Crane v. Lumber
| Decision Date | 15 February 1916 |
| Citation | 77 W.Va. 617 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Crane v. Standard Lumber & Mfg. Co. et als. |
Against Garnishee.
Service of notice of attachment upon a garnishee gives plaintiff a lien upon the debt owing by the garnishee to defendant, but not any greater right against him than the defendant had; the character of the garnishee's obligation is not changed unless there is a personal judgment or decree against him. (p. 619).
A decree in favor of plaintiff in such suit, against defendant for his debt, finding that it is a lien on the debt garnisheed, but not decreeing that plaintiff recover it, or that the garnishee pay it to him, is not a decree for money against the garnishee, (p. 619).
Appeal from Circuit Court, Clay County.
Suit by F. W. Crane and others against the Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company and others. From the decree, F. L. Wilmoth and another, partners as H. J. Wilmoth & Sons, defendants, appeal.
Affirmed.
Conley & Johnson, for appellants.
Chilton, MacCorkle & Chilton, B. C. Eakle, Alexander & McCabe and R. Kemp Morton, for appellees.
Williams, President:
By this appeal F. L. and Alfred Wilmoth, partners doing business as H. J. Wilmoth & Sons, seek reversal of a decree of the circuit court of Clay county, made on the 23rd day of June, 1915, denying the effect of a lien upon the property of the Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company, to a money decree for $4,770.72 and costs, rendered in their favor by the circuit court of Kanawha county, in an attachment suit in equity, brought by them against the Brushy Run Lumber Company, a corporation, and the aforesaid company, also a corporation, as its debtor. The Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company was served with notice of the attachment on the 14th of November, 1913, and answered admitting it owed plaintiffs' debtor $7,000.00; and on the 19th of December, 1914, a decree was rendered in favor of plaintiffs against the principal debtor, but not against the garnishee, for the sum of $4,770.72. Plaintiffs took no decree against the garnishee; it was not ordered to pay any sum of money to them. The decree relating to the garnishee is as follows: ''It is therefore adjudged, ordered, and decreed that plaintiff's attachment herein is a valid and subsisting lien in favor of the plaintiffs upon any property, money or credits in the possession of said The Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company at the time of the service of said attachment, which belonged to said Brushy Run Lumber Company or were owned by said The Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company to said Brushy Run Lumber Company either at the time of the service of said order of attachment or that so came into the hands of or were so owned by said The Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company at any time after the service of said order of attachment, to an amount of sufficient to pay the debt and cost hereinbefore decreed in favor of Plaintiffs against said Brushy Run Lumber Company including the costs of said attachment."
Pending that suit, and before the aforesaid decree was made, this present suit was brought in Clay county, against the garnishee, and a receiver was appointed to take charge of its property. The decree authorized Wilmoth & Sons to take such steps in the Clay county suit as were lawful and proper for the enforcement of their lien. They filed a copy of the decree with the commissioner in chancery, to whom the cause had been referred to ascertain and report the debts owing by the Standard Lumber & Manufacturing Company, together with their dignities and priorities. Its numerous debts, which amounted to a large sum, were all reported as of a general class, except taxes and appellants' debt, which were reported as liens of first and second orders respectively. Exceptions were taken to the report because of the...
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