Thompson v. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills

• Decision Date: 11 January 1956
• Docket Number: No. A-5294,A-5294
• Citation: 155 Tex. 365,286 S.W.2d 411
• Parties: Guy A. THOMPSON, Trustee For St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Company, Valley Products Corporation, Petitioner, v. FULTON BAG & COTTON MILLS, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 411

286 S.W.2d 411

155 Tex. 365

Guy A. THOMPSON, Trustee For St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Company, Valley Products Corporation, Petitioner, v. FULTON BAG & COTTON MILLS, Respondent.

No. A-5294.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Jan. 11, 1956.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 22, 1956.

Hutcheson, Taliaferro & Hutcheson, Houston, Sharpe, Cunningham & Garza and George Stroter, Brownsville, O. O. Touchstone, Dallas, for Guy A. Thompson, Trustee.

Richard M. Keiser, Harlingen, and Golden, Croley, Howell, Johnson & Mizell, Dallas, for Valley Products Corp.

Lane & Savage, Dallas, for Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills.

CALVERT, Justice.

On September 2, 1953, Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills, then the owner and holder of a judgment of the 134th District Court of Dallas County (hereafter referred to as Dallas County District Court) against one E. Cannon, also known as E. E. Cannon, applied for and secured from such court a writ of garnishment directed to and served on September 3, 1953 on Globe & Rutgers Fire Insurance Company, commanding it to answer on oath whether it was indebted to the said E. Cannon or E. E. Cannon.

On September 3, 1953, Guy A. Thompson, Trustee for St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Company, filed a suit for debt against Valley Products Corporation in the 103rd District Court of Willacy County (hereafter referred to as Willacy County District Court), and contemporaneously therewith applied for and secured from such court a writ of garnishment directed to and served on September 4, 1953 on Globe & Rutgers Fire Insurance Company, commanding it to answer on oath whether it was indebted to the Valley Products Corporation, or to E. Cannon, Mrs. Alpha Cannon or Daniel Gustafson as directors of the corporation for the benefit of the corporation.

On September 14, 1953, Globe & Rutgers answered the writ of garnishment in the Dallas County District Court, stating that it was not indebted to E. Cannon, or E. E. Cannon, unless it was so indebted to the extent of the proceeds of two fire insurance policies, one of which it had theretofore issued for the face amount of $3,000 insuring Valley Products Corporation against loss by fire of a building in Lyford, Texas, and one of which it had theretofore issued for the face amount of $2,500 insuring Mrs. Alpha Cannon against loss by fire of the contents of the building. It then alleged that the building and its contents had been destroyed by fire and that the proceeds of the policies would be payable, under the terms of the policies, on October 29, 1953. It alleged the facts with respect to the service on it of the writ of garnishment issued out of the Willacy County District Court, that it was entitled to protection against the conflicting claims of the various parties, and that on or before October 29th it expected to pay the proceeds of both policies into the proper court to have the rights of all parties determined in one proceeding. It prayed that citation issue to Guy A. Thompson, Trustee, Valley Products Corporation, E. E. Cannon and Mrs. Alpha Cannon so that all claims could be adjudicated in one proceeding. The proceeds of the two policies were paid into the registry of the Dallas County District Court under order of that court ¹ on October 28, 1953.

By verified pleading filed on September 29, 1953, Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills traversed that part of the answer of Globe & Rutgers in which it was stated that it was not indebted to E. E. Cannon and alleged that the proceeds of the two fire insurance policies were the property of E. E. Cannon individually. This pleading was later amended to allege that Valley Products Corporation was but a fiction, all of its stock but an insignificant number of shares being owned by E. E. Cannon and Alpha Cannon as community property and all of its assets being owned and dealt with by E. E. Cannon and Alpha Cannon as their individual community property.

Guy A. Thompson, Trustee, answered by plea in abatement (to the jurisdiction) setting up that the writ of garnishment issued out of the Willacy County District Court was the only writ of garnishment which impounded funds of Valley Products Corporation and that the proceeding in Willacy County District Court was therefore prior in time and prior in right. The answer also contained a motion to quash the writ of garnishment issued out of the Dallas County District Court.

E. E. Cannon answered disclaiming any interest in both policies. Alpha Cannon answered claiming the proceeds of the policy on the contents of the building as her separate property. Valley Products Corporation answered with a motion to quash the writ of garnishment issued out of Dallas County District Court and claiming the proceeds of the policy on the building.

On February 12, 1954, the judge of the Dallas County District Court entered an agreed order discharging Globe & Rutgers, with its attorneys' fees, from all liability, and directing that the deposit in the registry of the court of the proceeds of the policy on the building should be without prejudice to the rights of the other parties to contest jurisdiction and venue.

On April 30, 1954, the Court, after hearing, sustained the motions to quash the writ of garnishment filed by Guy A. Thompson and Valley Products Corporation and the plea in abatement filed by Guy A. Thompson, ordered the proceeds of the policy on the building transmitted to the Clerk of the Willacy County District Court, and dismissed Guy A. Thompson and Valley Products Corporation from the proceeding in the Dallas County District Court. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills appealed from the order. The Court of Civil Appeals at Dallas reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the cause to the Dallas County District Court for further proceedings. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills v. Valley Products Corp., 277 S.W.2d 241.

No reason is assigned in the trial court's judgment for quashing the writ of garnishment and no basis for that action is found in the record. The pleadings of the parties did not attack, in any manner, the form, substance or regularity of the affidavit in garnishment, the writ of garnishment, the service of the writ or the sheriff's return thereon. The parties do not in their briefs suggest any basis for quashing the writ. So far as we have been able to determine the writ of garnishment was a valid writ, regularly issued, served and returned, and we hold the trial court's judgment quashing the writ to be erroneous.

We do not construe the trial court's judgment sustaining the plea to the jurisdiction of the court to be an adjudication that the proceeds of the policy of insurance on the building were not subject to the writ of garnishment issued by the Dallas County District Court. That would have been an adjudication of the merits of the controversy. We construe the judgment to be only an adjudication that the court did not have jurisdiction, or that the Willacy County District Court had prior...