Wartman v. Pecka

68 P. 534, 8 Ariz. 8, 1902 Ariz. LEXIS 38
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1902
DocketCivil No. 764
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 68 P. 534 (Wartman v. Pecka) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wartman v. Pecka, 68 P. 534, 8 Ariz. 8, 1902 Ariz. LEXIS 38 (Ark. 1902).

Opinion

SLOAN, J.

The appellant filed an action in the district court of Maricopa County against J. E. Williams and Charles [10]*10H. Pierce to recover upon a promissory note. On the same day an attachment was sued out and levied on real estate of the defendant Pierce, situate in the city of' Phcenix. The defendant Pierce, who was a resident of the state of Georgia, died before the service by publication of summons was completed. The defendant Williams, after service of summons upon him, did not appear, but suffered judgment by default to be taken against him. The death of Pierce having been suggested to the court, B. G. Pecka, the duly appointed administrator of the estate of said Pierce, was ordered to be substituted as defendant in place of said deceased, and the case to proceed against said administrator. Thereafter appellant amended his complaint, making said administrator party defendant, and praying for the foreclosure of the attachment lien on the real estate levied upon. After trial the court below found that appellant was entitled to personal judgment for the amount sued for against Pecka as administrator of the estate of Charles H. Pierce, deceased, to be paid in due course of administration, and further found “that the lien of said attachment was ipso facto by the death of the defendant Pierce dissolved, and this claim against his estate is entitled to no preference thereby.” Judgment was entered in accordance with the findings of the court. Appellant appealed from that part of the judgment which holds that the lien of the attachment was dissolved by the death of defendant Pierce, and which ordered the amount recovered to be paid in the due course of administration, without preference.

The appeal in this case raises but one question: Does the death of a defendant after suit brought, and after the levy of an attachment has been consummated upon his property, ipso facto dissolve the lien of such attachment? There is a conflict of authority upon this point. This appears to be true, even in states having statutes providing that an action shall not abate, in which the cause of action survives, upon the death of the defendant, and permitting the executor or administrator to be made a party defendant, and the case to proceed against the latter. The question, so'far as this territory is concerned, is an open one, and must be determined from a consideration of the attachment law, the Practice Act, and various sections of the probate statutes which bear upon the subject.

[11]*11Paragraph 67 of the Revised Statutes of 1887 provides that “The execution of the writ of attachment upon any property of the defendant subject thereto, unless the writ should be quashed or otherwise vacated, shall create a lien from the date of such levy on the real estate levied on, and on such personal property as remains in the hands of the attaching officer, and on the proceeds of such personal property as' may have been sold. ’ ’

Paragraph 68 further provides that “Should the plaintiff recover in the suit, the court shall direct the proceeds of the personal property sold to he applied to the satisfaction of the judgment, and the sale of the personal property remaining in the hands of the officer and of the real estate levied on to satisfy judgment.”

It will be observed that the former paragraph declares that the execution of the writ of attachment upon the property of the defendant creates a lien from the date of such execution, which remains until “quashed or otherwise vacated.” What will vacate the attachment lien is not stated. The latter paragraph provides for the foreclosure of the attachment lien in the action. Our attachment law in this respect follows that of Texas, from whence it came to us. Elsewhere the general rule is that the lien of attachment continues only until it is merged in the lien of an execution under which the property levied upon is sold to satisfy the judgment. Under our statute no execution need be levied upon property held under attachment, and directed by the court to be sold in satisfaction of the judgment, for the order of the court is sufficient warrant to the sheriff or other officer to sell. In this respect the proceeding is analogous to the sale of property under judgment foreelosing a mechanics ’ lien. The attachment proceeding becomes, therefore, an integral part of the action; and the provisions of paragraph 725 providing that an action shall not abate by the death or other disability of a party, or by the transfer of any interest therein, if the cause of action survive or continue, apply, and embrace the ‘foreclosure of the lien, as well as the cause of action.

It is urged that, notwithstanding the provisions of the attachment and abatement laws, the death of a defendant before judgment must be held to dissolve an attachment against his property, for the reason that our Probate Act [12]*12contains no specific provisions for its enforcement. It was for the latter reason that the supreme court of California, in the case of Myers v. Mott, 29 Cal. 359, 89 Am. Dec. 49, which has become the rule of law in that state, held that the death of a defendant .pending the action destroys the lien of an attachment levied upon his property, and that the latter passes into the hands of the executor or administrator, to be administered upon in the due course of administration. The decision was reached by a divided court, and the reasoning in the case is far from conclusive. We hold that the Probate Act in this regard should be construed in the light of the attachment and abatement laws. As we have seen, the attachment law fixes a lien upon property, and points out a method for its enforcement; and the abatement law quoted must be construed to make the remedy available notwithstanding the death of the defendant. Before, therefore, it should be held that such lien is destroyed by. the death of the defendant, the legislative intent that this should result should not be inferred from a failure to specifically recognize the continuance of such lien in the probate laws, but it should appear from some positive declaration of the statute. The argument in the Myers ease, carried to its fullest extent, would have the effect of destroying all liens, both, voluntary and in invitum, the payment and discharge of which are not specifically provided for in the probate court.

An examination of the Probate Act.has satisfied us that the power to foreclose an attachment lien remains in the district court, notwithstanding the death of the defendant, and that there is no real difficulty in reconciling the provisions of the Probate Act with .this view.

Paragraph 1117 of the Revised Statutes provides that “No holder of any claim against an estate shall maintain any action thereon, unless the claim is first presented to the executor or administrator, except in the following case: An action may be brought by any holder of a mortgage or lien to enforce the same against the property of the estate subject thereto, where-all recourse against any other property of the estate is expressly waived in the complaint; but no counsel fees shall be recovered in such action unless such claim be so presented.”

Paragraph 1119 provides that “If an action is pending [13]*13against the decedent at the time of his death, the plaintiff must in like manner present his claim to the executor or administrator for allowance or rejection, authenticated as required in other cases; and no recovery shall be had in the action unless proof be made of the presentations required.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 P. 534, 8 Ariz. 8, 1902 Ariz. LEXIS 38, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wartman-v-pecka-ariz-1902.