Case Name: E. F. Mills, Respondent, v. Vollmer-Clearwater Company, Appellant
Court: Washington Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Washington
Decision Date: 1923-08-09
Citations: 126 Wash. 73
Docket Number: No. 17965
Parties: E. F. Mills, Respondent, v. Vollmer-Clearwater Company, Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Washington Reports
Volume: 126
Pages: 73–74

Head Matter:
[No. 17965.
Department One.
August 9, 1923.]
E. F. Mills, Respondent, v. Vollmer-Clearwater Company, Appellant.
Attachment (58) — Wbongeul Attachment — Actions—Existence of Pbobable Cause. An attaching plaintiff cannot claim immunity from the effect of a wrongful attachment because of having followed the advice of counsel, where, at the time the supporting affidavit was filed, he had come into possession of facts which precluded the issuance of the attachment and failed to advise his counsel thereof.
Appeal from a judgment of the superior court for Asotin county, McCroskey, J., entered January 13, 1923, upon findings in favor of the plaintiff, in an action for wrongful attachment, tried to the court.
Affirmed.
C. H. Baldwin, for appellant.
Fred E. Butler and E. J. Boyle, for respondent.
Reported in 217 Pac. 3.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
— The trial court found that, on August 3, 1920, the appellant began an action against the respondent and filed an affidavit on that day for attachment and issued an attachment bond; that the attachment was issued thereon and a levy made upon an automobile belonging to the respondent; that the affidavit was insufficient, and that thereafter, on the 7th of August, the appellant filed a new affidavit for attachment and new bond and a writ was issued and the automobile was again attached; that in November, 1920, the writs were duly dissolved and that there was no probable cause for the issuance of either writ, and entered judgment based on these findings against the respondent for the damages caused by the unlawful detention of the automobile and attorney's fee. From that judgment, this appeal has been prosecuted.
The record shows that the attorney for the appellant collected'the information upon which the attachment was issued, having had placed in his hands for collection a bill against the respondent. It is admitted that the first affidavit stated no ground for attachment. The second affidavit was made after the appellant had secured, as we are satisfied from the .record, information of sufficient property in the state owned by the respondent out of which judgment, if one should be obtained, could be satisfied. It is the appellant's contention that, having turned the entire, matter over to its attorney, who made the investigation of both the facts and the law, and filed the attachment, it is relieved from liability, and relies on this upon the decision of this court in Levy v. Fleischner, 12 Wash. 15, 40 Pac. 384. The cases of Voss v. Bender, 32 Wash. 566, 73 Pac. 697, and Wild Rose Orchard Co. v. Critzer, 79 Wash. 462, 140 Pac. 561, are- cited by the respondent as limiting the rule laid down in Levy v. Fleischner, supra.
We find it unnecessary to restate the rule or to enter into any analysis of these decisions; for we are satisfied that the respondent is entitled to recover because of the wrongful execution of the attachment under the second affidavit, even under any interpretation that, may be given to the decision in the Levy case; for, at: the time the second affidavit was filed, the appellant was in possession of facts which precluded the issuance of the attachment; and under the Levy case, it was the duty of the appellant to have submitted to its attorney all the facts of which it had possession, failing to do which it cannot claim immunity because of having followed the advice of counsel. Rem. Comp. Stat., § 6654 [P. C. § 865]. We are satisfied from the entire record that the judgment should be; and it is, affirmed.