Miller v. Klopp

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Miller v. Klopp, 141 Pa. 375 (Pa. 1891)
21 A. 601; 1891 Pa. LEXIS 1076
Clark, Green, Paxson, Sterrett, Williams

Miller v. Klopp

Opinion of the Court

Opinion,

Mr. Justice Clark:

We cannot see what right, in law or equity, the appollanfli have to maintain their writ of venditioni exponas against thel appellees, upon completion of the tender according to the order of the Common Pleas, made June 2, 1890. It is true that by the terms of the decree of this court, entered April 14, 1888, it was provided that the effect thereof should not be to create any personal responsibility as to Elvira L. Miller; that the decree should be enforceable only against the land. But it appears that Elvira L. Miller afterwards, in relief of the land, went into the Common Pleas and obtained a stay of execution, claiming practically that the decree was satisfied ; that Henry Miller had moneys in his hands realized from the rents, issues, and profits of the lands in dispute, sufficient and more than sufficient to pay the decree. Her claim was then not only unliquidated, it was actually in litigation; but the stay of execution was nevertheless ordered, and the same has since been continued until the true amount of her claim could be legally ascertained. This was afterwards done, and judgment was entered for $2,653.55; and now the defendant complains of the court for doing what she herself prayed the court might be done. The *380order was made, practically, upon the petition of both parties in interest, and it is difficult to see how either can complain. The execution was stayed in order that the rents, issues and profits might be ascertained, and applied in payment of the decree ; and now, having had the benefit of a stay of proceedings for this particular purpose, she will not be permitted, when her claim is adjusted, to repudiate the mode of settlement she herself proposed, and upon the faith of which the stay was granted. We are of opinion that the court was right in making the order of June 2,1890, and the same is affirmed.

The appeal is dismissed at the cost of the appellants.

Reference

Full Case Name
C. H. MILLER ET UX. v. REUBEN KLOPP
Status
Published
Syllabus
{a) A married woman, against whom a decree for the payment of money was entered, not as a personal debt but as a charge upon her land, applied for the stay of execution process issued to enforce the decree, upon the ground that the plaintiff therein had in his hands rents and profits of the land more than sufficient to pay the decree. (6) The court stayed the execution until the amount of the defendant’s claim could be judicially ascertained in an action therefor already pending. Having recovered a judgment in that action, she issued execution for its collection, refusing to credit the decree thereon and refusing a tender of the balance : 1. Having had the benefit of a stay of proceedings, granted for the particular purpose of ascertaining the amount of the rents and profits, that they might be applied in payment of the decree, the married woman could not be permitted to repudiate her own proposal of such a mode of settlement, on the faith of which the stay was granted.