Messenger v. Murphy

Citations

• 33 Wash. 353
• 74 P. 480
• 1903 Wash. LEXIS 528

Syllabus

<p>Attorney and Client—Employment by Adverse Parties. An attorney should not be excluded from appearing in behalf of the plaintiff in an action for damages for the taking of exempt personal property under an attachment sued out by defendant, by reason of having previously represented the defendant, when it appears that he had simply been consulted as defendant’s general counsel with reference to the collection of the original account, and was not employed in the attachment suit subsequently brought to collect it, and it does not appear that any facts were disclosed which he could use prejudicially to defendant’s rights.</p> <p>Conversion—Wrongful Attachment—Seizure of Exempt Property—Claim:' of Exemptions—Sale Without Appraisement. An execution plaintiff and the officer executing the writ, who ignore a claim for exemptions and proceed to sell without an appraisement, should respond in damages for the conversion of plaintiff’s exempt property, seized and sold under an attachment issued on the theory that plaintiff was a nonresident; and a verdict for plaintiff will not be disturbed where there was sufficient evidence to justify the jury in finding that the plaintiff was a resident householder, that the property came within the classification of exempt property, and that claim to the exemption was duly made under Bal. Code, § 5255, prior to the sale.</p> <p>Damages . for Conversion—Value of Goods—Verdict When not Excessive. A verdict for $479.90 for damages for the wrongful attachment and sale of exempt property will not be disturbed as excessive when the evidence is conflicting and the plaintiff testifies that it was of that value.</p> <p>Same—Goods Purchased on the Instalment Plan—Measure of Damages. The purchaser of goods on the instalment plan (the title remaining in the vender) may recover the full value for their conversion, when the contract contains an unqualified agreement to pay the pried.</p>