Williams v. Love, 4 Div. 874

• Decision Date: 19 March 1936
• Docket Number: 4 Div. 874
• Citation: 232 Ala. 31,166 So. 681
• Parties: WILLIAMS, Superintendent of Banks, v. LOVE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

166 So. 681

232 Ala. 31

WILLIAMS, Superintendent of Banks, v. LOVE.

4 Div. 874

Supreme Court of Alabama

March 19, 1936

Appeal from Circuit Court, Covington County; Robt. S. Reid, Judge.

Action in detinue by J.H. Williams, as Superintendent of Banks against John L. Love. From a judgment for defendant plaintiff appeals. Transferred from Court of Appeals under section 7326, Code 1923.

Reversed and remanded.

E.O Baldwin, of Andalusia, for appellant.

Clyde M. Love, of Andalusia, for appellee.

KNIGHT Justice.

Suit in detinue by J.H. Williams, as Superintendent of Banks liquidating the affairs of the Bank of Gantt, against John L. Love, for the recovery of certain described personal property.

There were verdict and judgment for the defendant, and this appeal is prosecuted by the appellant, plaintiff in the court below.

The verdict returned by the jury is in the following words: "We, the jury, find in favor of the defendant: Find the mortgage note paid in full by valuing property as listed below: fourteen bales of cotton, five hundred pounds at ten cents, $700; one mule $85.00; one mule $85.00; one two horse wagon $15.00; one stalk cutter $25.00; one cultivator $35.63; one cow and calf $65; one cow, small, $50.00; one yearling $10.00; one yearling $8.00; one bull $12.50; one pig $1.00; bunch hogs, about fourteen or fifteen, $60.00; one cow $65.00. Total $1217.13."

The property set forth in the verdict, other than the fourteen bales of cotton, was the identical property sued for in the complaint. The court received and duly entered up this verdict of the jury.

The appellant made seasonable motion for new trial, assigning the following, among other grounds: (1) That the verdict was contrary to the great weight of the evidence; and (2) that the verdict was contrary to the law and the evidence in the cause. This motion was overruled by the court, and the plaintiff duly reserved an exception to this action of the court. The propriety of the court's ruling on this motion constitutes the appellant's only assignment of error.

The plaintiff claimed title to the property sued for under a certain mortgage executed to the Bank of Gantt by the defendant--appellee Love--on February 12, 1930. This mortgage secured an indebtedness of $1,217.13, and which fell due and became payable on October 1, 1930.

On the filing of the suit the plaintiff made the required affidavit, and gave bond for the issuance of a writ of seizure. Under this writ the sheriff of Covington county took into his possession only the property described in the verdict of the jury. The other property was not to be had.

The defendant having neglected for five days after the...