Hall v. U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
| Decision Date | 21 June 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 46273,46273 |
| Citation | 252 So.2d 359 |
| Parties | Jack HALL, d/b/a Hall Supply & Equipment Company, Plaintiff/Appellant, v. UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY COMPANY, Defendant/Appellee. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Caldwell, Caldwell & May, Jackson, for plaintiff-appellant.
Richard E. Stratton, III, Brookhaven, for defendant-appellee.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Copiah County which dismissed a writ of garnishment issued against the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company.
The appellant, Hall Supply & Equipment Company, hereinafter Hall, obtained a judgment against Copiah Contractors, Inc., hereinafter Copiah, in the sum of $4,434.34. Hall thereafter filed a suggestion of writ of garnishment on the judgment, suggesting that the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, hereinafter U.S.F. & G., was indebted to Copiah. U.S.F. & G. responded by an answer which denied that it was indebted to, or had effects of, or that it knew anyone who was indebted to Copiah. It specifically denied that Copiah was an employee of U.S.F. & G., the garnishee-defendant.
Hall filed a traverse to the answer and averred that U.S.F. & G. became the surety for Copiah on contracts awarded to it by the State of Mississippi for construction work to be performed under the State Aid Division of Highways. He further averred that U.S.F. & G. required Copiah to assign as collateral security the interest of Copiah in and to each contract covered by its bond 'including all retained percentages, deferred payments, earned monies and all funds and properties whatever that may be due or become due under the contract or that may be due, become due, awarded or allowed in connection with or under circumstances growing out of said contract or work done thereunder.' Hall averred that this assignment encompassed all the monies and profits to which Copiah was entitled and since the contract was not completed, Copiah became in effect the employee of U.S.F. & G. Hall also averred that U.S.F. & G. had directed the State Aid Division to make all furture payments under the contract directly to it. It is additionally averred that there are three other contracts between Copiah and the State Aid Division, the payment for which has not been completed by the State Highway Department, and that these indebtednesses to Copiah have been assigned by it to U.S.F. & G. Hall specifically alleges that $17,358.32 has been assigned to U.S.F. & G. and is held by it as collateral which belongs to Copiah and that he is entitled to $4,434.34, plus interest and court costs therefrom in payment of his judgment. U.S.F. & G. contends that Hall, the judgment creditor, can acquire no greater rights against it as garnishee-defendant than could the judgment debtor possess against the garnishee-defendant. We are of the opinion that this contention is legally correct and that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.
In Ford v. Mutual Life Insurance Co. of New York, 194 Miss. 519, 527, 13 So.2d 45, 46 (1943), we stated:
On the second proposition this Court, in Travelers' Ins. Co. v. Inman, 157...
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