Trau & Loevner, Inc. v. Routman

6 Pa. D. & C.2d 164, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 419
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Mercer County
DecidedNovember 18, 1955
Docketno. 33
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Pa. D. & C.2d 164 (Trau & Loevner, Inc. v. Routman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Mercer County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trau & Loevner, Inc. v. Routman, 6 Pa. D. & C.2d 164, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 419 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

McKay, J.,

This action of fraudulent debtor’s attachment is before the court upon procedural questions raised by both plaintiff and the garnishees.

On July 1, 1954, plaintiff instituted the action against defendant and directed the sheriff to attach goods and credits of defendant in the hands of Max K. Altman, Irvin E. Altman and the First National Bank in Sharon.

The affidavit of cause of action averred that defendant owed plaintiff money for goods sold, and that “5. The said defendant is attempting to assign and dispose of his property with intent to defraud his creditor.”

“6. The said defendant has made a sale of the goods, chattels and assets of his business to a third person in violation of the Sale of Goods in Bulk Act by failing to give notice to his creditors as required by such Act.”

The writ of attachment was served upon the First National Bank in Sharon but upon no one else in Mercer County. However, the sheriff of Mercer County deputized the sheriff of Washington County to serve the attachment upon the two Altmans in that county, which was done.

The bank subsequently filed an answer stating that the Altmans had an account in that bank, had issued a check to defendant and had ordered payment stopped before it was paid.

On November 11,1954, plaintiff filed a complaint, as required by the procedural rules which became effective October 1, 1954, but still did not serve defendant.

On December 16, 1954, plaintiff entered judgment against defendant.

On February 4, 1955, the Altmans filed preliminary objections raising the question of the court’s jurisdiction over them on the ground that they had not been [167]*167legally served with the attachment in Washington County nor had any property of defendant been attached. They asked that the attachment be dissolved and that the judgment against defendant be stricken from the record.

On May 9, 1955, while the preliminary objections were pending, plaintiff caused an alias writ of attachment to issue. This writ was returned served within Mercer County upon “Max K. Altman, individually, on behalf of his partner, Irvin E. Altman, individually, and as a co-partner of the partnership known as Altman’s Men’s Store, consisting of Max K. Altman and Irvin E. Altman”.

On May 23, 1955, Max Z. Altman filed a motion to dissolve and to quash the alias writ of attachment on the grounds, inter alia, that it was in violation of rules 1290, 1263 and 1010 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, that at the time it was issued preliminary objections to the original writ were pending, and that the alias writ was issued beyond the statutory limitation period contained in the Bulk Sales Act which provides that no action shall be brought under that act more than six months after the date when the transferee took possession of the goods.

On June 6, 1955, plaintiff filed preliminary objections to the Max Z. Altman motion to dissolve and to quash the alias writ of attachment. The objections were that:

(a) The motion to quash as a procedural step is abolished by the Procedural Rules and the Altmans had failed to use the substituted procedure of preliminary objections;

(b) The affidavit of cause of action contains averments of fraud in addition to violation of the Bulk Sales Act, viz., that “the defendant is attempting to assign and dispose of his property with intent to defraud his creditors”:

[168]*168(c) The garnishee has no right to resist the original -writ of attachment after judgment against defendant;

(d) The attachment is valid, at least as to Irvin and the partnership, they not having joined in the motion of Max K. Altman.

As a result of the various procedural steps taken, we now have before us for disposition: (a) The preliminary objections to the original writ; (b) the motion to dissolve and to quash the “alias” writ; (c) the preliminary objections to the motions to quash and dissolve.

We will consider them in the order of (a), (c) and (b).

(a) The preliminary objections to the original writ:

It is obvious that the original writ of attachment accomplished nothing. The attempted deputized service upon the Altmans in Washington County was invalid, for an attachment may not be served in another county by deputization. Jurisdiction to levy on debts by process of garnishment rests on the ability to serve the writ on the debtor of defendant within the jurisdiction of the court issuing the process: Falk Co. v. American Railway Express Co., 79 Pa. Superior Ct. 99; 10 Standard Pa. Practice, 272; Pa. R. C. P. 1257, 1006 and 1009.

It is true that the writ was served upon the First National Bank in Sharon, but no claim of defendant against the bank is admitted in the bank’s answer filed, and from all that appears of record, the writ attached nothing.

It is contended that the outstanding check drawn on the bank by Altman to the order of defendant, payment of which had been stopped on Altman’s order, constituted property of defendant in Mercer County which was reached by the attachment.

On the contrary, this transaction amounted at most [169]*169to a claim of defendant against Altman, not against the bank.

The judgment against defendant, however, cannot be challenged by the garnishees and, therefore, it must remain until attacked by defendant himself. But it is not a personal judgment and if, as appears, nothing was attached by the original writ, it is worthless.

Accordingly, the garnishee’s preliminary objections must be sustained except as to the motion to strike off the judgment against defendant.

(c) The preliminary objections to the motion to quash and dissolve the “alias” writ.

We now consider plaintiff’s preliminary objections to the garnishee, Max K. Altman’s, motions to quash and dissolve the alias writ.

Plaintiff attacks first the form of the motions, contending that, according to the Pennsylvania Procedural Rules, effective as to attachments on October 1, 1954, motions to quash or dissolve are superseded by preliminary objections.

While this is true, we are of the opinion that the motions should not be dismissed on that ground. Whatever their form, their effect is to raise the same legal questions which strictly should be raised by preliminary objections. The procedural rules themselves provide that they should be construed liberally to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action or proceeding to which they are applicable: Pa. R. C. P. 126. So construing them, we will treat the motions to quash and dissolve as the equivalent of preliminary objections.

Plaintiff next contends that the affidavit of cause of action, which is the subject of the motions, sets forth grounds of fraud other than violations of the Bulk Sales Act and points to the fifth paragraph of the affidavit which reads:

[170]*170“The said defendant is attempting to assign and dispose of his property with intent to defraud his creditor.”

It is well settled that, in order to state a cause of action in fraudulent debtor’s attachment, facts must be averred which indicate the fraud upon which the attachment must rest, or, in the alternative, the fraud must be alleged in the words of the statute.

This averment is neither.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Pa. D. & C.2d 164, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 419, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trau-loevner-inc-v-routman-pactcomplmercer-1955.