McGowan v. Freeberry
McGowan v. Freeberry
Opinion of the Court
This suit was instituted by appellant against ¡appellee in the Crawford Circuit Court to recover $167, alleged to be due as a balance of purchase money for the following described real estate in Crawford County, Arkansas, towit: East half northwest quarter, northeast quarter, west half, northeast quarter northeast quarter, east half, northeast quarter, northeast quarter southeast quarter, northeast quarter, and northeast-quarter, southeast quarter; all in ¡section 18, township 12 north, range 31 west.
Appellee pleaded as a defense that he had paid the balance due as purchase money for said lands in response to a writ of garnishment issued against him by D. P. Cox, a justice of the peace in Crawford County, upon a judgment which W. Tharp had obtained against Robert McGowen as a commission for making the sale of said lands for appellant to appellee and against this appellee as garnishee in that suit.
To this answer a demurrer was filed by appellant. The cause was submitted to the court, sitting as a jury, upon the pleadings and the following agreed statement of facts:
“It is agreed by the plaintiff and the defendant in this case that the following are the facts that will be disclosed by the evidence:
‘ ‘ That the amount sued for is the correct amount of principal and interest, and that this is a part of the purchase money due for the land mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint and that.after the defendant purchased the land, and when he was' due the plaintiff the sum of $360, the plaintiff was sued in the justice court of D. P. Cox by William Tharp and the defendant here was summoned as garnishee, that judgment was rendered against the plaintiff here in favor of Tharp for $150 and costs and ■against this defendant as garnishee, he 'answering that he was indebted to this plaintiff in the sum of $360, that the plaintiff here filed his schedule claiming this sum of money exempt, that this schedule was disallowed by the justice and the plaintiff appealed to the circuit court, where 'his schedule was allowed and the defendant ordered to pay this money to plaintiff by the circuit court; that after plaintiff’s schedule was disallowed by the justice, and pending the appeal of plaintiff to the circuit eourt, the justice issued an execution against the defendant and garnishee, and garnishee paid the amount sued for here to the constable on his judgment against the plaintiff, which he, Tharp, obtained in the justice court of D. P. Cox, this payment being made in obedience to the order of the justice, D. P. Cox, and that the defendant paid the balance of the $360 to plaintiff. No supersedeas bond was given by plaintiff, MeGrOwen, on his appeal.
“ J. E. London,
“Attorney for Plaintiff.
‘ ‘ Starbird & Starbird,
“Attorneys for Defendant.”
A judgment was rendered dismissing the complaint of appellee, from which an appeal has been prosecuted to this court.
Again it is urged that a garnishee can not avail himself of a payment made by collusion with the plaintiff. This is perhaps a correct abstract proposition of law, but we find no facts in this case justifying the application of the rule. It nowhere appears in the record that appellee connived with William Tharp in appropriating $167, due by appellee to appellant, to the payment of the Tharp judgment. On the contrary,, the money was paid in the Tharp judgment by appellee on execution issued against the fund in his hands.
No error appearing, the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.