Minick v. Sausaman
Minick v. Sausaman
Opinion of the Court
Opinion,
In August, 1885, appellee held two judgments against J. W. Sausaman on the first of which an execution was issued and
Some ten days after Sausaman’s distributive share was thus paid, appellee issued an attachment execution on the second judgment, and appellant having been served as garnishee answered according to the facts, saying among other things, that the judgment on which the first attachment issued having been fully paid and satisfied, and Sausaman being entitled to his distributive share of the balance in his hands, he did on June 1, 1886, after confirmation of his account, pay the same, so that there is now nothing in his hands, etc. Without undertaking to controvert any of the facts set forth in the answers of the garnishee, the plaintiff below insisted on judgment against him, and the court, being of opinion “ that the fund in garnishee’s hands was bound by the first attachment and so continued notwithstanding the judgment upon which it issued, may have been satisfied inlaw,” judgment was accordingly entered against him, on his answers, for $119.14 in the first attachment, but to be applied, when paid, to the second judgment, as a credit thereon and in satisfaction of both attachment executions, etc.
Without questioning the correctness of the equitable principle
If he had first prosecuted the attachment to a successful termination, and afterwards sold his debtor’s real estate, he might have enjoyed the benefit of the former as well as the lien" on the latter; but he elected to exhaust the real estate first, and applied the. proceeds to payment and satisfaction of the judgment. This left nothing to support the attachment. The debt, for the collection of which it was issued, was fully satisfied, the fund which theretofore had been bound by it in the hands of appellant was at once released from its grasp, and while so freed it was paid to the party entitled to receive it. There was therefore nothing, actually or constructively, in appellant’s hands on which the second attachment could operate. In view of the undisputed facts, as they appear on the record, the court erred in entering the judgment.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.