Mack v. Meisen
Mack v. Meisen
Opinion of the Court
The garnishee held the property of the j udgment debtor under an assignment executed July 15, 1886. If the assignment was valid, it is obvious that the proceeding against the garnishee was properly dismissed. But it is claimed that the assignment is void because it gives an illegal preference of one creditor over another. The correctness of this view can only be determined by the language of the assignment itself to which we refer. The assignment is headed, “Voluntary Assignments, with Preferences.” It provides that the assignee shall pay fhe demand of a clerk-for two and a half months’ wages in the assign- or’s store at $20 per month. This is the only debt mentioned and provided for in class No. 1, and it is admitted by the learned counsel for the appellant that the law allows such a preference. The statutes expressly prefer such claims. Oh. 349, Laws of 1883, and ch. 48, Laws of 1885. The assignment then directs that after the payment of the debt designated in Schedule O as “ Class No. 1,” with the residue of the net proceeds of the assigned property, the assignee “ shall pay in full all and singular the debts, demands, and liabilities due or to grow due, enumerated and designated as (Glass No. 2,’ and all other indebtedness owing by said party of the first part to any person or persons whomsoever, if there be sufficient of the net proceeds remaining in the hands ” of the assignee for that purpose; and if there be not suf
We think the clause in question makes no such preference among the creditors as counsel claims. True, the assignor, in class No. 2 named eight creditors who were to be paid, but he also included with them all other indebtedness which he owed. Consequently, creditors not mentioned in the list were placed upon the same footing precisely as those named, and were equally entitled to their ratable share of the proceeds of the assigned property. We think this is the real meaning of the clause; certainly we are clear that no preference is made among the creditors except as to the wages of the clerk, where a preference is allowed. But in respect to all other creditors they are embraced in the same class, no discrimination being made between them. Doubtless, in preparing the list of creditors when the assignment was made, the assignor failed, through forgetfulness or mistake, to name all his creditors in it. It is not strange that he failed to remember two creditors whom he owed small amounts. If he had omitted the names of his large cred
As the case turns upon the meaning of the language used in the assignment, we do not deem it necessary to comment upon the cases cited which have no particular bearing upon the question before us. We think the judgment of the circuit court is correct, and must be affirmed.
By the Oonrt.— Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mack and another v. Meisen, Garnishee, etc.
- Status
- Published