Meegan v. Pettibone-Gentry Co.
Meegan v. Pettibone-Gentry Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The Pettibone-Gentry Compány was engaged in railroad construction, and on February 7, 1906, it- borrowed $10,000 from William George, of Aurora, 111., giving four notes of $2500 each, payable in three, .six, nine and twelve months thereafter. To secure these notes to George it executed a chattel mortgage on a steam shovel outfit which was then being used in Osage county, Kansas. The Pettibone-Gentry
On November 20, 1908, a trial was had with a jury on the issues presented by the interplea which resulted in favor of George. In answer to special questions the jury found that the loan was actually made by George, that the mortgage was honestly executed and not for the purpose of defrauding creditors. It was adjudged that George held a first lien on the property and it was foreclosed. Meegan moved for an order of the court requiring the sheriff to repossess himself of the property which was surrendered upon the giving of the forthcoming bond, and that it should be sold to satisfy the judgment which he obtained against the PettiboneGentry Company, but the motion was denied.
In his appeal Meegan contends that George, having obtained possession of the property, did not need the aid of the court and had no interest or standing to maintain intervention. In section 45 of the code it is expressly provided that “any person claiming property, money, effects or credits attached as the property, money, effects or credits of another, may interplead in the cause,” etc., and the term “property” has been held to include the lien of a mortgage. (Bodwell v. Heaton, 40 Kan. 36, 18 Pac. 901.) This statutory proceeding gives a claimant of attached property a speedy and effectual remedy without the institution of an independent action. It also tends to prevent multiplicity of actions and to diminish the cost of litigation. George could have brought an action of replevin and had the
It is contended that the denial of appellant’s motion to require the sheriff to repossess himself of the attached property, which had passed out of his hands when the forthcoming bond was given, was material error. His argument is, that, under the terms of the bond, the sureties are liable to him to the extent of the judgment which he recovered and that he had no right of action under the bond until this step had been taken. The court had already determined, in a proper proceeding, that the interpleader had a prior lien on the property and a right to have the proceeds derived from its sale applied in discharge of the lien. There would have been no consistency or reason in taking from him that which he had been rightly awarded in order to give appellant a basis for an action against the sureties on the forthcoming bond. George had not caused the bond to be given and had not signed it and was not con
The principal issue tried under the interplea was that the mortgage was fraudulent, but the jury found and the court has held against that claim. The sufficiency of the testimony is challenged but there appears to be enough to uphold the findings. We find no substantial errors in the rulings on the admission of evidence or in the instructions given the jury.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ed Meegan v. The Pettibone-Gentry Company
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- 1 case
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- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Attachment — Choice of Remedies by Mortgagee — Replevin— Interplea. Where the property seized in an attachment action is claimed by one holding a mortgage on it, and who is not a party to the attachment action, such mortgagee has the option to recover' the property in an action of replevin or to protect and enforce his mortgage lien by interpleading in the attachment action. 2. -Right of Mortgagee to Intervene. The fact that a forthcoming bond was given by a defendant in the attachment action, to whom the property was delivered, which bond was not signed nor procured to be given by the mortgagee, will not defeat the right of the mortgagee to intervene in the attachment proceeding in order to have his interest in the property determined. 8.-- Same. Nor will the fact that he obtained peaceable possession of the property from one of the defendants, after the forthcoming bond was given, prevent a hearing upon his interplea, which was filed about the same time that possession was obtained.