Denis v. Hogan
Denis v. Hogan
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion and decree of the court in the words and figures following, to wit;
Plaintiff, a judgment creditor of defendant, issued garnishment process against one W. B. Ringrose. In addition to the three formal questions usually propounded, which were answered, “No,” he presented the following interrogatories, and received the accompanying answers: — “Is, or is not, said William Hogan your agent for carrying on the business of selling shoes, etc., at the store, No. 99 Canal Street, in the City? Answer, “He is.” 5. If said Hogan is such agent for you to carry on said business, at what rate of compensation, or remuneration do you pay for his services? And in what manner do you remunerate his services as agent? Is it by fixed wages or salary payable at stated intervals, or is it in some other manner? Answer, “We have never had any definite arrangement about his compensation as agent, and therefore I cannot say at what rate or manner of remuneration.” 6. If said Hogan is your agent as above, and if you do not remunerate his services, by fixed wages payable at stated intervals, then in what manner do you remunerate his services, and how and when do you ascertain the amount due as remuneration for such services? You being asked and required to make
Plaintiff, upon the filing of these interrogatories, took a rule upon garnishee, to have judgment against him for the amount of the writ, on the ground, “that the answers are not categorical, full and clear, but are evasive, obscure and untruthful.”
The garnishee made no effort to amend, but went to trial upon his answers, and the judge a quo, considered them evasive and not such as the law required, and accordingly ordered them taken for confessed and condemned him to satisfy the plaintiff’s writ.
We consider that the judge a quo was correct in his conclusion, and the garnishee was properly condemned. Under articles 246, 247, 250, 262, Code of Practice, plaintiff is not restricted to general and sweeping questions, but is entitled to probe the conscience of a garnishee, as fully as he might do that of a defendant, propounding any pertinent interrogatory, in the nature of cross examination, calculated to elicit the truth and reveal to the court all facts calculated to enable it to determine, whether there be, or not a debt due defendant.
Where a plaintiff satisfies himself, as is usually done, with general and sweeping interrogatories they may be properly met with answers of a similar character. Where, however, by reason of a lack of confidence in the integrity of a garnishee,
In Vason vs. Clarke 4 La. Ann. 581, a garnishee being questioned as to a particular note, was asked when he had returned it to defendant. In his answer, he gave the date of receipt, adding that he had returned it subsequently. This was held evasive, and it was stated that the particular date of the return should have been given, and the garnishee was condemned. In Burke vs. Taylor 15 La. Ann. 236, where garnishee acknowledged an indebtedness of $132.69, adding that defendant had a letter of credit upon the house of M. & E. Ford & Co., for $2,000 and that, the remainder of the money of Taylor, over the .sum confessed had been appropriated to meet that letter of credit. This answer was held insufficient and unsatisfactory as it did not show the state of account at the date of its filing, or of the service of process, and whether the letter of credit was used by defendant, and where, or was paid in whole or part by garnishee, or by whom and at what time the appropriation was made.
The Code of Practice, article 250, allows a garnishee to be made a party to the suit: Article 247, authorizes the propounding to him of interrogatories upon facts and articles, evidently having in view, such interrogatories, as may be propounded, under Code of Practice, 347, etc., by. plaintiff or defendant, one to the other. Therefore, the precedent arising under the provisions governing the latter proceedings are applicable to the case of a garnishee. In Owens vs. Brown 13 La. Ann. 201, Plaintiff was interrogated as to the character of a compromise he had effected with others bound with the present defendant, relative to the same matter. The question was: — “Did you receive for the slave Tom, for which you obtained a verdict in this case, $600.00, in a compromise in full with the owner of the steamers Niagra and Empress, or the owners of either
Judgment affirmed. Rehearing refused.
His Honor Judge Walter H. Rogers delivered the opinion and decree of the court in the words and figures following, to wit;
The objection that no evidence was offered in the court a quo or in this court, to warrant the judgment rendered against the garnishee cannot be considered. The record shows that the district judge rendered his judgment “after hearing evidence and counsel.” No statement of facts appear in the record; it does not appear that any was desired by appellant, and this court will not reverse a judgment unless the evidence upon which the case was tried below is brought up under some one of the modes prescribed by law.
There is no assignment of error upon the face of the papers —no question of law preserved by bill of exception — a mere reference to facts not before us, or to which it does not appear the attention of the District judge was called, on an application for a rehearing will not suffice.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.