Scott v. McDonald
Scott v. McDonald
Opinion of the Court
This is a controversy between rival claimants of a fund paid into court by a garnishee. In the district court for Scotts Bluff county, John E. Scott recovered a judgment against D. L. McDonald April 10, 1931, for $4,471.39, on which execution was issued January 2, 1932, and returned nulla bona the same day. In answering a summons in garnishment issued in the case of Scott against McDonald January 2, 1932, M. B. Quivey, on that date, stated he and J. M. Chirrick, garnishees, jointly owed McDonald a debt of $135.78 which had been reduced to judgment in another action wherein the costs were $45.45. January 2, 1932, Quivey tendered into court and paid to the clerk thereof the sum of his debt and costs or $181.23.
January 5, 1932, Morrow & Morrow, attorneys, intervened in the case of Scott against McDonald, pleaded a claim for an attorneys’ lien of $75 for services in procuring the judgment in favor of McDonald against Quivey and Chirrick for $135.78, and prayed for an order on the clerk to pay their claim in full out of the fund in his hands.
February 15, 1932, Carr and Neff Lumber Company intervened in the case of Scott against McDonald 'and pleaded that the latter assigned to intervener the judgment in McDonald’s favor for $135.78, subject to the attorneys’ lien; that the garnishment was void for want of service of a summons on Quivey and Chirrick; that the
Upon a trial of the issues presented by the garnishment and the claims of interveners, the district court sustained the garnishment, directed the clerk to pay the costs in the case wherein McDonald had recovered the judgment against Quivey and Chirrick for $135.78 and to turn over the remainder of the fund in court to George I. Carpenter, to whom the judgment in favor of Scott for $4,471.39 had been assigned. Interveners appealed.
It is argued as a ground of reversal that the summons in garnishment was not served on garnishee and that consequently the court acquired no jurisdiction over the fund in the hands of Quivey, one of the persons named as garnishee. On its face the summons shows it was in proper form and was regularly issued January 2, 1932. It was returned and filed January 5, 1932, and there was then attached to it the following:
“J. M. Chirrick and M. B. Quivey hereby acknowledge receipt of copies of the garnishee summons hereto attached. Dated this 2d day of January, 1932.
“J. M. Chirrick,
“M. B. Quivey.”
Interveners contend that this was not service or the equivalent of service; that there is a material difference between the receipt of a copy of a writ and actual service or the acknowledgment of service; that jurisdiction can only be acquired in the manner prescribed by statute; that garnishment is an attachment by means of which money or property of a debtor in the hands of a third person may be subjected to payment of a creditor’s claim; that the garnishee could not, by means of a voluntary appearance, deprive interveners of property rights.
Garnishment is a statutory remedy. Jurisdiction of the court depends on compliance with statutory requirements. There is a recognized difference between the
“A garnishee may pay the money owing to the defendant by him to the sheriff having the order of attachment, or into court. He shall be discharged from liability to the defendant for any money so paid not exceeding the plaintiff’s claim.” Comp. St. 1929, sec. 20-1027.
In the case at bar the summons was not a spurious writ procured by garnishees for the purpose of depriving interveners of rights. It was a valid process issued on a sufficient affidavit. There is no evidence of fraud on the part of any one. When the summons was returned the garnishees’ receipt for a copy was attached. The copy received by garnishees disclosed a demand on them to appear in court for a specific purpose. The receipt at
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.