Bellinger v. Griffith
Bellinger v. Griffith
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff recovered a judgment against Jacob Hiler, in an action brought under section 7 of the act to provide against the evils resulting from the sale of intoxicating liquors, as amended April 18, 1870. 67 Ohio L. 102. After the recovery of the judgment the plaintiff instituted the present suit against Thomas Griffith, Francis Wedge, and Andrew Mahoney, to subject the real estate occupied and used by Hiler for the unlawful sale of intoxicating liquors at the time of the accruing of the cause of action for which the judgment was rendered. Hiler occupied the premises under a lease from Griffith and Wedge, and the petition charged them with knowingly permitting him, during his tenancy, to use the premises for such unlawful purpose. After the recovery of the judgment against Hiler, but before the bringing of the present suit, Griffith and Wedge conveyed the premises to Mahoney, who, for aught that appears in the petition, purchased the same in good faith, and at the time of the commencement of the suit, was still the owner thereof.
A demurrer to the petition was sustained by the court of Common Pleas, and the petition dismissed. The District Court, on error, affirmed the judgment. These judgments it is now sought to reverse.
The view we take of one of the questions raised by the demurrer, renders unnecessary a fuller statement of the case. The question is whether the judgment recovered against Hiler became a lien on the property in question of his lessors, Griffith and Wedge.
The counsel of the plaintiff not only affirm such to be the case, but they contend that the claim of the plaintiff against Hiler for which the judgment was rendered, became a lien on the property from the time her cause of action accrued.
We think no warrant is found in the statute for either of these claims.
It is true the statute declares that the property shall be held liable for the damages assessed against the occupier. But this liability is not spoken of in the sense of creating a
1. That the lien of a judgment recovered under the act. referred to, is limited to the real estate of the judgment debtors.
2. That the provision in section 10 which declares that real estate not owned by the judgment debtor, shall be held liable for the payment of the judgment, is not designed, to create a lien on such property, but to authorize it to be-subjected to the payment of the judgment, in a suit against the owner instituted for the purpose.
3. That until the commencement of such suit, the judgment creditor acquires no interest in the property, and if, before the suit is brought, the property has been sold and-conveyed, it can not be subjected to the payment of the judgment.
It is to be observed that the case presents no question as- . to the effect of a collusive or fraudulent sale; nor are we-
Motion overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Minnie Bellinger v. Thomas Griffith
- Status
- Published