Foote Patrick Co. v. Caladonia Insurance
Foote Patrick Co. v. Caladonia Insurance
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The learned chancellor seems to have been of the opinion that after an order transferring the garnishment issue was entered, it was incumbent upon appellant to file its bill within the thirty days prescribed by statute; that this provision of the statute, directing that the bill shall be filed within thirty days, is jurisdictional, and a failure to comply with the terms of the statute in this regard took away the jurisdiction of the chancery court. We do not interpret the statute so literally. When a cause is transferred from one court to the other, it is the order of transfer that invests the court to which the case is transferred with jurisdiction. The statute expressly says that the cause “shall be proceeded with as if it had been originally begun in that court, as of the
The time within which this bill should be filed could have been extended by the chancellor of the court then having jurisdiction of the cause. The provision that the bill should be filed within thirty days is certainly not a statute of limitations, and the failure to file the bill within the time prescribed could not be said to be a jurisdictional omission or defect. It does appear that appellant filed its bill within thirty days after the papers had actually been deposited with the chancery clerk. There was considerable delay on the part of the circuit clerk in depositing the papers with the chancery clerk. In the disposition of this case it is really unnecessary for us to say whether appellant should have filed its bill within thirty days of the date of the order of transfer, or within thirty days from the date the papers were deposited in the chancery court. The statute appears to direct that the bill should be filed within thirty days after the papers have been deposited in the court to which the case was transferred. It expressly provides that all parties shall take notice of the fact of the transfer “when the papers have been deposited in the court to which the cause is transferred.” This is followed by a provision that the complainant or plaintiff shall then file his declaration or bill within thirty days — presumptively, within the thirty days from time they are required to take notice of the transfer.
There is here no question raised about the sufficiency of the bill. The ruling of the trial court was based upon
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
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- Foote Patrick Co. v. Caladonia Insurance Company
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- 1. Trial. Transfer to chancery court.' Jurisdiction. When a cause is transferred from the circuit to the chancery court, it is the order of transfer that invest the court to which the case is transferred with jurisdiction. The statute expressly says that the cause “shall be proceeded” with as if it had originally begun in that court, as of the date on which the cause was originally instituted. It is a pending cause all the while, and as soon as the order of transfer is entered, the court to which the case is transferred thereupon has jurisdiction of the case and may proceed in the manner outlined by the statute, and the only object of the requirement that a bill be filed within thirty days is for the purpose of reframing the pleadings to conform to the practice in the chancery court. 2. Same. The provision under Code 1906, section 1013, that the bill shall be filed within thirty days is certainly not a statute of limitations, and the failure to file the bill within the time prescribed could not be said to be a jurisdictional omission or defect, and a bill filed within thirty days after the papers were actually deposited with the chancery clerk was sufficient. 3. Equity. Chancery jurisdiction. -Fraud. The chancery court has general jurisdiction of fraud. 4. Garnishment. Transfer to chancery. Trial. Fraud. Where on the transfer of a cause from the circuit to the chancery court'after default judgment against the defendant upon the issue of the garnishee’s liability raised by its answer attempting to set up the adjudication of the issue between the garnishee and certain parties made' defendants to the bill, in the chancery court, plaintiff could only attack the judgment in an alleged collusive suit between such parties and the garnishee on the ground of fraud and collusion, it was error to dismiss the bill of complaint.