Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/312/183/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 17:52:40+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 312 › Huron Holding Corp. v. Lincoln Mine Operating Co.
Huron Holding Corporation v. Lincoln Mine Operating Co.
Pending appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals from a judgment of the federal District Court for Idaho, a third party sued the judgment creditor in a state court in New York and a warrant of attachment was issued attaching the judgment debt in the hands of the judgment debtor in New York. After the Circuit Court of Appeals had affirmed the judgment of the District Court, but before the mandate issued, the New York court rendered judgment against the judgment creditor and execution was had against the attached debt.
1. The validity of the attachment was governed by the law of New York, and, by that law, the attachment was valid. P. 312 U. S. 188.
2. Having paid the judgment debt under compulsion of the execution, the judgment debtor was entitled to have the judgment of the federal court for Idaho marked satisfied, and the surety was not chargeable on its supersedeas bond. Pp. 312 U. S. 189, 312 U. S. 194.
Certiorari, 311 U.S. 625, to review the reversal of judgments of the District Court, 27 F.Supp. 720, holding that an earlier judgment of that court had been satisfied, and declining to enter judgment against the surety on a supersedeas bond.
Petitioner contends that the attachment was valid under the New York law, and should have been given full effect by the federal court. It is respondent's contention that (1) the attachment proceedings were void, and (2) even if not void, the District Court should not have given effect to them, for the reason that this would be tantamount to an improper deprivation of Lincoln's right to prosecute its suit in the District Court to full payment of the judgment.
"The plea shows that the proceedings on the attachment were instituted after the commencement of this suit. The jurisdiction of the district court of the United States, and the right of the plaintiff to prosecute his suit in that court, having attached, that right could not be arrested or taken away by any proceedings in another court. This would produce a collision in the jurisdiction of courts that would extremely embarrass the administration of justice. . . . [The doctrine here announced] is essential to the protection of the rights of the garnishee."
more than a situation in which two courts were called upon to litigate the same issues at the same time. [Footnote 10] Such is not true in this case.
"This court has held that to the validity of a plea of attachment the attachment must have preceded the commencement of the suit in which the plea is made. Wallace v. M'Connell, 13 Pet. 136."
that principle has no application here. But it is said that a broader principle, stemming from those cases, is here applicable. And it is true that some courts, both state and federal, have adopted the broader rule for which respondent contends. [Footnote 12] The leading federal case on the subject is Thomas v. Wooldridge, 23 Fed.Cas. 986, No. 13,918. The rule in that case, as announced by Justice Bradley on circuit, was that "judgments of state and federal courts should not be subject to attachments issued by each other." The reasons there given to support this rule were: the debt was quasi in custodia legis; attachments of it would therefore interfere with the court's dignity and prerogatives, excite jealousies and bring about conflicts of jurisdiction; many rights are still left for adjustment after judgment, and therefore attachment of a court's judgment would be an inconvenient, dangerous, and potentially fraud-ridden interference with judicial proceedings. Justice Bradley was also of opinion that recognition of this rule was practically compelled by Wallace v. M'Connell.
subject to attachment elsewhere. For it is now settled that attachment is wholly the creature of, and controlled by, the law of the state; property and persons within the state can be subjected to the operation of that local law; power over the person who owes a debt confers jurisdiction on the courts of the state where the writ of attachment issues, and, by reason of the constitutional requirement that full faith and credit be given the valid actions of a state, courts of one state must recognize valid attachment judgments of other states. [Footnote 13] And, under congressional enactment, federal courts must also give full faith and credit. [Footnote 14] These later decisions are but a recognition of the greatly developed statutory use of attachment by the states, a development brought about by the increased nobility of persons and property and the expanded area of business relationships. Whatever may have been the necessity for the rule in other times, it does not fit its present day environment.
Sections 902 and 903 of Art. 54 of the New York Civil Practice Act authorize courts to issue warrants of attachment against defendants shown to be foreign corporations in actions against them based on "[b]reach of contract, express or implied. . . ."
Herrmann & Grace v. City of New York, 130 App.Div. 531, 114 N.Y.S. 1107, 1110, aff'd, 199 N.Y. 600, 93 N.E. 376. Other cases cited by respondent which set out the same general principle are: Fredrick v. Chicago Bearing Metal Co., 221 App.Div. 588, 224 N.Y.S. 629, 630; Reifman v. Warfield Co., 170 Misc. 8, 8 N.Y.S.2d 591, 592; Sheehy v. Madison Square Garden Corp., 266 N.Y. 44, 47, 193 N.E. 633.
Shipman Coal Co. v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 219 App.Div. 312, 219 N.Y.S. 628, aff'd, 245 N.Y. 567, 157 N.E. 859. In determining what is the law of a state, we look to the decisions of lower state courts as well as to those of the state's highest court, and follow the same line of inquiry recently pointed out in West v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co., 311 U. S. 223. And see Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64.
E.g., Railway Co. v. Twombly, 100 U. S. 78; Deposit Bank v. Frankfort, 191 U. S. 499.
Harris v. Balk, 198 U. S. 215, 198 U. S. 226.
Cf. Princess Lida v. Thompson, 305 U. S. 456, 305 U. S. 466; Insurance Company v. Harris, 97 U. S. 331.
If by this the Court meant that, under Illinois law, such a judgment was not subject to garnishment, the case in nothing more than a holding that one state need not give full faith and credit to a void act of a sister state. But both the Missouri Supreme Court (148 Mo. 614, 624, 50 S.W. 300) and this Court ( 179 U. S. 179 U.S. 322, 179 U. S. 327) cited Drake on Attachments (7th ed. 1891) § 625 for the proposition that, by the weight of authority, a judgment of one court was not subject to attachment in another court. This citation of the "weight of authority" might indicate that this Court was deciding the issue as a question of "general law," under Swift v. Tyson, 16 Pet. 1. If so, this aspect of the decision is no longer of any weight. Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64.
E.g., Thomas v. Wooldridge, 23 Fed.Cas. 986, No. 13,918; United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corp. v. Hirsch Lumber Co., 59 App.D.C. 116, 35 F.2d 1010; Elson v. Chicago R.I. & P. Ry., 154 Iowa 96, 134 N.W. 547. Contra: Shipman Coal Co. v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 219 App.Div. 312, 219 N.Y.S. 628, aff'd, 245 N.Y. 567, 157 N.E. 859; Fithian v. New York & Erie R. Co., 31 Pa. 114. And compare McNish v. Burch, 49 S.D. 215, 207 N.W. 85, with Hardwick v. Harris, 22 N.M. 394, 163 P. 253.
E.g., Harris v. Balk, 198 U. S. 215, 198 U. S. 222; Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Deer, 200 U. S. 176, 200 U. S. 178; Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Hostetter, 240 U. S. 620.
1 Stat. 122, as amended, 28 U.S.C. § 687. And see note 17 infra.
Milwaukee County v. M. E. White Co., 296 U. S. 268, 296 U. S. 275.
Cf. United States v. Klein, 303 U. S. 276, 303 U. S. 281-282.
Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 95 U. S. 733; Goldey v. Morning News, 156 U. S. 518, 156 U. S. 521; Cooper v. Newell, 173 U. S. 555, 173 U. S. 567-568; Davis v. Davis, 305 U. S. 32, 305 U. S. 39.

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