Court Opinion

ID: 9790129
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:46:34.331738+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:26.405854
License: Public Domain

Fotii, C.J.,
concurring: My concurrence in the result in this case is based on defendant’s failure to seek a stay of execution under K.S.A. 60-262(b) when it could have done so without cost. I do not wish to be understood as saying that a judgment debtor who does not post a supersedeas bond thereby acquiesces in the judgment or forfeits the right to appeal. Many judgment debtors lack the financial resources to prevent execution in this way. Mere inaction is ordinarily not acquiescence.
Payment of the judgment is another matter. It appears that under Kansas law payment to the sheriff who is about to execute does not amount to acquiescence. Feight v. Wyandt, 79 Kan. 309, Syl. ¶ 2, 99 Pac. 611 (1909). On the other hand, payment to the clerk of the court to prevent imminent execution is acquiescence — at least if made without protest. Muckey v. Baehr, 158 Kan. 19, 145 P.2d 164 (1944).
Here the execution was not a threatened seizure of chattels or real property but simply of defendant’s bank account. Under 60-262(b) the garnished funds or an appropriate portion thereof could have been paid into court as security with virtually no more expense to defendant than the actual payment of the judgment which occurred. In Hermesch v. Haverkamp, 191 Kan. 365, 381 P.2d 360 (1963), there was a garnishment of a liability insurer, and defendant permitted the payment of the insurance coverage to satisfy the judgment. In holding that the payment was voluntary the court pointed out that the policy required the garnishee insurance company to post a supersedeas or appeal bond at defendant’s request. The failure to make such a request, which would have cost nothing, was one factor rendering the payment on defendant’s behalf voluntary. In this case defendant permitted its money to be used to pay the judgment when it could have been used as security. Under the facts of this case, permitting the postjudgment garnishment to proceed to completion amounted to a voluntary payment by defendant itself.