Bradley v. Interstate Land & Canal Co.
Bradley v. Interstate Land & Canal Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from an order denying the motion of one George A. Fletcher, claiming to be a subsequent lienholder, to discharge an attachment issued in behalf of Thomas Bradley, plaintiff in this action, and under which the property of the Interstate Land & Canal Company, a corporation, was attached. Bradley, the plaintiff, instituted an action in the circuit court of Lawrence county against the corporation and one Francis C. Grable to recover the sum of about $25,000, claimed to be due on account of notes and drafts executed by the corporation and indorsed by Grable. The warrant of attachment was issued upon the affidavit of the attorney and agent of the plaintiff, who, after setting out the indebtedness and grounds thereof; makes the following statement: “That the defendant Francis C. Grable is a non-resident of, and is not now in the State of South Dakota; that the defendant the
The affidavit upon which the warrant of attachment was issued in this case follows the language of Section 4995, and is undoubtedly sufficient, unless that section has been modified or changed by the amendment made in • 1895 to Section 4993, as appears by Chapt. 67 of the Session Laws of that year. The title of that act is as follows: “An act to amend section one hundred and ninety-seven (197) of the Code of Civil Procedure, being Section 4993 of the Compiled Laws of 1887, as amended, relating to attachment.” By Section 1 of that chapter it is provided that said section be amended to read as follows: “In all actions against corporations created by and under the laws of any other territory, state, government, or country, which have not complied with the laws of this state relative to the appointment of agents upon whom service of process may be made, * * * the plaintiff at the time of issuing the summons or at any time afterward may have the property of such * * * corporation attached in the manner hereinafter prescribed as a security for the satisfaction of such judgment as the plaintiff may recover. * * * ” It will be observed that in the title of the act, and by the provisions of the first section of the same, the only section proposed to be amended is Section 4993. There is no amendment, in terms, of Section 4995, nor is there any reference thereto in the said chapter, By Section 4995 it is provided that a warrant of attachment “may issue upon affidavit stating (1) that a cause of action exists against such defendant, specifying the amount of the claim and the grounds thereof; and (2) that the defendant is either a foreign corporation or not a resident of this territory. * * This section, not
With these views of the effect of the amendment of 1895, we do not deem it necessary to discuss at much length the other questions suggested by respondent, namely, that the party seeking to attack the sufficiency of the affidavit on the part of the plaintiff was not in a position to make such an attack, because he has failed to show that he was a subsequent attaching creditor It seems to be the general rule that a junior attaching creditor, to successfully attack a prior defective attachment, must affirmatively show that every step of his own proceeding was regular; and the plaintiff may insist upon strict legal proof of the subsequent lien, and his right to question its validity. 3 Enc. Pl. & Prac. 70, and cases cited. In this case no evidence was introduced in the court below tending to prove the regularity of the proceedings of the junior attaching creditor, except what appears by an affidavit of the attorney in the case, and certain certificates thereto attached. Neither the affidavit up
The appellant insists that the objection that he failed to show that he had acquired a valid subsequent lien upon the property attached in the action of plaintiff was not raised in the court below, and therefore should not be considered by this court. But the appellant has evidently overlooked the fact that it does not affirmatively appear in the record before us that the objection was not made and urged in the court below, and that it does not affirmatively appear that the court below did not deny the motion upon that ground. When an order is
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- 1. Under Comp. Laws 1897, § 4993, as amended by Session Laws 1895, Chap. 67, which provides that in all actions against corporations created by and under the laws of any other state which have not “complied with the la wo of this state relative to the appointment of agents upon whom service of process may be made * * * the plaintiff at the time of issuing' the summons or at any time afterward may have the property of such * * * corporation attached as a security for the satisfaction of such judgment as the plaintiff may recover,” and Section 4995, which provides that a warrant of attachment may issue upon affidavit of the plaintiff or his attorney stating that a cause of action exists against the defendant, specifying the amount of the claim and the ground thereof, and that the defendant is either a foreign corporation or not a resident of this state, it is not incumbent on the attaching creditor to state in his affidavit that the corporation has not complied with the laws of the state relative to the appointment of an attorney on whom service of process may be made; but the burden of proving the fact that the corporation has complied with such requirement rests upon it, and, if shown, deprives the credit- or of his right to the attachment. 2. Comp. Laws 1887, Section 4993, as amended by Session Laws 1895, Chap. 67, is not so inconsistent with Comp. Laws, § 4995, as to repeal the latter section. 3. A junior attaching creditor, to sucessfully attack a prior defective attachment, must affirmatively show that every step of his own proceedings by which ho acquired a lien upon the property was regular and in accordance with law. 4. Where it does not affirmatively appear from the record that an objection raised on appeal was not made on the trial in the court below, and it does not appear from the record on what ground the court below made its order, it is the duty of the supreme court to sustain the trial court, if there is any ground disclosed by the record on which the order ap- • pealed from could have properly been made. Fullee, J., dissenting.