Western Smelting & Refining Co. v. Benj. Harris & Co.

24 N.E.2d 255, 302 Ill. App. 535, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 563
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 13, 1939
DocketGen. No. 40,663
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 24 N.E.2d 255 (Western Smelting & Refining Co. v. Benj. Harris & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Smelting & Refining Co. v. Benj. Harris & Co., 24 N.E.2d 255, 302 Ill. App. 535, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 563 (Ill. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Burke

delivered the opinion of the court.

On January 8, 1937, Benj. Harris & Company instituted an attachment suit in the municipal court of Chicago, naming the Western Smelting & Refining Company as defendant, arid Mitchell-Jackson, Inc., as garnishee. The affidavit in attachment averred that the defendant was a nonresident, and that its place of business was at Omaha, Nebraska. The amount claimed was $1,500. Plaintiff’s place of business was at Chicago Heights, Illinois. Plaintiff claimed that the defendant had breached the agreement to sell to it a carload of mixed brass, located at the Mitchell-Jackson, Inc., warehouse at Chicago. The $1,500 was the amount of damages which plaintiff claimed it suffered because of the breach of contract. An attachment bond in the sum of $3,000 was approved and the attachment writ issued. Publication was duly made as to the defendant which was a nonresident. Defendant did not appear or answer, and an order of default was entered against it. The garnishee, Mitchell-Jackson, Inc., answered, in substance, admitting that it had the carload of brass and denying that the same belonged to the defendant. On February 10, 1937, Melvin Bekins of Omaha, Nebraska, an individual who operated under the name of Bekins Van & Storage Company, filed an intervening petition, averring that he had delivered to Mitchell-Jacks on, Inc., of Chicago, the carload of brass, and received a warehouse receipt therefor, that he was in possession of the warehouse receipt and that he owned the merchandise. He asked that the attachment writ be quashed. On April 7, 1937, plaintiff was given leave to amend the affidavit of attachment by increasing the amount claimed from $1,500 to $4,000, which amendment was made upon the face of the affidavit by drawing a line through the numerals “$1,500.00” and writing above the sum of “$4,000.00.” No notice of the amendment was given to the defendant in attachment, nor was there any service by publication of said amendment. The court, entered a rule that the defendant answer within five days. The rule was not served upon the defendant. The court entered upon a hearing of the cause on April 12, 1937. On April 13, 1937, the principal defendant was again defaulted. The court heard the case without a jury and between the intervenor and plaintiff, found the issues in favor of plaintiff. On April 13, 1937 the court entered judgment against the principal defendant in the sum of $3,750. It further entered judgment against one carload of mixed brass in the possession of the garnishee and found that the brass was the property of the principal defendant; directed that the garnishee deliver the carload of brass to the bailiff of the conrt on special execution; that the bailiff, out of the proceeds of the sale, pay the garnishee its storage charges of $465.60, the. plaintiff the sum of $3,750 and costs and interest thereon, and that the balance, if any, be paid to the principal defendant. At the time of inserting the amendment increasing the amount of the claim from $1,500 to $4,000, no additional attachment bond was furnished. Thirteen days after the rendition of the judgment, namely, on April 26, 1937, plaintiff presented for approval a new bond in the sum of $8,000. The same was approved over the objection of the attorney for the intervenor. The intervenor appealed to this court, which, in an opinion in Benj. Harris & Co. v. Western Smelting & Refining Co., 294 Ill. App. 610 (Abst.), affirmed the judgment of the trial court. The intervenor petitioned the Supreme Court for leave to appeal from the judgment of the Appellate Court. The petition was denied. We have examined the record of the trial in the case which was previously appealed. The intervenor, Melvin Bekins, proprietor of the Bekins Van & Storage Company, in that trial maintained that he was the owner of the brass, that he had sold the brass to the principal defendant, Western Smelting Company, but had not been paid therefor and had not delivered the warehouse receipt to the purchaser because such purchase price was not paid. During the trial and while Mr. Bekins was on the witness stand, counsel for plaintiff tendered to him the sum of $5,626.40, claiming'that to be the purchase price of the brass, less the accumulated storage charges. The tender was refused. At the conclusion of the trial, the court found that the brass was the property of the principal defendant and denied the claim of the intervenor. On July 19, 1938, more than a year after the entry of the judgment, the Western Smelting & Refining Company and Belrins filed a petition in the municipal court under section 21 of the act' governing that court. The petition set up the facts as herein related. The principal defendant contended the court did not have jurisdiction to enter judgment against it. In the alternative, the intervenor asked that the special execution in attachment be stayed until the amount tendered to him on the trial of $5,626.40 was paid to him, or brought into court, or that the court order the proceeds of the sale to be brought into court. The plaintiff moved to strike the petition, which motion was overruled. It then moved to set aside the order denying the motion to strike, which motion was also overruled. Plaintiff then answered and substantially admitted the facts set out in the petition. It also asserted that the principal defendant contributed to the expense of defending the attachment suit. On the trial of the petition under section 21, no evidence was introduced to sustain the averment of the answer that the principal defendant contributed to the expense of defending the attachment suit. The answer also set out that the principal defendant was notified of the original appeal by Belrins. There is no dispute that a copy of the notice of appeal in that case was mailed to and received by the defendant. The defendant did not appear in the Appellate Court. The principal defendant contends that the judgment in attachment against its property is void.

Section 22 of the Attachment Act (sec. 22, ch. 11, Ill. Rev. Stat. 1939 [Jones Ill. Stats. Ann. 109.056]) provides for constructive notice by publication and mail in attachment suits, and that such notice shall state “for what sum” the attachment is made. The purpose of the provision is to inform the defendant that his property within the jurisdiction of the court is being seized for the purpose of paying not more than the amount appearing in the notice. Rule 126 of the Municipal Court of Chicago provides that:

“In case any defendant shall not have entered his appearance at the time an order for amendment of plaintiff’s statement of claim is granted, plaintiff shall cause to be served upon the defendant a copy of such amendment with a notice of the granting of such order.” Two notes follow Rule 126. Note 1 reads: “As every summons has attached thereto a copy of the praecipe and statement of claim, the defendant, when served, is entitled to assume the claim thus stated is the only one he is called upon to meet. Therefore, he may be willing to be defaulted as to that claim, whereas he might not be willing to submit to a default as to the claim as amended. As the summons has attached thereto a copy of the statement of claim the order amending it, when served upon the defendant, should likewise have a copy of the amendment attached to it, the same rule should apply in case of the amendment of the counterclaim.” Note 2 reads:

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Bluebook (online)
24 N.E.2d 255, 302 Ill. App. 535, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-smelting-refining-co-v-benj-harris-co-illappct-1939.