Wilson v. Wright

197 Iowa 1300
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 13, 1924
StatusPublished

This text of 197 Iowa 1300 (Wilson v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Wright, 197 Iowa 1300 (iowa 1924).

Opinion

Faville, J.

1. Exemption: liabilities en-ehas’^price:1’ waivai. I. Appellee is a farmer, a married man, and the head of ¿ family. The property in controversy is a Fordson tractor and gang plow. Appellee purchased said property from' Warnecke Brothers in September, 1920. The , . , , , , purchase price was represented by two promissory notes for $525 each, a total of $1,050. Later, appellee gave said firm another note, for $379.60. This note was given for certain machinery, fuel, and other items that constituted a book account. Subsequently, Warnecke Brothers brought suit against appellee on said three notes, the petition being in three counts. A judgment was entered against appellee in said action for $1,546.70 and attorney fees and costs. A general execution was issued on this judgment, and the said tractor and plow were levied on thereunder. [1301]*1301Appellee served notice on appellant sheriff that he claimed said property as exempt. The property was sold by the sheriff for $225. This action is brought to recover for the property so sold.

Appellant contends that appellee cannot claim exemption in the property from the judgment in question, because a portion of said judgment is for the purchase price of the property upon which levy was made.

Code Section 4015 is as follows:

“None of the exemptions prescribed in this chapter shall be allowed ag'ainst an execution issued for the purchase money of property claimed to be exempt, and on which such execution is levied.”

Does this statute exempt the property in question from levy and sale under an execution issued on a general judgment based hi part upon the purchase price of said property and in part on another item ? No one contends that, if the judgment had been based solely upon the counts which pleaded the notes given for the purchase price of the tractor and plow, the property would not have been exempt from levy and sale thereunder. The judgment is for the purchase price in part. The levy is to satisfy that judgment. Did the plaintiff in said action waive his right to levy on the property for the purchase money, by including in the original action another item of indebtedness?

Exemption statutes are to be liberally construed, and the property of a debtor which is exempt- from execution is to be protected from levy and sale. But the statute makes the express and plain exception to this general rule of exemption that it shall not be allowed against an execution issued for the purchase money of property claimed to be exempt. There is no requirement of the statute that calls for any recital, either in the pleadings or the judgment, that would show that the suit was for the purchase price of an article sold the debtor, or that any levy under execution would be sought against said property. It is, therefore, solely a question of fact, to be determined in a proper manner, whether or not the execution has been levied on property that is not exempt because the execution is “issued for the purchase money” of that particular property. Whether or not the purchase price of the property levied on is the basis [1302]*1302for the judgment must always be a fact question, to be determined only when the levy is made.

Under Code Section 3991, it is provided

“An officer is bound to levy'an execution on any personal property in the possession of, or that he has reason to believe belongs to, the defendant, or on which the plaintiff directs him to levy. ’ ’

The creditor having, therefore, obtained judgment against his debtor, the officer is “bound” to levy the execution issued thereunder upon any property “on which the plaintiff directs him to levy.” If he levies on exempt personal property, it may be released, upon proper showing, but not so if the “execution is issued for the purchase money.” It may be true that the judgment may be for more than the purchase price of the particular article on which the levy is made, but that of itself furnishes no conclusive reason why the article cannot be levied on and sold for the amount of the purchase price. Whether or not the property is exempt from this particular execution because the latter is issuéd to realize the purchase price of the article, is a question of fact, arising after the judgment, and is ■ to be determined in a proper proceeding. This does not mean a retrial of the main case. It is simply the trial of the question that arises in the case of every claimed exemption, namely: whether or not the particular property, under the facts, is subject to sale under the execution. To hold that this cannot be because the judgment includes other -items than the purchase price of the property levied upon, would be to defeat the very language of the statute, and its plain purpose and intent. Of course, the creditor can waive his right to levy on the property for the purchase price, and he may estop himself from asserting such right. But we do not think he does so by merely including the purchase price in the judgment with other items, where the amount due on the purchase price is readily ascertainable. True, it might be that it would often be difficult or .impossible to ascertain the exact amount of the purchase price of the article which was included in the judgment, but that is a matter upon which the levying judgment creditor must take his chances, upon the facts. The burden would rest upon him to establish his right to sell the debtor’s exempt property; but that [1303]*1303is true in every sucb case. The fact alone that the creditor included in his action another item than the claim for the purchase price of the exempt property does not, in and of itself, amount to a waiver of his right to sell the exempt property on execution, to satisfy the balance of the unpaid purchase price. Our statute, Code Section 3545, expressly provides:

“Causes of action of whatever kind, where each may be prosecuted by the same kind of proceedings, if held by the same party, and against the same party, in the same rights, and if action on all may be brought and tried in that county, may be joined in the same petition.”

It would seem quite inconsistent to hold that, under this statute and under Code Section 4015, the creditor loses his right to levy on exempt property for the purchase price where the facts warrant such levy, merely because the creditor has included his several claims in one action, as the statute authorizes.

Appellee contends that the only way the creditor can preserve his right to levy on such exempt property is by a separate suit for the purchase price alone. In other words, the creditor, under the facts of this case, would have been required to bring one action on the notes given for the exempt property and a separate suit on the note given for the book account. Such a proceeding would not of itself be any indication, necessarily, that the one suit was for the purchase price of exempt property. The identical allegations in the counts on the two notes in the original petition would be proper in a separate suit. It would still be a fact question as to whether or not the judgment was for the purchase price of the exempt property, in such event.

We are not now discussing the best or the proper method of pleading, what allegations a petition should contain in such a case, what special findings may be made, or what proper recitals might be incorporated in a judgment.

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