State ex rel. Bellemere v. O'Neill

78 Mo. App. 20, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 4
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 2, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 78 Mo. App. 20 (State ex rel. Bellemere v. O'Neill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Bellemere v. O'Neill, 78 Mo. App. 20, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 4 (Mo. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

SMITH, P. J.

This is an action which was brought by the relator against defendants for a breach of the conditions of a certain bond entered into by defendant O’Neill as sheriff with the other two defendants as sureties thereon. The breach alleged is:

Petition. “That on the 20th day of Nov., 1893, an execution was issued against this plaintiff and Geo. L. 'Bellemere upon a judgment theretofore rendered in the circuit court of Jackson county, Missouri, in favor of the Eirst Nat’l Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, and against this plaintiff and Geo. L. Bellemere for the sum of $- which said execution was delivered to and placed in the hands of defendant, Jno. P. O’Neill, sheriff, to be executed. That said sheriff, O’Neill, failed and neglected to inform this plaintiff of the fact that he, said sheriff, had such execution, and failed and neglected to notify and apprise this plaintiff of his property exempt by law and of his right of election under the exemption laws. That said sheriff, on Nov. 24th, 1893, attached and garnished one J. M. Cromer, who was indebted to this plaintiff in the sum of $401.85; that plaintiff was at that time and still is a resident of Jackson county, Mo., the head of a family, and had no other property except his household goods, and was lawfully entitled to claim and hold $300 of said indebtedness as his exemption. That judgment was afterwards rendered against said Cromer, garnishee, for said $401.85, and was afterwards paid by said garnishee to said bank under said judgment. ' That by reason of the neglect and failure of said defendant, O’Neill, sheriff, to notify plaintiff of his exemptions and his right to elect and hold the same as exempt, as he was required by law to do, the said sum of $300 was lost to plaintiff, to his damage in the sum of $300.”

The answer was a general denial.

The case was submitted to the court upon the following agreed statement of facts.

[23]*23Facts. “1. That the relator was defendant in a suit in the circuit court of Jackson county, entitled the Eirst National Bank against him, the said Bellemere, in which judgment was rendered on the 10th of October, 1893, -for $3,528. That thereafter, on the 20th day of November, 1893, execution against relator, Bellemere, was issued and placed in the hands of defendant, John P. O’Neill, as sheriff of Jackson county, Missouri, and said defendant executed the same by summoning one James M. Oromer as garnishee. 2. Defendant O’Neill did not apprise relator of his right of exemption as the head of a family, but thereafter relator, by attorney, came to defendant O’Neill, and to his chief deputy, Robert S. Stone, and made claim for his exemptions, and demanded that said O’Neill as sheriff should set off to him $300 of the debt of said James M. Oromer as and for his exemptions. 3. Defendant stated that the execution had been returned and was out of his hands, but agreed and promised, from funds coming into his hands, to set off the said sum of $300 as relator’s lieu exemptions in ease execution was issued on any judgment against said Oromer.

“4. Afterwards judgment was rendered against said Cromer and in favor of the Eirst National Bank; nothing was paid over to defendant O’Neill, but on the 11th day of December, 1894, execution was issued against said James M. Oromer for the sum of $401.85, the debt found due from said Cromer to relator herein. 5. TJnder this last named execution defendant O’Neill summoned the Eirst Evangelical Lutheran church as garnishee. 6. Relator again made claim for his exemptions, but prior to this last claim, and on the 19th day of January, 1895, a stipulation in words and figures as follows was filed in said cause, dismissing the garnishee:

“ Tn the circuit court of Jackson county, at Kansas City Mo., January term, 1895. Eirst National Bank of Kansas [24]*24City, Mo., plaintiff, v. John Ií. Eellemere and George L. Bellemere, defendants, and James M. Cromer and the Eirst English Evangelical Lutheran church of Kansas City, Mo., garnishees. Now comes the plaintiff, the Eirst National Bank, by Ralph E. Scofield, its attorney, and acknowledges the receipt of $401.85 in full of the claim of plaintiff against said garnishees, and having satisfied the judgment against garnishee, James M. Cromer, hereby dismisses the garnishment against the Eirst English Evangelical Lutheran church. Ralph E. Scofield, attorney for plaintiff.’ 8. On the back of which is indorsed the following: Piled Jan. 19th, 1895. H. M. Stonestreet, Clk. W. B. Winn, D. 0.’ ‘This judgment has been satisfied of record.’

“9. On January 27th, 1894, relator, by his attorney, filed in said cause his motion (which was overruled) to require garnishee Cromer to pay the money into court, as follows:

“ ‘In the circuit court of Jackson county, Mo., held at Kansas City. Eirst National Bank, Kansas City, plaintiff v. John H. Bellemere, defendant, J. H. Cromer, garnishee-defendant, 10,938. Now on this day comes John H. Belle-mere, one of the defendants herein, and moves the court to require the garnishee-defendant, J. M. Cromer, to pay into court the money by his answer to plaintiff’s interrogatories he admits owing this defendant, John H. Bellemere, and for which judgment has been rendered against him. Frank B. Case, Atty. for Deft., Jno. II. Bellemere.’ On the back of which is indorsed the following: Piled January 27th, 1894. IE. H. Noland, Clerk. W. B. Winn, D. C.’

“10. No money ever came into the hands of the defendant O’Neill, and nothing was ever set off by him to relator. . No evidence, except the stipulation above referred to dismissing the garnishee, is offered that any money ever was paid under said judgment against garnishee Cromer. [25]*2511. It is admitted that Bellemere, the relator, is the head of a family, and a resident of Jackson county, Missouri, and was such on the 20th day of November, 1893. 12. It is admitted that defendant O’Neill was, at the times covered by the petition herein, the duly qualified and acting sheriff of Jackson county, Missouri, and defendants Cox and Welch are the bondsman of said defendant O’Neill, as set forth in the said petition.”

The finding and judgment was for the relator. After an unsuccessful motion for a new trial the defendants appealed.

Executions: exemptions: neglect of sheriff: damage: pleading. Under the provisions of section 4907, Revised Statutes 1889, it is made the duty of the officer, in whose hands any execution may come, before he shall levy the same, to apprise the person against whom such execution has issued of the property exempt under sections 4902, 4903 and 4906, Revised Statutes, and of his right to hold the same exempt from execution. A breach of this duty is not only distinctly alleged but it stands confessed. It has been decided that before summoning his a levy, to notify the execution debtor of his exemption rights. State to use, etc., v. Barada, 57 Mo. 562; State to use, etc., v. Carroll, 9 Mo. App. 275. And we discover nothing in the statute relating to executions and garnishment proceedings in courts of record, making the foregoing rule inapplicable to sheriffs. It was the duty as garnishee to have notified the relator of his exemption rights. of the sheriff in the present case before summoning Cromer

But suppose it be conceded, as it must be, that the sheriff did so neglect his statutory duty to relator, still did the latter sustain any substantial injury in consequence thereof ? It is agreed that between the time of the service [26]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dancer v. Chenault
527 S.W.2d 714 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1975)
Nephler v. Rowland
191 S.W. 1033 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1917)
State ex rel. Schreiber v. Dickman
102 S.W. 44 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1907)
White v. Wilson
80 S.W. 692 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1904)
Cope v. Snider
74 S.W. 10 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1903)
Green v. Baxter
91 Mo. App. 633 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1902)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 Mo. App. 20, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-bellemere-v-oneill-moctapp-1899.