Richter v. George Doherty Lumber Co.

16 Pa. D. & C.2d 181, 1958 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 252
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedJune 27, 1958
Docketno. 3144
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 16 Pa. D. & C.2d 181 (Richter v. George Doherty Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richter v. George Doherty Lumber Co., 16 Pa. D. & C.2d 181, 1958 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 252 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1958).

Opinion

Soffel, J.,

— Catherine F. Reilly, judgment creditor of defendant, issued writs of foreign attachment or writs of attachment execution [182]*182against funds due defendant in the hands of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and the Public Parking Authority of Pittsburgh.

On April 24, 1958, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh was served with a writ of attachment execution and interrogatories in this action. The Urban Redevelopment Authority has two contracts, designated as contract no. 7 and contract no. 8, with defendant, Doherty Lumber & Wrecking Company, for the demolition of certain buildings and structures in redevelopment area no. 3, commonly known as lower hill redevelopment area. Contract no. 7 was executed by the parties on July 15, 1957, and work completed thereunder May 20, 1958, with a balance now due defendant in the sum of $29,002.30. Contract no. 8 was executed by both parties on December 16, 1957, and work completed thereunder on May 19, 1958, with a balance now due defendant in the sum of $13,946.50. On May 1, 1958, Catherine F. Reilly, plaintiff judgment creditor, released the Urban Redevelopment Authority of the lien, if any, of this attachment execution proceeding and all money due and owing defendant under the terms and conditions of contract no. 8.

The Parking Authority of Pittsburgh, while engaged in the construction of parking lots, engaged one Doherty, also known as Doherty Lumber & Wrecking Company, to perform some work for it in this construction. After Doherty Lumber Company completed the work for the Parking Authority, various creditors of Doherty, or the Doherty Lumber & Wrecking Company, issued writs of foreign attachment or writs of attachment execution against the funds due Doherty, or the Doherty Lumber Company, in the hands of the Parking Authority.

Both Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Parking Authority have filed preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer to these garnishment proceed[183]*183ings raising a question of law. The legal question may be thus stated:

Are the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and the Parking Authority of Pittsburgh public bodies, corporate and politic, existing as agencies of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the statutes which created them immune from and not subject to attachment execution proceeedings as garnishees?

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh was organized and exists under the Urban Redevelopment Law of May 24, 1945, P. L. 991, as amended, 35 PS §1701. Section 9 of said act provides, inter alia:

“An Authority shall constitute a public body, corporate and politic, exercising public powers of the Commonwealth as an agency thereof. . . .”

The Public Parking Authority of Pittsburgh is a “public body corporate and politic”, existing under the Parking Authority Law of June 5, 1947, P. L. 458, 53 PS §341, p. 156, et seq.

It is a well-known principle of law that a sovereign State, its instrumentalities, subdivisions or agencies, or municipalities or their officers may not be made garnishees. This principle was ably set forth by Judge Nixon of this court in Wood Refrigerating Co. v. Preston, 7 D. & C. 2d 648 (1956). Judge Nixon, in his well-reasoned opinion, lays down the principle of law governing this situation as follows:

“It has long been the settled rule in Pennsylvania that a municipal corporation cannot be made garnishee, either in foreign or execution attachment. That principle was clearly set forth by the Supreme Court nearly a hundred years ago in City of Erie v. Knapp, 29 Pa. 173 (1857). This case and others antedating it have never been reversed or altered, but have been followed repeatedly by the courts of common pleas, e. g., Charles B. Scott Co. v. Guzzi, etc., 30 D. & C. 608 (1937). The reason supporting this sound rule is obvious; it would [184]*184be greatly injurious to the public interest to hold municipalities and their officers liable to garnishment and subject them to the delay, annoyance and expense involved in attachment proceedings. It is no exaggeration that to require a city, especially one as large as Pittsburgh, to act as a ‘collection agency’ would constitute continual and serious interference with the public purpose for which it exists.”

This case is also authority for the principle that municipal corporations are not liable in attachment whether operating in a governmental or a proprietary capacity, on page 650:

“There is no legal or logical reason for predicating municipal liability in attachment, in assumpsit or in any civil proceeding save trespass, upon the distinction between governmental and proprietary functions.”

1 Goodrich-Amram §1253-2, while discussing persons who may be made garnishees, comments as follows:

“The general designation of ‘any person’ in the Rule does not, however, include sovereign state, its instrumentalities or political subdivisions, or municipalities, or their officers. It is considered against public policy to hamper the functions of government by such a garnishment. Accordingly, unless a statute or the Rules specifically permit it, no garnishment of property or funds held by them in their governmental capacity is permitted.”

3 Goodrich-Amram §3102-3 makes it clear that the above quoted paragraph describing foreign attachment also applies to attachment execution.

In the case of Charles B. Scott Company v. Guzzi, 30 D. & C. 608 (1937), the court held that a municipal corporation cannot lawfully be made a garnishee in attachment proceedings. The basis for this rule seems to be the public inconvenience which could be caused by [185]*185subjecting municipalities or agencies of the Commonwealth to attachment execution or foreign attachment.

In the case of Iron City Spring Company, a corporation, v. Nello L. Teer, 53 Dauph. 118 (1942), plaintiff, a Pennsylvania corporation by foreign attachment, instituted an action in assumpsit against a defendant, a nonresident, for service rendered and labor and material furnished to defendant in the execution of his contract with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Plaintiff issued a praecipe for writ of foreign attachment summoning the turnpike commission as garnishee. The commission alleged that it was an instrumentality of the State and therefore not subject to garnishment proceedings and moved to quash the writ. Plaintiff contended that since the writ creating the commission granted it the power “to sue and be sued”, any immunity from garnishment proceedings was expressly waived.

The court held that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is an instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, citing 4 Am. Jur. §141, Attachment and Garnishment, p. 640, as follows, on page 120:

“The general rule is that the United States, a foreign sovereignty, a state of the Union, a municipal corporation, . . . and a government owned or operated corporation or an officer thereof, so far as it is engaged in the performance of a public function, cannot be summoned as garnishees in any action without statutory authorization or consent or waiver. This rule, in so far as it is applicable to the Federal and State governments and their officials, has never been seriously questioned.

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Related

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209 A.2d 810 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Pa. D. & C.2d 181, 1958 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 252, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richter-v-george-doherty-lumber-co-pactcomplallegh-1958.