Wayne v. International Shoe Co.

18 Pa. D. & C. 521, 1932 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 325
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cambria County
DecidedSeptember 26, 1932
DocketNos. 1 and 2
StatusPublished

This text of 18 Pa. D. & C. 521 (Wayne v. International Shoe Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cambria County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wayne v. International Shoe Co., 18 Pa. D. & C. 521, 1932 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 325 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1932).

Opinion

Greer, J.,

-These two cases were tried as one issue, R. Wayne being plaintiff in both and International Shoe Co. defendant in one case and Hareroft Clothes, Inc., in the other. Both have their inception in a sheriff’s interpleader, and the issue in each was to determine the title to goods levied upon by the sheriff under executions by the defendants above named against Bernard Wayne, trading as Wayne Brothers.

The testimony shows that the execution defendant was indebted to three different wholesale dealers, one of whom, H. Slutzker & Co., obtained assignments from the other two, namely, Samuel Beerman and Jacob Berman & Co., the first dated January 19,1931, and the second January 20, 1931; that on January 20, 1931, an amicable action in assumpsit in which H.. Slutzker & Co. was plaintiff and Bernard Wayne, trading as Wayne Brothers, was defendant was entered into before George W. Cree, justice of the peace, of Blandburg, the parties having met personally at his office and judgment having been on that day confessed by the defendant in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $780.16.

The same day execution issued and return was made thereon January 27, 1931, showing a levy on the stock and fixtures, etc., and also showing later a sale of the same to the execution plaintiff. The docket of the justice of the peace was received in evidence.

Philip Wayne, a brother of Bernard Wayne, defendant in the execution, had a preferential claim for rent in the sum of $480, for which amount he receipted on the docket of the justice and on the evening of the day of the sale said Philip Wayne paid to H. Slutzker & Co. the additional sum of $500, and this sum less expenses was distributed among the three creditors whose claims comprised the amount for which judgment was confessed.

A bill of sale was then made by Philip Wayne to R. Wayne, wife of Bernard Wayne, and all the property purchased by Slutzker & Co. at the constable’s sale was in this manner sold and delivered to the last-named purchaser on January 27, 1931. Thereafter R. Wayne conducted a store on the same premises, the name Wayne Brothers being changed on the building so that the new sign read “R. Wayne.”

Following this, R. Wayne, with her husband as clerk, continued the business, and in the interval between her purchase and the execution by defendants new stock was added, purchased in the name of Philip Wayne, and payment thereof guaranteed by him.

On March 18, 1931, the sheriff levied on these goods under the execution of Hareroft Clothes, Inc., and on April 28,1931, levied upon the same on execution [522]*522of the International Shoe Co. R. Wayne thereupon claimed the goods so levied upon, and a rule for interpleader taken out by the sheriff was made absolute. Proper pleadings followed, a bond was given, and the case came to trial on April 12, 1932.

After the submission of evidence, plaintiff, R. Wayne, filed a point for binding instructions which was reserved, and the case submitted to the jury, who returned a verdict in favor of the defendants. Thereafter plaintiff filed a motion for new trial and judgment n. o. v. It is upon the latter motion that this opinion is based.

Two questions arose for determination. The first is the right of a third party to attack collaterally a judgment entered in a court of competent jurisdiction, specifically the right of defendants to attack collaterally the judgment confessed before the justice of the peace. The Act of March 20,1810, 5 Sm. L. 161, sec. 14, 2 Purd. Dig. 2093; 42 PS § 245, provides:

“Any justice of the peace shall take cognizance of any matter or thing made so by this act, for any sum exceeding one hundred dollars, if the parties voluntarily appear before him for that purpose, and shall proceed for the recovery thereof by entering judgment, if confessed, or if submitted to him, by reference; but no execution shall issue before the expiration of one year from the date of such judgment, if the party defendant be a freeholder, or shall have entered special bail, and such judgment shall be prosecuted to recovery, as other judgments by this act are made recoverable. But if it shall afterwards appear, by due proof on oath or affirmation, that there is just cause to believe that any such judgment was confessed for the purpose, and with a view to defraud just creditors, it shall be the duty of the justice to transmit a certified transcript of his proceedings to the prothonotary of the proper county, who shall file the same for adjudication of the Court of Common Pleas, whose judgment thereon shall be final; and if on trial of the merits of the cause, it shall be found that the sum for which judgment was confessed, was not actually due at the time, both parties, if both shall have been privy to the fraud, shall each pay a fine equal to the amount of such fraudulent judgment. And also pay the reasonable costs and expenses of the party prosecuting, or in any case of inability to pay such fine and costs, shall be imprisoned for any time not exceeding six months; but if it shall appear on such trial that the judgment was just, the party prosecuting shall pay all the costs of suit, and the reasonable costs of the parties to such judgment.”

Section 13 of the Act of March 21,1806, P. L. 558, 4 Sm. L. 326, provides:

“In all cases where a remedy is provided or duty enjoined, or any thing directed to be done by any act or acts of Assembly of this commonwealth, the directions of the said acts, shall be strictly pursued, and no penalty shall be inflicted or any thing done agreeably to the provisions of the common law, in such cases, further than shall be necessary for carrying such act or acts into effect.”

This act is to be regarded only as a rule of interpretation: McElhiney v. Com., 22 Pa. 365.

It now applies both to civil and criminal procedure: Borough of Beltzhoover v. Gollings, 101 Pa. 293.

And in ordinary civil suits a special remedy must be pursued as provided by this act: The Lewisburg Bridge Co. v. The County of Union and The County of Northumberland, 232 Pa. 255; Wagner v. Purity Water Co., 241 Pa. 328, 333.

Such remedy is exclusive and must be strictly pursued: Curran v. Delano, 235 Pa. 478.

[523]*523Does the Act of 1806 govern the procedure and point out the remedy where it is desired to attack a judgment entered by a justice of the peace under the authority vested in him by the Act of March 20, 1810, on the allegation of its having been fraudulently confessed, and is such remedy exclusive, or may the judgment be attacked in a collateral proceeding also on the ground of fraud? Inasmuch as the Act of 1810 specifically provides the method to be pursued where it is desired to attack a judgment so confessed on the ground of fraud, and further provides the penalty attached to the commission of such fraud, we are of opinion that the remedy thus set forth under the said act is exclusive.

We have been unable to find any decision ruling this exact question and interpreting the Act of 1806 as applied to a sheriff’s interpleader where the defense is fraud in obtaining the judgment and where the attack is a collateral one on the judgment so obtained. From analagous cases, however, interpreting the Act of 1806, we are led to the conclusion that the procedure in attempting to prove fraud must be under the provisions of the Act of 1810. In The Lewis-burg Bridge Co. v. The County of Union and The County of Northumberland, 232 Pa.

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Bluebook (online)
18 Pa. D. & C. 521, 1932 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wayne-v-international-shoe-co-pactcomplcambri-1932.