George Earle v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Commonwealth Title, Insurance Trust Company

• Decision Date: 14 May 1900
• Docket Number: No. 218,218
• Citation: 44 L.Ed. 1146,20 S.Ct. 915,178 U.S. 449
• Parties: GEORGE H. EARLE, Jr., Receiver of the Chestnut Street National Bank, Plff. in Err. , v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, at the Suggestion and to the Use of the COMMONWEALTH TITLE, INSURANCE, & TRUST COMPANY, Trustee for Mary Rodgers under the Will of Benjamin Milnes, Deceased
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

178 U.S. 449

20 S.Ct. 915

44 L.Ed. 1146

GEORGE H. EARLE, Jr., Receiver of the Chestnut Street National Bank, Plff. in Err.,

v COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, at the Suggestion and to the Use of the COMMONWEALTH TITLE, INSURANCE, & TRUST COMPANY, Trustee for Mary Rodgers under the Will of Benjamin Milnes, Deceased.

No. 218.

Argued April 11, 1900.

Decided May 14, 1900.

Messrs. John G. Johnson, Asa W. Waters, and W. H. Addicks for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Alfred Day Wilder and Crawford, Laughlin, & Dallas for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Harlan delivered the opinion of the court:

On the 29th day of September, 1897, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at the suggestion and to the use of the Commonwealth Title, Insurance, & Trust Company, trustee for Mary Rodgers, obtained judgment upon a bond in the court of common pleas for the county of Philadelphia against one James Long for the sum of $31,499. A writ of attachment issued upon that judgment, and on the 5th day of October, 1897, an alias writ was issued against the Chestnut Street National Bank of Philadelphia, as garnishee. The writ was served on October 28, 1897, and commanded the bank to show cause in that court on a day named why the judgment against Long, with costs of writ, should not be levied of the effects of the defendant in the hands of the bank. Afterwards, on November 6, 1897, special interrogatories were filed by the plaintiff, and a rule was entered requiring the bank, as garnishee, to answer the same within a nemed time. Subsequently the bank filed its answer in the attachment proceedings, and November 24, 1897, it filed an answer to the special interrogatories; and, on December 15, 1897, a rule was entered by plaintiff for judgment against the bank, as garnishee, on its answers.

A few days later, on the 23d day of December, 1897, the bank suspended payment of its obligations, and by order of the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States closed its doors to business; and, January 29, 1898, the present plaintiff in error Earle was appointed by that officer as receiver of the bank and duly qualified as such.

Subsequently, May 5, 1898, Earle, as receiver, entered his appearance in the above action, and filed a suggestion of record setting forth his appointment and qualification, and on the following day filed an affidavit stating his appointment as receiver. On the succeeding day a motion was made and filed (entered as a rule) by the receiver to vacate and dismiss the attachment served upon the bank, garnishee, for want of jurisdiction in the court of common pleas under § 5242 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the receiver insisting that all the proceedings in attachment against the bank were null and void.

The rule entered December 15, 1897, for judgment against the bank, and the rule to vacate and dismiss the attachment for want of jurisdiction in the court of common pleas, were heard, and that court, on May 21, 1898, made absolute the rule for judgment, and entered the following: 'And now, to wit, May 21, 1898, upon the hearing of the attachment in the above case and the interrogatories of the plaintiff and the answer of the garnishee thereto, it is adjudged that the above-named garnishee has a deposit in money belonging to the above-named defendant of $2,900, with interest from October 28, 1897; and also that the said garnishee has 77 shares of 'National Gas Trust stock' and 33 shares of the capital stock of the Eighth National Bank of Philadelphia belonging to the said defendant and pledged by him with the said garnishee for payment by him to it of the sum of $17,831, with interest thereon from April 22, 1897, and that the plaintiff have execution of any dividends on the said deposit of $2,900, with interest, in common with the other creditors of said garnishee, less $35 counsel fee for the said garnishee's counsel, and that if the said garnishee refuse or neglect, on demand by the sheriff, to pay the same, then the same to be levied of the said garnishee according to law, as in the case of a judgment against it for its proper debt, and also that the plaintiff have leave to issue a writ of fieri facias against the above-named defendant for the sale of the said 77 shares of 'National Gas Trust Stock' and 33 shares of the capital stock of the Eighth National Bank of Philadelphia, pledged by the defendant with the garnishee, subject to the garnishee's claim under said pledge of the sum of $17,831, with interest thereon from April 22, 1897, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to satisfy the plaintiff's judgment against the defendant in this case, with costs.'

The rule to vacate and dismiss the proceedings in attachment for want of jurisdiction in the court of common pleas was discharged.

The cause was carried to the supreme court of Pennsylvania, where the judgment of the court of common pleas was affirmed.

By the Revised Statutes of the United States it is provided:

'§ 5234. On becoming satisfied, as specified in §§ 5226 and 5227, that any [national banking] association has refused to pay its circulating notes as therein mentioned, and is in default, the Comptroller of the Currency may forthwith appoint a receiver and require of him such bond and security as he deems proper. Such receiver, under the direction of the Comptroller, shall take possession of the books, records, and assets of every description of such association, collect all...