Commonwealth v. A. B. Baxter & Co.

Citations

• 235 Pa. 179
• 84 A. 136
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 524

Syllabus

<p>Principal and surety — Bond—Foreign attachment — Amendment — Cause of action — Damages—Different measure of damages — Judgment—Foreign corporation — Act of March 20, 18J/.5, P. L. 188 — Act of March 80,1905, P. L. 76.</p> <p>1. Tbe rule that a judgment against tbe principal in a bond is conclusive against his sureties applies to bonds of administrators and guardians, bonds of assignees for the benefit of creditors, official bonds, bonds of indemnity and other bonds of like character, but it does not apply in the case of a bond given to dissolve a foreign attachment.</p> <p>2. Where a bond is given under the Act of March 20, 1845, P. L. 188, to dissolve a foreign attachment, and the condition of the bond is to “pay the debt or damages, interest and costs that may be recovered,” the amount of the debt or damages that may be recovered from the surety is measured by the sum demanded in the affidavit of the cause of action. If after the filing of the affidavit the plaintiff thinks proper to increase his claim for damages by amendment, the sureties are not discharged from all liability by such amendment, but will be required to pay the damages liquidated by the plaintiff in the original affidavit of the cause of action, together with interest and costs.</p> <p>3. The original cause of action in a foreign attachment cannot be amended after the bond has been filed by introducing a new cause of action, or by substituting a different measure of damages.</p> <p>4. In a foreign attachment brought against a broker by his customer, where the plaintiff in his original affidavit of cause of action, claims the difference between the purchase price of stocks, and the highest price at which the same stocks sold up to the final filing of the statement, and he subsequently amends his claim so as to give him the right to recover upon the basis of the highest selling price of the stocks up to the time of trial, the sureties are not bound by such amendment.</p> <p>5. Under the Act of Ma