Killen v. American Casualty Co.

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant disputes the correctness of the trial court’s granting a motion of a garnishee, American Casualty Company, for summary judgment in its behalf on the grounds there was no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and that the garnishee was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. This is the only question presented in the appeal. The facts are somewhat unusual.

In November, 1960, the appellant obtained a judgment (in Law No. 10,852) in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, against George Washington Cemetery, Inc. Subsequently, he, as attaching judgment creditor, inter alia, directed the clerk of the court in Prince George’s County to issue a writ of attachment on said judgment, pursuant to Maryland Rule 622 h (1958 Ed.), and to make tne writ returnable to the Superior Court of Baltimore City, to be served on American, garnishee, by leaving a copy in the hands of the State Insurance Commissioner (Code [1957], Article 48A, § 33). The clerk prepared the writ, and pursuant to Rule 622 h sent a certified copy of the docket entries in Law No. 10,852 to the Superior Court of Baltimore City. The clerk also docketed a new case, Law No. 14,817, in Prince George’s County. 1 After service and return by the sheriff of Baltimore, American filed identical answers in the case pending in the Superior Court and in the new case (No. 14,817) in Prince George’s County. The answers admitted that American had written an injunction bond on behalf of George Washington and two other ¹⁰⁸ principals for the sole protection of one Albert F. Hauser, a defendant in Equity No. B-3989 in Prince George’s County in which case the bond was filed, for any loss he might sustain by reason of the issuance of an injunction; and stated that was the only “credit” of George Washington held by American, therefore American had no liability to the appellant.

The appellant then filed, in the Superior Court and also in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, a demand on American to produce the bond. American complied by filing photostatic copies in both courts. Thereafter, appellant filed a “replication” and a “request for admission of facts” (which was complied with) in the Superior Court, only. He also filed a motion ne recipiatur in the case in Prince George’s County.

American filed a motion for a summary judgment in the case in Prince George’s County on the ground that there was no genuine dispute as to any material fact. The appellant answered the motion and denied there was no dispute as to any material fact, but failed to state what material facts were disputed. In none of the papers that he filed in the case in Prince George’s County did he deny the jurisdiction of the court. The appellant did not, and does not now, claim that American had any goods, chattels, credits or assets of George Washington, other than the bond (if that can come within the purview of any of the aforementioned terms).

An examination of the bond, produced at appellant’s request, bears out the interpretation afforded it in American’s answer, mentioned above. The appellant argues that the Circuit Court of Prince George’s County had no jurisdiction to entertain the motion for a summary judgment. The question gives us little difficulty. An attachment on judgment is a mode of execution and its office is essentially the same as that of a fi fa.

Hodge & McLane, Law of Attachment, § 251; Rule 623 a. Cf. Rule 622 h 4. But it is well recognized that even a court of general jurisdiction acts under a special and limited authority in attachment proceedings.

Cole v. Randall Park Holding Co., 201 Md. 616 , 95 A. 2d 273 ; Hodge & McLane, op. cit., § 11; 6 Am. Jur. 2d, Attachment and Garnishment, § 13. However, such courts find ample authority in our statutes, Code (1957), Article 9, and ¹⁰⁹ the rules of court, Rules 622 and 623, to entertain attachment proceedings. The Circuit Court for Prince George’s County is such a court, and it hears and disposes of attachment cases regularly.

The original judgment, upon which the attachment issued, was obtained and is recorded in