Sperry v. Styer

Citations

• 23 Pa. Super. 607
• 1903 Pa. Super. LEXIS 128

Syllabus

<p>Attachment under act of 1869 — •Nonresident defendant — Dissolution of attachment — Acts of March 17, 1869, P. L. 8, and May 10, 1889, P. L. 183 — Foreign attachment.</p> <p>Where a defendant in an attachment under the act of March 17, 1869, has not been personally served, is not a resident of the county, and has not appeared to the action, the proceeding must follow the practice which is provided in the case of foreign attachment.</p> <p>In the provision of the foreign attachment Act of May 10, 1889, P. L. 183, which reads: “It shall be lawful for the plaintiff at and after the third term of court after the execution of the writ to take judgment against the defendant for default of appearance unless the attachment before that time be dissolved,” the words “ before that time ■” relate to the time when judgment is about to be taken, and not to the “ third term.”</p> <p>A nonresident defendant in a fraudulent debtor’s attachment proceedings who has not been personally served; and who has not appeared to the action, but against whom a judgment has been entered for want of an appearance after the dissolution of the action, cannot be convicted of laches if after the expiration of eight years from the entry of the judgment, he discovers its existence and immediately proceeds to have it stricken from the record. After the dissolution of the attachment he is not required to anticipate that a personal judgment may be taken against him.</p>