Brombacher v. Journeymen Barbers' International Union of America, Local No. 362
Brombacher v. Journeymen Barbers' International Union of America, Local No. 362
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal of a local lodge in a garnishee proceeding after judgment in attachment, against 'the national body.
Plaintiff is the widow of William Brombacher, who was a member of the local and whose estate, or widow, was entitled to death benefits from the national by reason of monthly payments to the local, in the usual manner. We gather from the case and briefs, though the point seems now unimportant, that William Brombacher did not pay his dues on the first of the month as required by the by-laws, but that the local advanced for him to the national, as in the Peterson ease, 98 N. J. L. 196. As the dues were ultimately paid, that question is out of the case at this stage. We gather also that the national refused to pay the death benefit and the
The writ of attachment was executed against funds in the hands of the local and in the physical custody of its treasurer, Anthony Danza, and both were included in the scire facias, but at the end of the case Danza was discharged, by consent of the plaintiff’s attorney. The theory of the scire facias, as well as of the writ of attachment, was that inasmuch as the local was required under the regulations of the order to collect certain initiation fees and dues, and as, out of the dues, the sum of eighty cents per month for each member was to be remitted by the local to the national, and as since the levy of the writ more than $500 had come into the hands of the treasurer of the local for this purpose, this credit in favor of the national was liable to the attachment and subject to be paid to the plaintiff under the scire facias. The point was raised early in the case by motion to quash the attachment, but passed by the court (6 N. J. Mis. R. 1069), and is now the sole remaining question in the case, viz., whether a sum of money collected by the local’ for account of the national, and actually in the hands of the local for that purpose, is a debt, or a right and credit, which may be attached as the property of the national, and the local compelled to pay, and receive or be entitled to credit with the national for such payment when made. Danza, the treasurer, testified that he had the money in his hands as the property of the national, and whatever may be the rule as to the right of the national to sue the local for the dues, the right of the national to sue Danza as its own agent for money had and received would seem to be fairly clear.
As between the national and the local, we have in this state the decisions in the leading case of National Council v. State Council, 64 N. J. Eq. 470, and several times reported in its various phases. Counsel for appellant maintain that that case decided that' under the conventional relations of the national and local bodies, the national body would not be able
The judgment will accordingly be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.