Bowe v. Wilkins

The plaintiff brought this action to recover from defendants some $5,000 which he had paid upon a judgment recovered against him by one Galinger under the following circumstances : In December, 1880, one Harriet S. Briggs was the owner of a stock of goods in a store in New York and on the eleventh of that month she assigned them to Galinger for the benefit of her creditors. On the same day William H. Talbot and others commenced an action against Mrs. Briggs and procured an attachment against her property and placed it in the hands of the sheriff, who levied upon the goods which she had assigned to Galinger and which were .claimed by him. The sheriff on the sixteenth took a bond of indemnity signed by these defendants and kept the goods. The condition of the bond was that if the obligors should indemnify the sheriff from all liability, suits and judgments against him by reason of the levying, attaching and making the sale under or by virtue of such attachment of the property, or for or by reason of the defense of any action which might be brought against the sheriff for such taking, then the bond to be void, otherwise valid. This attachment was on the twenty-first of December vacated, and on the twenty-fourth of that month Galinger commenced an action to recover from the sheriff the value of

Upon the trial of the action the plaintiff claimed to have proved his case by the production, among other things, of the judgment roll in the Galinger suit. The defendants then under plaintiff’s objection, proved by paroi the ground upon which that suit was decided, viz., that the sheriff became liable for a conversion upon the attachment being vacated and his refusal to give up the property upon a demand made after that event. Notwithstanding this evidence the circuit gave judgment for the plaintiff which has been affirmed by the General Term and the defendants have appealed here. They claim (1) that the condition of their bond did not cover the facts upon which the judgment was founded in the Galinger suit; (2) that the ground upon which the recovery was based was within the issues raised by the pleadings in that action ; (3) that it was proper to show by paroi what that ground was.

It is beyond dispute that the recovery in the Galinger suit was upon the sole ground above stated. The evidence upon the trial of this action as to what that ground was is wholly uncontradicted and consists of the stenographer’s minutes of evidence upon that trial.

As to the second claim of defendants. The basis of the recovery in the Galinger suit was fairly within the issues. Pleadings are to be liberally construed with a view to substantial justice, or in other words, with a view to get out the real truth of the case when it will not involve surprise or injustice to either party. The complaint in the Galinger suit (which -was brought several days after the attachment had been vacated) did allege a wrongful taking from Galinger’s possession on or about the eleventh of December, and a conversion to the defendant’s use. It also alleged a demand made for a return and a refusal by defendant; it then demanded judgment for the value of the property. The defendant answered by setting up the issuing of the attachment and justified the

The defendants then make the third claim that .it was proper to prove by paroi the ground upon which the Galinger case was decided. When it does not appear from the record what was the precise ground upon which the case was decided, paroi evidence thereof may he given, provided such ground was within the issues in the case. (Wood v. Jackson, 8 Wend. 9 .) We have just seen that this ground was within such issues.

The plaintiff herein makes some answers to these several defenses and he says that as matter of fact there was but one demand made by Galinger for the goods after they were taken, and that demand was made on the day of their seizure by the sheriff, and he gave some evidence to that effect on this trial. The difficulty with this evidence is that it was not given on the trial of the Galinger suit. The evidence is wholly uncontradicted as to what took place on the trial of that suit and its only possible importance was to show the reason for the decision of the Galinger suit,"and that it was decided upon a ground not covered by the bond. As I say the evidence on that trial was uncontradioted and conclusive, showing that Galinger made a demand after the attachment,

The plaintiff herein also states that the case does not purport to contain all the evidence taken on the trial of the Galinger case, and that to support this judgment it must be presumed that other -evidence was given, and upon a point which was covered by the defendants’ bond; but the difficulty is that the language of the court on that trial, as proved by defendants, shows explicitly that the sole ground of recovery was the demand and refusal subsequent to the attachment being vacated. In the face of such language no such presumption can be indulged in. It is also urged in behalf of the plaintiff that even after the attachment had been vacated and the demand made (conceding for this purpose that a demand was made), still the sheriff was not bound to surrender the property forthwith. He says the sheriff was entitled to demand service of a certified copy of the order vacating the attachment; to have a reasonable time in which to consult attaching creditors; and to be paid his costs, fees and charges before a delivery could be claimed.

Assume that the sheriff would be entitled to ail these privileges even including his costs (which he as to the latter probably would not be in case of the writ being vacated). Tet the evidence on the Galinger trial was uncontradicted that when Galinger made his demand for a return of the property after the attachment had been vacated, the refusal of the sheriff to deliver was not put on any of these grounds, but was absolute, unconditional and final, and placed solely upon the ground that he had a bond of indemnity and it was no use to ask for a delivery. In the light of such facts the claim now made in behalf of the sheriff comes too late. It would have very likely constituted a defense to the Galinger judgment if proved on that trial as having been a position taken by the sheriff in answer to the demand for the property after the writ had been set aside. To prove it on this trial was useless because too late, and no answer to the

The.sheriff under that execution proceeded to levy on the goods which he had attached and kept in his hands, and he sold them under such execution, and turned over the money to the attorney for the plaintiffs in the execution, who knew it came from the sale of those goods. There is no evidence that these defendants ever knew one word as to where the money came from to pay a judgment in an action to which they were not parties, and none that any orders were given by anyone to the sheriff as to what property to levy on. Issuing an execution without any direction as to how it is to be enforced or as to what property is to be taken, implies only an authority to do a lawful act pursuant to its command ( Welsh v. Cochran, 63 N. Y. 181 ), and the knowledge of the attorney, in the execution as to where the money came from which he took from the sheriff, there being no proof of like knowledge by the plaintiffs in the execution, when they received the money from him, would be no ratification even as to them, of the prior illegal act of the sheriff in refusing to surrender the goods, much less on the part of these defendants, being equally ignorant. (Clark v. Woodruff., 83 N. Y. 518 .)

Neither is the defense of the Galinger suit by the defendants, at the notification of the sheriff equivalent to a ratification. It does not appear that at that time they knew of the demand and refusal after the attachment had been vacated, and the •pleadings in the Galinger suit would not necessarily disclose that fact; but even if they at that time did know of such demand and refusal, it nowhere appears that they knew or approved of it when it happened, or that they ever requested •or expected the sheriff to so refuse. An attempt to defend the sheriff from the consequences of an illegal act done without

Upon a careful consideration of all the facts in this case we are reluctantly brought to the conclusion that the judgment should be reversed and a new trial ordered, with costs to abide the. event.

All concur, except Rugee, Ch. J., dissenting.

Judgment reversed.