Lowenstine v. Gillespie
Lowenstine v. Gillespie
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The complainants allege that they had, previous to the filing -of their bill, sued out an attachment at law against John • Gillespie, returnable to the second circuit court of Shelby county, and the sheriff had levied the same on a stock of goods of said defendant. They set forth the substance of their proceedings, and allege that they thereby acquired a valid lien on the property attached for the satisfaction of their debt, and that the cause was then still pending. They further allege, however, that their attachment was levied subject to a prior levy in favor of Frank Malone against-said Gillespie, under an attachment sued out by said
It is charged that Malone’s proceedings are void, that he acquired no rights thereunder, and the prayer of the bill is that he be enjoined from receiving any part of the proceeds of the sale, which, it is charged, are not sufficient to satisfy both attachments, and that the sheriff be ordered to pay the money into court to await the final judgment in the case of the complainants in the. second circuit court. In other words, the equity of the bill is, that Malone’s proceedings being void, and the levy of complainants’ attachment being valid, they will be entitled to the -proceeds of the property, and as it is charged that Malone is insolvent, the court should impound the fund and hold it subject to the judgment complainants may obtain.
Counsel on both sides have conceded that the case turns upon the validity' of Malone’s attachment proceedings. These proceedings are set forth in the bill, and two grounds of attack are specially set down :
First, that the affidavit of Malone for; the attachment “does not state that the debt sued for is a just ■claim.” The language of the affidavit is, “that John Gillespie, surviving partner of the late firm of John Gillespie & Brother, is justly indebted to him in the sum of ten hundred and ninety-six and dollars, by account, for money loaned.” Some of our cases
The other objection is, that the judgment by default in favor of Malone was taken without personal service of process, or without the proper notice by publication. The notice that was published is set forth in the bill. The objection is not to its sufficiency, but that it was not published in the paper the number of times required, or rather, that sufficient length. of time did not elapse between the first publication and the appearance day. Section 3523 of the Code requires the publication to be made “for four consecutive weeks, * * the last publication to be at least one week before the time fixed for the defendant's appearance.” The notice in this case was published as follows: — on the 10th and 26th of August and on the 2d and 9th of September respectively, and the day fixed for the defendant's appearance was the 21st of September; so it will be seen that the notice was published four times, and each publication was precisely one week apart, and the last publication was more than one week before the day fixed for the defendant's appearance. The argument, however, is, that a period of thirty-five days should elapse between
The decree of the chancellor was in favor of Malone, and it will be affirmed with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.