Case Name: Lewis v. Mason, Appellant
Court: Supreme Court of Missouri
Jurisdiction: Missouri
Decision Date: 1887-10
Citations: 94 Mo. 551
Docket Number: 
Parties: Lewis v. Mason, Appellant.
Judges: Judges Sherwood, Ray, Black, and Brace are of the opinion that because such judgment was not rendered,
Reporter: Missouri Reports
Volume: 94
Pages: 551–560

Head Matter:
Lewis v. Mason, Appellant.
1. ' Auctioneers and Commission Merchants: lien for ADVANCEMENTS AND COMMISSIONS: RIGHT CF POSSESSION. An auctioneer and commission merchant who received, in good faith, and without the knowledge of any fraud, a consignment of clothing to be sold on commission, and on receiving one-half thereof advanced the consignor twenty-five hundred dollars on account, is entitled to the possession of the goods as against an attaching. creditor of the vendor of the consignor, and he cannot be deprived of their possession either by the consignor, or a creditor of the consignor, until his advances, commissions, and charges are tendered him, and he is made whole.
2. -: replevin : amount of recovery. Where such goods were seized in the hands of the auctioneer by the sheriff, by virtue of a writ of attachment against the vendor of the consignor, and the auctioneer, by replevin, regained possession of them and sold them at auction, the amount of his recovery, under the judgment in the replevin suit, should have been measured by the sum total of his advancements, commissions, and charges, and the residue resulting from the sale,should have been adjudged to the defendant. (Norton, O. J., dissenting).
Appeal from St. Louis Qity Circuit Court. — How. W. II. Hobiteb, Judge.
Reversed AND bemadded.
Henry W. Bond for appellant. •
(1) Our statutory action of replevin was intended to effect a complete adjustment of tire rights of the parties thereto. Boutell v. Warne, 62 Mo. 354; Dougherty •». Cooper, 77 Mo. 534. (2) Drawing of a check ' does not transfer or assign to the holder either a legal or equitable claim to so much of the fund as is called for by the check. Bank v. Coats, 79 Mo. 168; Allen v. Bank, 85 Mo. 173. (3) It is gross error to direct a verdict for plaintiff where there is evidence to sustain a valid defence. Halliday v. Jones, 59 Mo. 482 ; 1 Pattison’s Digest, p. 322, secs. 77, 78. And this, although the case may have been tried by the .court without a jury. Hucrow v. Prior, 53 Mo. 313. (4) The court should have referred the case, under proper instructions, to the jury, who were the sole triers of the facts set out in the bill of exceptions tending to establish defendant’s rights to the property% (5) Whatever the court may have held to be the effect of the evidence, as to the notice to plaintiff of the fraud of Landecker and Levy, since that fraud was established by defendant’s evidence, clearly, a judgment for the surplus in plaintiff’s hands, after repayment of his advancement, should have been rendered for defendant.
George M. Block for respondent.
(1) (a) The rights of the parties in the property in controversy could not be apportioned in this suit. In a replevin suit where a stranger is a party, the special owner is entitled to a judgment for the entire property. DilwortTi v. McKelvy, 30 Mo. 154; Boutell ®. Warne, 62 Mo. 350 ; Drake on Attack. (5 Ed.) pp. 204, 205, sec. 245. (5) Even if this were a proceeding in which the' equities could be settled, according to the rules in DilwortTi ®. McKelmy, supra, still there would be a fatal objection to the. application of the doctrine in this case. In this state the value of the property in controversy in a replevin suit must be fixed or determined as of the time of the trial of the cause. White ®. Storms, 21 Mo. App. 288; C hapman ®. Kerr, 80 Mo. 158 ; Richey ®. Burnes, 83 Mo. 362. (2) The instruction to find a verdict for plaintiff was properly given: (a) Because, where the goods are assigned to an auctioneer or commission merchant, and come into his possession, he has a lien upon the property to secure his charges,- expenses, commissions, or advancements. Jones on Pledges, sec. 8, p. 7; Bateman on Auctioneers ■ (1 Am. Ed.) side page 228, page 259; Story on Agency (9 Ed.) sec. 27, p. 30. The contract between * plaintiff and Landecker was binding and complete when the goods were delivered to plaintiff and plaintiff received the goods for sale at auction ; and in addition thereto, and as a further consideration, were a further consideration necessary to make the agreement binding and irrevocable, the giving of the check to Landecker furnished such consideration. R. S. 1879, sec. 2502; 1 Wade on Attach., sec. 30, pp. 70, 71; Montieth ®. Printing Go., 16 Mo. App. 450. (5) Because not only had plaintiff a special ownership and interest in said property to the extent of his storage, expenses and commissions, to be earned as soon as the goods were ■delivered to him, but at the time of the delivery of the goods, he gave an advancement of twenty-five hundred dollars to Landecker. (e) Because, goods held in pledge cannot be attached or taken in execution in ah action against the pledgeor. The creditor or officer acting for him, in making the attachment, cannot acquire a greater interest in the property than that .pos- ' sessed by the pledgeor ; the pledgeor has strictly only a right to redeem. Jones on Pledges, p. ■ 295, sec. 372' Drake on Attach. (5 Ed.) p. 204, sec. 245; Baugh v. Kirkpatrick, 54 Pa. St. 84. (d) Because a bailor cannot take property upon which the bailee has á lien, without tendering the amount due, although the bailee has demanded an excessive amount. Montieth v. Printing Co., 16 Mo. App. 450. (e) Because a power of sale given in a pledge is an authority coupled with an interest, and passes to the pledgee’s representatives, and such a power is not affected by an attachment of the property in a suit against the pledgeor. Jones on Pledges, p. 474, sec. 631 ; Drake on Attach. (5 Ed.) pp. 367, 368, sec. 453 a; Baugh v. Kirkpatrick, 54 Pa. St. 84. (f) .Because, the Revised Statutes of Missouri direct and instruct the sheriff as to the manner of serving a writ of attachment as follows: “IV. When goods and chattels, money or evidences of debt, are to be attached, the officer shall take the same and keep them in his custody, if accessible; and if not accessible, he shall declare to the person in possession thereof that he attaches the same in his hands, and summon such person as garnishee.” R. S. 1879, sec. 420.

Opinion:
Norton, C. J.
This is a replevin suit to recover from defendant the possession of certain goods, in which plaintiff had judgment, from which defendant has appealed, and assigns as the chief ground of error the action of the court in giving, at the close of all the evidence, an instruction to the effect, that, under the evidence, the finding must be for the plaintiff.
The evidence tends to disclose the following state of facts : That plaintiff, who was an auctioneer and commission merchant in the city of St. Louis, on the twelfth day of July, 1883, received into his possession from one Landecker, the lot of mixed clothing, in controversy in this suit, and to be sold by him on commission ; that, at the time he received them, Landecker exhibited to-him-an invoice or bill of sale of said goods, which was executed by one Levy, and that plaintiff, after the delivery to him, at his commission house, of one-half of the goods, and while the others were in course of delivery, advanced to said Landecker the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, in a check drawn on the-Bank of Commerce, and payable to the order of said Landecker, dated on the twelfth, and paid by said bank on the thirteenth, of July, being endorsed in blank by said Landecker. The evidence also tends to show that thereafter, on the twelfth of July, 1883, there came to the hands of defendant, sheriff of the city of St. Louis, three certain writs of attachment sued out by certain creditors of said Levy, and that, about'two o'clock in the-afternoon of said day, he levied said writs on the said stock of clothing in plaintiff's possession as the property of said Levy, and took the same into possession ; that, thereafter, under an order made in this suit for the-delivery of the goods to plaintiff, he having given bond,, they were returned to plaintiff, and were subsequently sold by him at public auction for the sum of four thousand four hundred dollars.
The evidence further tended to show that the goods sold by Levy to Landecker were, worth about six thousand dollars, and that the consideration expressed in the bill of sale was twenty-five hundred dollars; that Levy at that time was- heavily in debt; that, immediately after the sale, the goods were removed by Landecker to plaintiff's commission house in teams furnished by plaintiff for that purpose; that, after the goods were delivered to plaintiff, and after he had advanced on the same twenty-five hundred dollars- to» Landecker, plaintiff was notified by an attorney of one of the plaintiffs in the attachment suits, that the-sale'by Levy to Landecker was made in fraud of his creditors. The evidence tended further to show that, until more than half the goods had been delivered to plaintiff, and at the time he made the advancement, he did not know where the goods came from.
The undisputed facts in the case show that the •goods in question were consigned and delivered by Landecker to plaintiff as an auctioneer and commission merchant, to be sold by him on commission, and that he advanced the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars on the same without notice or knowledge of the fraud •between Levy and Landecker, if . any such fraud there was. Under .this state of facts, plaintiff had a right to the possession .of the goods as against an attaching creditor; of which possession he could not be deprived either by the consignor or creditor of the consignor, till his advances, commissions, and charges were tendered him, and he was made whole. The principle here stated is supported by the following authorities: Baugh v. Kilpatrick, 54 Pa. St. 84; Monteith v. Printing Co., 16 Mo. App. 450; Drake on Attach., pp. 204-5, sec. 245 ; Jones on Pledges, p. 295, sec. 372, and p. 474, sec. 631; Story on Agency, p. 30, sec. 27.
It appears that plaintiff had in his hands fourteen thousand four hundred dollars, the proceeds of the sale of the goods which, by virtue of an order made in this .suit, had been taken from the possession of defendant. Under the judgment, plaintiff recovered the whole of said amount, and it is insisted that judgment for the surplus remaining in his hands, after deducting from the whole amount of the proceeds of the sale his advancement, commissions, and proper charges, should have been rendered for the defendant, and in support of this view we have been cited to the cases of Dilworih v. McKelvy, 30 Mo. 154; Boutelle v. Warne, 62 Mo. 354, and Dougherty v. Cooper, 77 Mo. 534-6. It is the opinion, of a majority of the court, that the above cases sustain the contention, and that' the point is well taken (to which I do not agree) and that the amount of plaintiff's recovery-should have been measured by the sum total of his advancement, commissions, and charges, and that the surplus remaining over should have been adjudged to the defendant.
Judges Sherwood, Ray, Black, and Brace are of the opinion that because such judgment was not rendered,
that reversible error was committed, and it is hereby ordered that the judgment be reversed and cause remanded to be proceeded with in conformity with this opinion.