People's National Bank v. Kern
People's National Bank v. Kern
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
We see no reason for disturbing the decree entered in the
Considered as a creditor’s bill it cannot be sustained. The plaintiff has a full and adequate remedy at law under the ordinary and long established methods of procedure. It can levy on and sell the real estate as the property of the defendant in the judgment, purchase it if necessary for the protection of its interest, and bring ejectment. The attachment execution which it caused to be issued makes the garnishees, who are defendants in the bill, liable to account for all the property of the defendants in the judgment which is in their hands, and for debts due them. The act of 1836 provides a method by which their rights may be further and more fully secured. The decision in Girard National Bank’s Appeal, 13 W. N. C. 101, cited in the opinion of the learned judge of the common pleas, is conclusive of this question. Fowler’s Appeal, 87 Pa. 449, Houseman v. Grossman, 177 Pa. 453, and People’s Nat. Bank of Pitts. v. Loeffert, 184 Pa. 164, are cases in which the ordinary remedy at law would have been ineffectual, and they do not affect the established rule.
The contention that any objection to the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the bill should have been raised by demurrer or answer, and that it comes too late after the report of the master, is without merit. The bill as filed was for discovery, and it was framed in the words of the act of 1836. It presented no ground for objection to the jurisdiction of the court, and it was not until after answer and after the testimony had all been taken that the intention to treat the bill as a creditor’s bill was disclosed.
The decree is affirmed at the cost of the appellant.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The People's National Bank v. Howard R. Kern and Louis C. Haughey, surviving partners of William A. Baeder, Howard R. Kern and Louis C. Haughey, late copartners, trading as the William A. Baeder Glue Company William H. Kern, James E. Salter, Walter R. Kern, Emily L. Bentz, Carrie Maud Kern, Mabel Ella Kern, the American Coal Company and the Acme Glue Company
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Bill in equity—Discovery—Creditors'1 bill—Execution. A bill in equity for discovery for the purpose of obtaining evidence, and in aid of a legal right, does not draw the whole case into equity; the jurisdiction is for discovery only, and ends with it. A creditors’ bill cannot be sustained where it appears that the plaintiff has a full and adequate remedy at law, and has summoned under attachment execution certain of the defendants named in bill as garnishees liable to account to the other defendants. Where a bill in equity is iiled as a bill of discovery under the act of June 16, 1886, and subsequently, after answers filed and after testimony was taken, the plaintiff discloses an intention to treat the bill as a creditors’ bill, the court may dismiss the bill, although the objection Lo the jurisdiction of the court is not raised by demurrer or answer.