Waterhouse v. Johnson
| Decision Date | 19 September 1922 |
| Docket Number | 34325 |
| Citation | 189 N.W. 669,194 Iowa 343 |
| Parties | RAY WATERHOUSE, Appellant, v. G. J. JOHNSON et al., Appellees |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Benton District Court.--B. F. CUMMINGS, Judge.
THIS is an action brought by plaintiff against the sheriff of his county and an execution creditor, to recover possession of his automobile, which the defendant sheriff had taken under a levy of execution, and which the plaintiff claims as exempt. The right of exemption was challenged in the answer of the defendants. At the close of the evidence, the trial court directed a verdict for the defendants. The plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
Kirkland & White, for appellant.
Tobin Tobin & Tobin, for appellees.
The evidence tended to show that the plaintiff was a laborer, within the meaning of the exemption statute, Code Section 4008. For the purpose of defendants' motion for a directed verdict, therefore, he must be assumed to have been such. In the ruling adverse to him, the trial court assumed him to be such. The one question presented is whether the automobile in question was exempt to the plaintiff, as such laborer, under the provisions of our exemption statute, which is as follows:
"If the debtor is a resident of this state and the head of a family, he may hold exempt from execution the following property: All wearing apparel of himself and family kept for actual use and suitable to their condition, and the trunks or other receptacles necessary to contain the same; one musket or rifle and shotgun; all private libraries, family Bibles, portraits, pictures, musical instruments and paintings not kept for the purpose of sale; a seat or pew occupied by the debtor or his family in any house of public worship; an interest in a public or private burying ground, not exceeding one acre for any defendant; two cows and two calves; fifty sheep and the wool therefrom and the materials manufactured from such wool; six stands of bees; five hogs, and all pigs under six months; the necessary food for all animals exempt from execution, for six months; one bedstead and the necessary bedding for every two in the family; all cloth manufactured by the defendant, not exceeding one hundred yards in quantity; household and kitchen furniture, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value; all spinning wheels and looms; one sewing machine and other instruments of domestic labor kept for actual use; the necessary provisions and fuel for the use of the family for six months; the proper tools, instruments or books of the debtor, if a farmer, mechanic, surveyor, clergyman, lawyer, physician, teacher or professor; if the debtor is a physician, public officer, farmer, teamster or other laborer, a team, consisting of not more than two horses or mules, or two yoke of cattle, and the wagon or other vehicle, with the proper harness or tackle, by the use of which he habitually earns his living * * *."
The automobile in question was a two-seated Ford car, of the value of $ 200. The plaintiff was engaged in the business of laying tile drain upon the farms of others. He himself engaged in the physical labor thereof. He had to be transported daily back and forth between his place of work and his home. He lives on a 5-acre tract of ground, about 5 miles from the town of Urbana. The distance between his home and the usual places of work varied from 2 or 3 miles to 10 or 12 miles. The exigencies of his work required him to board and lodge at home. He usually drove back and forth every night and morning. We infer from the record that it was...
To continue reading
Request your trial