Downey v. Wilbur
Downey v. Wilbur
Opinion of the Court
James Downey sued and recovered judgment against R. A. Wilbur and wife, in a justice of the peace court, in the sum of $55.82. He then filed a duly certified transcript from the docket of the justice of the peace in the county clerk’s office, upon which the clerk issued a writ of execution. The sheriff made a levy upon the property in which Wilbur and wife resided, and advertised it for sale. Prior to the date
Wilbur and wife have moved to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that this court is without jurisdiction to hear it. The argument is that the original amount in controversy, $55.82, is insufficient to give this court jurisdiction under art. 4, § 4, of the constitution. In our opinion, the position is untenable. The thing in controversy in this appeal is real property, according to the order and judgment of the superior court, and which respondents allege to be of the value of $1,000. It is an appeal not by Wilbur and wife, directly or indirectly, from the money judgment against them, but by Downey from a final judgment made in favor of Wilbur and wife at the conclusion of a separate proceeding instituted by them by which they have had removed from their real property the lien of a levy and had it declared free under the exemption laws. It was a proceeding on the equity side of the court that resulted in an injunctive order from which the appeal has been prosecuted.
Respondents rely upon the cases of Leites v. Peterson, 68 Wash. 474, 123 Pac. 773; Wade v. Weber, 82 Wash. 591, 144 Pac. 901; and Statei ex rel. Swan v. Superior Court, 105 Wash. 167, 177 Pac. 679. Those
The motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.
Parker, C. J., Tolman, Fullerton, and Holcomb, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James H. Downey v. R. A. Wilbur
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeal (23)—Decisions Reviewable—Suits in Equity. The provision of the constitution, Art. 4, § 4, denying appellate jurisdiction to the supreme court where the original amount in controversy is less than $200, does not preclude appeal from an injunctive order made in a proceeding to have property declared a homestead and exempt from execution upon a judgment for $55.82.