Mullaly v. Townsend
Mullaly v. Townsend
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff commenced this action against the defendants as sureties upon a bond to release an attachment. The action in which the attachment was taken was brought by the plaintj/f against one Kelly, and certain personal property, consisting of the furniture in a hotel, was attached. On a former trial the court granted defendants’
The main and really the only point necessary to be considered, made by the appellants on this appeal, is that there was no demand for the return of the property made by the plaintiff prior to the commencement of the action; the condition of the bond signed by the defendants on the release of the attachment being that the defendant Kelly would, on demand, in the event that plaintiff recovered judgment against him, redeliver the attached property, or in default thereof the defendants would, on demand, pay the value thereof. On the former trial this court held that the allegations of the complaint were sufficient to constitute a demand on the defendant Kelly, and the findings of the court on the last trial, as already set out, are in line with the allegations of the complaint. In speaking of the nature of a return bond given to release an attachment, this court, in Metrovich v. Jovovich, 58 Cal. 341, says: “The condition is that the attached property shall be returned, and the terms of the undertaking are not complied with by an offer or by a return of a portion of the property. It is not pretended in this case that there was any return, or any offer to return, the whole of the property attached. The evidence conclusively shows that the defendant in the attachment proceeding had put it out of his power to make such return. Therefore return is impossible.” In this ease, as shown and found, after the release of the property the defendant Kelly mortgaged it to one Hunter, and, when the sheriff levied on the property by virtue of the execution issued on said judgment, it was claimed by Hunter. As held by this court on the former trial, “The plaintiff was not bound to take the property burdened with a lien placed upon it after the release of the attachment.” There was not only a demand on the defendant for the property, but a refusal on his part to turn it over in the condition in which it was at the time of being released from the attachment. Judgment and order affirmed.
We concur: Harrison, J.; Garoutte, J.
Dissenting Opinion
I dissent from the order denying a rehearing of this cause, upon a point which is urged by appellant and argued in the briefs, but is not noticed in the opin
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MULLALY v. TOWNSEND
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- 1 case
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- Syllabus
- Attachment—Kedelivery Bond—Mortgage of Property.—K. executed to plaintiff a redelivery bond, signed by defendants, to secure the release of an attachment; and, after the release, K. executed a mortgage on the property. Plaintiff, after obtaining judgment against K., issued, an execution; but the sheriff released the levy and returned the execution unsatisfied, because the property was claimed by the mortgagor, whereupon plaintiff sued defendants on the redelivery bond. Held, that the levy of the execution by the sheriff constituted a sufficient demand by plaintiff for the return of the property to support an action against the sureties on the bond.