favor the writ runs, the third party claimant, or any one or more joint third party claimants, shall be entitled to a hearing in the court in which the action is pending or from which the writ issued for the purpose of determining title to the property in question.”

[461]*461From the preceding quotation from the statute in question it appears that concurrent jurisdiction of the proceeding to determine title to property claimed by a stranger to the litigation has been conferred upon both the court “in which the action is pending” and upon the court “from which the writ issued”. The proceeding to determine title under the circumstances of this case may therefore be lawfully transferred so as to entitle it to be heard and determined by the court where the main action is pending. It is apparent that a court to which an action has been regularly transferred may acquire jurisdiction to hear and determine title to property under section 689 when the third party claim is filed after the transfer is made.

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276 Cal. App. 2d 831 (Appellate Division of the Superior Court of California, 1969)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
65 P.2d 937, 19 Cal. App. 2d 457, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/retailers-credit-assn-v-superior-court-calctapp-1937.