Copp v. Copp

• Court: Maine Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: EMERY, C. J.
• Citation: Copp v. Copp, 103 Me. 51, 68 A. 458 (Me. 1907)
• Decision Date: 24 August 1907
• Parties: COPP v. COPP et al.

68 A. 458

103 Me. 51

COPP

v. COPP et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Aug. 24, 1907.

Exceptions from Rumford Palls Municipal Court.

Action by Hannah Copp against R. A. Copp and logs on Beaver Brook. To rulings sustaining demurrer to plea in abatement and overruling demurrer to plaintiff's declaration, Oscar W. Pressey, claimant of property attached, excepts. Action dismissed.

Assumpsit on account annexed, brought by the plaintiff against the defendant R. A. Copp to recover the sum of $210 for "six months' labor at $35." The plaintiff is the wife of the said defendant R. A. Copp. The case shows that the plaintiff brought this suit against her said husband for her own labor in cooking for men employed by him in cutting, hauling, and piling certain spruce logs, and that she claimed a lien on said logs; the suit, however, being for the benefit of one L. W. Blanchard, to whom she had assigned her claim.

The writ was sued out of the Rumford Palls municipal court, Oxford county, April 2, 1907, and commands the officer "to attach the goods and estate of R. A. Copp, of Andover, and particularly and especially to attach as of lien 750,000 feet of six-foot spruce timber cut by the said R. A. Copp on Beaver brook, in Byron, and now piled on the bank of the said Beaver brook, to answer unto Hannah Copp (for the benefit of L. W. Blanchard), who claims a lien on said timber for her labor as cook for the men employed in cutting, hauling, and piling this said 750,000 feet of six-foot spruce, namely, for six months' labor as cook from September 18, 1906, to March 18, 1907, six months, at thirty-five dollars per mo., $210, to the value of three hundred dollars, and summon the said defendant (if he may be found in your precinct) to appear before our judge of our Rumford Falls municipal court, at Rumford, in said county of Oxford, to be holden at the municipal court room in Rumford Falls village on the fourth Tuesday of May, A. D. 1907, then and there in our said court to answer unto Hannah Copp, for the benefit of L. W. Blanchard, assignee of same, as appears by the assignment of the said account to him from her, which assignment, or a copy thereof, is to be filed in court with this writ," and contains two counts; one being: "R. A. Copp to Hannah Copp, Dr. To six months' labor at $35, $210"—and the other the usual omnibus count.

The writ contains no reference to a lien or claim of lien other than that found in the command to the officer.

The officer's return on the writ shows an attachment "as of lien" of "750,000 feet of six-foot timber cut by R. A. Copp on Beaver brook, in Byron, in said county, and now piled on the west bank of the said brook, near Pressey's camps," etc.

The other facts, as shown by the agreed statement, are as follows:

"The writ was entered at the May term, 1907, of the Rumford Falls municipal court, at which term Oscar W. Pressey, owner of property attached, voluntarily appeared and became a party to the suit. The defendant R. A. Copp did not appear.

"On the second day of said term the following pleadings were filed and pro forma rulings made and exceptions taken as a basis of an agreed statement to the law court in accordance with section 2, c. 329, p. 503, of the Private and Special Laws of 1903.

"First ruling: Oscar W. Pressey, owner of property attached, filed plea in abatement. Plaintiff demurred. Demurrer sustained.

"Second ruling: Oscar W. Pressey, owner of property attached, filed special demurrer to plaintiff's writ and declaration. Demurrer overruled.

"To both of which rulings Oscar W. Pressey, owner of property attached, excepted, and it was agreed that the case be reported to the law court, and...