Wabash Railroad Company v. Peter Tourville

• Decision Date: 03 December 1900
• Docket Number: No. 36,36
• Citation: 45 L.Ed. 210,179 U.S. 322,21 S.Ct. 113
• Parties: WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. PETER TOURVILLE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

179 U.S. 322

21 S.Ct. 113

45 L.Ed. 210

WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v PETER TOURVILLE.

No. 36.

Submitted October 9, 1900.

Decided December 3, 1900.

[ Messrs. Wells H. Blodgett and George S. Grover for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. J. D. Johnson and Virgil Rule for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff in error is a consolidated railway corporation, separately organized under the laws of Illinois and Missouri. It was indebted to the defendant in error, whom we shall designate by his name, Tourville, for work and labor performed in St. Louis, Missouri, in the sum of $81.98. Tourville was indebted on a promissory note for $132 to one Flannigan, who lived in East St. Louis, state of Illinois.

On the 10th of June, 1891, Tourville commenced an action before a justice of the peace of the city of St. Louis, against the plaintiff in error, for his wages, and obtained a judgment by default for the sum of $75 on the 22d of June, 1891. From this judgment the plaintiff in error appealed to the circuit court of the city of St. Louis.

Prior to the suit by Tourville against plaintiff in error, to wit, on the 3d of June, 1891, Flannigan commenced suit against him before a justice of the peace of East St. Louis, Illinois, and caused the plaintiff in error to be summoned as garnishee. Tourville was not personally served, but plaintiff in error orally notified him and his attorney in time for him to make defense to the suit. He did not appear, and judgment was entered against him by default on July 13, 1891, for $132.

The plaintiff in error appeared in the action brought by Flannigan, and admitted indebtedness to Tourville in the sum of $71.83, and pleaded and claimed for him the exemption allowed by the laws of Illinois and Missouri; and also pleaded and proved that Tourville had recovered a judgment against plaintiff in error for his wages in the courts of Missouri, and that such wages were earned in Missouri under a contract made there, and were payable in the city of St. Louis, 'and nowhere else,' and were exempt from attachment by laws of that state because Tourville was the head of a family, residing with the same in the state, and had no property except his wearing apparel.

The Illinois exemption was allowed, which amounted to $50, but the Missouri exemption was disallowed, and judgment was rendered against plaintiff in error on the 25th of July, 1891, for the sum of $21.83. The company appealed to the city court of East St. Louis.

On the 21st of December, 1891, the case came on for trial in the city court of East St. Louis. Tourville did not appear. The plaintiff in error appeared and demanded a jury. The attachment was sustained, and a verdict found against Tourville for the sum of $132, and against the company as garnishee in favor of Tourville for the use of Flannigan for $21.83 and costs,—amounting in all to $43.38. Execution was issued, and the company paid the judgment against it as garnishee.

On the trial of the action of Tourville against the company in the circuit court of St. Louis the facts stated above were stipulated, and the case submitted to the circuit judge sitting as a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of Tourville as follows:

Whole amount of wages........ $81 98

Less judgment and costs paid by

defendant in East St. Louis.._43 38

Judgment against defendant. $38 60

The plaintiff Tourville took an appeal to the St. Louis court of appeals which reversed the judgment, holding that the proceedings in garnishment were void on the ground that the justice's court of East St. Louis had no jurisdiction, because there was no personal service on Tourville, and the directions of the statute for substituted service had not been observed, and because plaintiff in error had failed to make this defense, although it appeared by the papers on file in the justice's office.

The opinion concluded as follows: 'It results from the foregoing that the court erred in holding that the defendant company was entitled to credit for the amount paid by it in the garnishment proceedings. The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to the trial court to enter judgment for plaintiff for $81, the amount sued for and admittedly due if we disregard the garnishment proceedings.' 61 Mo. App. 527.

The mandate was issued, and the court ordered 'to enter judgment for plaintiff for $81, the amount sued for.'

On the 21st of April, 1895, and before the mandatereached the circuit court, Flannigan instituted another suit by attachment against Tourville before a justice of the peace in East St. Louis, and the defendant in error was again summoned in garnishment.

On the return of the mandate of the Missouri court of appeals to the circuit court of St. Louis the proceedings in said suit and garnishment were offered in evidence, but ruled out, and the company excepted.

Judgment was then entered in favor of Tourville for $81 in pursuance of the mandate. The company again excepted, and moved to set the judgment aside, and for a new trial, on the ground that by entering said judgment and rejecting said evidence the court refused to give full faith and credit to proceedings against the defendant in a sister state, in violation of § 1, article 4, of the Constitution of the United States. The motion was overruled, and the defendant excepted. Subsequently a motion was made to modify the judgment, and in support thereof the proceedings in garnishment were again offered, and again ruled out. Execution was issued on the judgment.

On the 12th of October, 1895, a motion was made to quash the execution, based on the same grounds as former motions, which was also denied. The company then appealed to the supreme court of the state. That court sustained the rulings of the lower court and affirmed its judgment. 148 Mo. 614, 50 S. W. 300.

The supreme court said:

'The circuit court committed no error in rejecting the evidence of the proceedings in the second attachment suit in...