Canal Claiborne Streets Co v. Hart

• Decision Date: 04 May 1885
• Citation: 5 S.Ct. 1127,29 L.Ed. 226,114 U.S. 654
• Parties: CANAL & CLAIBORNE STREETS R. CO., Garnishee, v. HART
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

114 U.S. 654

5 S.Ct. 1127

29 L.Ed. 226

CANAL & CLAIBORNE STREETS R. CO., Garnishee, v. HART.

May 4, 1885.

J. R. Beckwith, for plaintiff in error.

E. H. McCaleb and E. H. Farrar, for defendant in error,

BLATCHFORD, J.

On the third of March, 1882, Judah Hart obtained a judgment, in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Louisiana, against the city of New Orleans, for $121,697.18, with 5 per cent. per annum interest thereon until paid, and costs, in a suit commenced by him in the civil district court for the parish of Orleans, and state of Louisiana, against the city, to recover the amount of sundry debts due by the city for labor done, services rendered, and materials furnished, which debts the creditors had assigned to him. The suit was removed into the circuit court of the United States by the plaintiff, and a motion made to that court to remand it was denied.

On March 15, 1882, the plaintiff filed in the circuit court a supplemental petition and interrogatories, in accordance with the second paragraph of article 246 of the Code of Practice of Louisiana, added by the act of March 30, 1839, averring that he had issued a writ of fi. fa. in the suit, and having reason to believe that the Canal & Claiborne Streets Railroad Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Louisiana, was indebted to the defendant in execution, or had property or effects in possession or under control, belonging to said debtor, he had caused the seizure to be made in the hands of said third person, and prayed that it be cited and ordered to answer, under oath, the annexed interrogatories, and, after due proceedings, be condemned to pay the amount of the judgment and costs. The interrogatories, three in number, inquired in various forms as to whether the corporation was indebted to the city or had any of its property. The court made an order that the corporation be made a garnishee, and be cited to answer the interrogatories, under oath. A citation was issued by the court and served on the corporation, requiring it to declare, on oath, what property or effects belonging to the city it had in its possession or under its control, or in what sum it was indebted to the city, and also to answer the interrogatories in writing, under oath, within 10 days after service of the citation, and stating that, otherwise, judgment would be entered against it for the amount claimed by the plaintiff, with interest and costs. It was also served with copies of the petition, interrogatories, and order of court, and with 'notices of garnishee.'

On the twenty-fifth of March, 1882, the corporation, without filing any exception, plea, or demurrer, filed the following answer, entitled in the suit against the citv:

'The Canal & Claiborne Streets Railroad Company, made garnishee herein, now comes into court, and for answer to the interrogatories propounded, by and through its president, E. J. Hart, says: To first interrogatory, 'No; except taxes of the year 1882.' To second interrogatory, 'No; except taxes of the year 1882.' To third interrogatory, 'No.' And for a full and correct statement of the facts upon which the above an wers are made, respondent, further answering, says that the privilege of the right of way of the said Canal & Claiborne Streets Railroad Company was granted for and in consideration of a bonus of two-sixteenths of a cent per passenger, payably monthly; the rate of fare is five cents per passenger; that the total receipts of the company from first March, 1870, to fifteenth March, 1882, are For the year 1870,........ $118,515 20

" " " 1871, 152,098 75

" " " 1872, 144,373 05

" " " 1873, 136,656 60

" " " 1874, 115,625 40

" " " 1875, 100,095 95

" " " 1876, 96,101 60

" " " 1877, 89,701 90

" " " 1878, 90,205 20

" " " 1879, 89,267 25

" " " 1880, 95,269 45

" " " 1881, 98,591 70

" " " 1882, 20,889 60

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$1,347,391 65

'Your respondent further says that the receipts from the fifteenth March, 1872, to the fifteenth March, 1882, amount to the sum of $1,046,918. Your respondent, further answering, says that he is informed and believes that the bonus was in lieu and place of the license; that the city could not claim both; that it has ceased to demand the bonus, but has imposed a license on the company, and the company has paid the same in 1880, based on the receipts of 1879; in 1881, based on the receipts of 1880; and in 1882, based on the receipts of 1881, viz., $375 each year, making in all $1,125, thereby releasing the company from any obligation to pay any bonus for said years. And respondent further says that he is informed and believes that any claim for the bonus based on the receipts of preceding years is prescribed. Respondent further swears that the said Canal & Claiborne Streets Railroad Company has already been garnished in the suits of Myra Clark Gaines, Samuel Smith, Subrogee, v. City of New Orleans, No. 2,695 of the United States circuit court, and of Charles Parsons v. City of New Orleans, No. 8,088 of same court, and that, should judgments be rendered against said company, they will amount to more than the company can in any event owe. Respondent further says that the company has claims against the city of New Orleans for damages caused by overflows in 1869, 1871, and 1881, and against which it should have been protected by the city; and that the amount due for said damages exceeds any amount which would be due for the bonus, if any was due. For this and other reasons the city has not required the bonus.'

On March 30, 1882, the plaintiff, according to the practice in Louisiana, filed a traverse of the answers, and the court made an order, which set forth that, on motion of the plaintiff, and on suggesting to the court that the answers were false, and that the corporation was indebted to the city in larger sums than stated in the answers, and that the plaintiff traversed the answers, in law and in fact, it was ordered that the corporation show case, on April 5, 1882, why the interrogatories should not be taken for confessed, and why judgment should not be rendered against it for the amount of the plaintiff's claim, with interest and costs. On March 31, 1882, a copy of this order was served on the corporation. On the fifth of April, 1882, a stipulation in writing between the plaintiff and the city was filed, agreeing that all sums paid by the corporation should be deposited in the registry of the court, to await the decision whether the money was subject to seizure under the plaintiff's execution. On the same day, the traverse to the answer came on for trial before a jury. The record states that, 'after hearing the pleadings, the evidence and arguments of counsel, and receiving a charge from the court,' the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff against the corporation, as garnishee, 'for the following sums,' naming 13 several sums, with interest on each, at 5 per cent. per annum, from a specified date, being a total of $33,684.74, 'with interest on the various sums, from dates as above stated, until payment.' On this verd ct, and in accordance with it, a judgment was, on the same day, rendered, that the corporation, garnishee, be condemned to pay to the plaintiff $33,684.74, with interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum 'on the following sums, from the following dates,' specifying as in the verdict, until paid, with costs; and ordering that the amount, with interest, be deposited in the registry of the court, subject to the terms of the foregoing stipulation. The judgment was, on the nineteenth of April, 1882, amended nunc pro tunc, so as to order that the garnishee pay that amount, with interest, into the registry of the court, 'subject to the rights of all parties concerned.' The entire judgment was signed April 26, 1882.

The corporation made a motion for a new trial, which was refused on April 21, 1882. It also filed and made a motion that the proposed judgment written upon the minutes and record against it as garnishee be expunged therefrom, and be never signed and made operative, and that any judgment by reason of the verdict be arrested, for 10 specified reasons. This motion was...