St. Louis Cordage Mills v. Western Supply Co.

1916 OK 80, 154 P. 646, 54 Okla. 757, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1066
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 18, 1916
Docket6672
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1916 OK 80 (St. Louis Cordage Mills v. Western Supply Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis Cordage Mills v. Western Supply Co., 1916 OK 80, 154 P. 646, 54 Okla. 757, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1066 (Okla. 1916).

Opinion

Opinion by

ROBBERTS, C.

This action was brought in the county court of Tulsa county on the 19th day of April, 1918. The petition alleges that plaintiff is a domestic, and the defendant a foreign corporation; that in October, 1912, plaintiff purchased from defendant two *759 Trojan cables, for which it paid the sum of $925.53; that said purchase and sale was made under the express representation and warranty of defendant that said cables were first-class cables, of superior quality, and suitable for the use to which such cables were ordinarily put, viz., drilling, repairing, and operating oil and gas wells; that plaintiff relied on said warranty, and believed said representations and warranty to be true, and was induced thereby to make purchase thereof; but said cables were not of the quality represented, and were of' an inferior grade and quality, and by much less than ordinary use they became stranded and drew, and unfit for the use and purpose for which they were purchased by plaintiff. Plaintiff further alleges that it sold said cables in its regular course of retail business, and, because of the inferior grade and quality thereof, it was compelled to pay to its vendee the sum of $300, which was a just and fair difference in the price paid to defendant for said cables and the actual value thereof, and by reason thereof plaintiff was damaged in the sum of $300, for which he prays judgment.

The parties will be designated plaintiff and defendant herein, the same as below.

After the commencement of the suit, plaintiff instituted garnishment proceedings against the Oklahoma Iron Works, a local corporation; The defendant attempted to question the jurisdiction of the court, because of irregularities in the praecipe for, as well as the issuance and service of, summons; but we find that all these objections were waived by the appearance of the defendant, at different times, and seeking to call into power the affirmative action of the court. The motion of defendant *760 to set aside and quash the summons, and service thereof, for the reason that the defendant had not been properly named, filed on the 23d day of May, 1913, does not raise or question the jurisdiction of the court, and especially is this true where the motion is not supported by affidavit or other offer of proof. On the same day and before the motion to quash had been passed on, the defendant filed a motion to discharge the garnishee, on the grounds: “(a) That the affidavit of garnishment was insufficient in law; (b) no bond for garnishment had been given.”

All defects in the garnishment proceedings were waived by the defendant filing a bond, approved by the court, providing for the payment of the judgment and costs which might be rendered against it -in such action. On the 1st day of July, 1913, the court entered an order discharging the garnishee in pursuance of said bond.

Section 4838, Rev. Laws 1910, provides that the garnishee may be discharged on giving bond for payment of the judgment. This statute was taken from Kansas, and, before its 'adoption in Oklahoma, the Supreme Court of that state, in Washer v. Campbell, 40 Kan. 747, 21 Pac. 671, said:

“Now, if the defendants in error in this case had a right, or would have had a right if said bond had not been given, in any manner to keep alive or preserve their garnishment proceedings so as to make them effective in satisfying the judgment which might finally be rendered in their favor ‘on final hearing of this case’ in the court in which the case might eventually be on such ‘final hearing,’ as they undoubtedly had such right, and if they gave up this right, as they undoubtedly did, for no other reason than merely the giving of the bond sued on in this case, then there was certainly a sufficient consideration *761 for the giving of the bond, in whatever way it may be construed.”

Our own court, in an attachment proceeding, in Moffitt v. Garrett, 23 Okla. 398, 100 Pac. 533, 32 L. R. A. (N. S.) 401, 138 Am. St. Rep. 818, says:

“An obligor on a bond to discharge an attachment, under the provisions of section 4404, Wilson’s Rev. & Ann. St. Okla. 1903, conditioned that the defendant will perform the judgment -of the court in the action in which the attachment is issued, . is absolutely liable in an action against him on the bond for the amount recovered in the action in which the bond was given, without reference to the question whether the attachment was rightfully or wrongfully issued, and the defendant is precluded by such bond from, controverting the grounds of the attachment.”

The case of Myers v. Smith, 29 Ohio St. 120, is clearly in point, wherein the rule is laid down that where, in an attachment proceeding, to obtain a release of the attached property, the defendant entered into' an undertaking, agreeing to pay the judgment of the court, the effect of the bond was to supersede all proceedings under the attachment, and to bind the sureties on the bond, and to estop the defendant from controverting the attachment.

There are many authorities holding that the obligors on such bonds are absolutely liable for the -amount of the judgment recovered, within the limits of the bond, without regard to whether the attachment was rightfully or wrongfully obtained. Among which are Rachelman v. Skinner, 46 Minn. 196, 48 N. W. 776; Gardner v. Donnelly, 86 Cal. 367, 24 Pac. 1072; Fox v. MacKenzie, 1 N. D. 298, 47 N. W. 386; McLaughlin v. Wheeler, 1 S. D. 497, 47 N. W. 816; Bunneman v. Wagner, 16 Or. 433, 18 Pac. 841, 8 Am. St. Rep. 306; Brady v. Onffroy, 37 Wash. 482, *762 79 Pac. 1004; Ferguson v. Glidewell, 48 Ark. 195, 2 S. W. 711.

This disposes also of the question of the verification of the garnishment affidavit. All defects were waived by giving the bond.

On the 6th day of February, 1913, the defendant answered by general denial — not verified. On the 5th day of December, 1913, the case was called for trial. We gather from the record that after the jury was impaneled and sworn to try the case, and the opening statements made by counsel, and the witnesses sworn, the defendant-filed an amended answer, containing (a) a general denial; (b) denying expressly that defendant is a corporation. Thereafter, on the same day, plaintiff moved to strike the amended answer from the files. This motion was sustained, and exceptions saved. The defendant then moved the court for leave to verify the original answer, filed on the 6th day of August, 1913. To this the plaintiff objected, “for the reason that a verification of said answer would place upon plaintiff the burden of proving the corporate existence of the defendant.” To this the following ruling was made:

By the Court: “A verified denial, such as is offered by the ■ defendant, does not put the corporate existence of defendant in issue.”

Thereupon leave to verify was granted, and plaintiff saved exceptions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1916 OK 80, 154 P. 646, 54 Okla. 757, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 1066, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-cordage-mills-v-western-supply-co-okla-1916.