Davison-Paxon Co. v. Hume
Davison-Paxon Co. v. Hume
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. A supersedeas, where a jirdgment has been excepted to, operates only as a suspension of the enforcement of the judgment against the defendant. Miller v. Gay, 98 Ga. 536 (25 S. E. 577). See also Barnett v. Strain, 153 Ga. 43 (111 S. E. 574). The issuance of a supersedeas suspending the enforcement of a judgment does not operate to change the character of the judgment as an adjudication by a legal'tribunal that
Before the passage of the act of 1933 (Ga. L. 1933 p. 35), as codified in the Code, § 46-101, which provides that "no garnishment shall issue against the daily, weekly or monthly wages of any person residing in this State until after final judgment shall have been had against said defendant,” process of garnishment could issue in any case where a suit was pending or where a judgment had been obtained. The evil sought to be remedied by the act of 1933 was that of the issuance of garnishments for the purpose of catching or impounding wages of employees before any adjudication by a court that the employee was indebted to the plaintiff. A judgment which has been obtained against the defendant adjudicates his indebtedness to the plaintiff. It is a final judgment, and such finality is not affected by the issuance of any supersedeas suspending the enforcement of the judgment, or by any exceptions filed seeking to review the judgment. As to what constitutes a final judgment see Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Lovelace, 24 Ga. App. 616 (101 S. E. 718).
While it was stated by this court in Carrollton Bank v. Glass, 35 Ga. App. 89 (132 S. E. 238), that where a bill of exceptions in which a judgment of a trial court has been excepted to has been certified by the trial judge and filed with the clerk of the Court of Appeals, a suit is pending in the sense of the law as codified, in the Code, § 46-101, wherein it is provided that process of garnishment may issue "where suit shall be pending or where judgment shall have been obtained,” it appeared that the judgment of the trial court on which the garnishment had issued had been reversed by the Court of Appeals, and that after such reversal the plaintiff could amend the affidavit of garnishment by striking therefrom the words “for which judgment had been obtained” and insert in lieu thereof the words “for which suit is now pending.”
I am of the opinion that the garnishment was issued after the rendition of a final judgment, and that the court erred in sustaining the motion to dismiss the garnishment proceedings. I therefore dissent from the judgment of affirmance.
070rehearing
ON MOTION ROE REHEARING.
Counsel for the plaintiff in error contends in a motion for rehearing that this court has misconstrued' the term
Felton, J., concurs.
Opinion of the Court
Davison-Paxon Company obtained a judgment' against W. W. Hume in the municipal court of Atlanta, and on' appeal to the appellate division of that court the judgment was affirmed. Thereupon Hume sued out a writ of error to this court, obtaining a supersedeas by filing a pauper affidavit in proper form as provided in Code, § 6-1002 (2). It further appears that the trial judge, on the date the affidavit was filed, passed an order directing 'the clerk and the marshal of the court to wholly cease from any further proceedings whatsoever in said cause. While the writ of error was pending in this court the plaintiff sued out process of garnishment and caused summons to be issued to the
By an act of the legislature (Ga. L. 1933, p. 35), section 5265 of the Code of 1910 relating to garnishment was amended so as to provide that no garnishment shall issue against the daily, weekly, or monthly wages of any person in this State until after final judgment has been obtained in the main suit. The law, including the amendment, now appears as § 46-101 of the Code of 1933. “A suit is pending in the sense of section 5265 of the Civil Code (1910) [§ 46-101 of the Code of 1933], relative to the grounds for the issuance of garnishment proceedings, although a judgment may in fact have been rendered in the suit, when there still remains a legal possibility that the judgment may be reversed and that the defendant may ultimately prevail, as when a bill of exceptions to the judgment has been tendered ánd certified by the trial judge and has been filed with the clerk of the Court of Appeals.” Carrollton Bank v. Glass, 35 Ga. App. 89 (1) (132 S. E. 238).
Inasmuch as the main suit was pending, because it had been taken by writ of error to this court, the judgment obtained in the trial court was not such a final judgment as would authorize the issuance of garnishment against the daily, weekly, or monthly wages of the defendant, a wage earner, and the court properly sustained the motion to dismiss the garnishment proceeding.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.