Bellow v. Lintott
Bellow v. Lintott
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The issue which was determined in the court below, the disposition of which by that court gives rise to this appeal, was an exceedingly simple one. It had its origin in this state of facts: The present plaintiff, appellant here, claiming to be the owner of a certain automobile which was in the physical possession of the defendant, caused a writ of replevin to be issued out of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. When the sheriff, armed with the writ, undertook to deliver the possession of the automobile to the plaintiff, he was met by a counterbond given by the defendant which, under the law, prevented any disturbance of the possession of the latter at least until the question involved by the issue of the writ of replevin was tried out. Although defendant had been duly advised of the beginning of the action of replevin and had been legally summoned to attend, he took no further steps whatever in the way of de
Before his damages had been in any way assessed by the court in which he obtained his judgment, he brought an action in the Municipal Court against the defendant and the sureties on his bond to recover what he claimed to be the damages. On appeal to this court from the judgment recovered in that action, we held that before he could proceed against the sureties on the defendant’s counterbond, he must first have his damages assessed in the court wherein he had obtained his judgment. Following the decision of that case, this proceeding was begun in the Court of Common Pleas simply for the purpose of ascertaining the damages that had accrued to the plaintiff. This liquidation would measure in money the value of the general judgment he had obtained. There is much in the record to indicate that this simple inquiry was rendered more or less difficult by the attempt of counsel on both sides to inject into it many questions which properly had no place in such an investigation. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, fixing his damages at the sum of $100. Being dissatisfied with the amount fixed by the jury, the plaintiff takes this appeal.
There are six assignments of error, no one of which in our judgment warrants any especial mention, save only the third. It complains of the refusal of the court below to affirm the third point for charge presented by the plaintiff, to wit: “The court instructs you as a matter
All of the assignments of error are overruled,
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.