Williams v. Eastman
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort against a deputy sheriff for an alleged malicious attachment of personal property of the plaintiff in an action brought by the S. H. Couch Company, a corporation, with four counts, of which the first alleged that the defendant attached personal property of the plaintiff worth not less than $30,000, consisting of his stock on hand and machinery for the manufacture of shoes in the plaintiff’s factory at Wayland, upon a writ in an action of contract in which the ad damnum…
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Tort against a deputy sheriff for an alleged malicious attachment of personal property of the plaintiff in an action brought by the S. H. Couch Company, a corporation, with four counts, of which the first alleged that the defendant attached personal property of the plaintiff worth not less than $30,000, consisting of his stock on hand and machinery for the manufacture of shoes in the plaintiff’s factory at Wayland, upon a writ in an action of contract in which the ad damnum was only $300 and the amount claimed in the declaration was only $125.45 with interest from April 20, 1907, alleging…
1Opinion of the CourtBraley, J.
If the defendant as a deputy sheriff made a wilfully excessive attachment of the plaintiff’s personal property as alleged in the first count of the declaration, he exceeded his authority, and the writ under which he acted, although valid and duly returned to the court from which it issued, does not protect him or justify his conduct. Watson v. Todd, 5 Mass. 271, 272. Malcom v. Spoor, 12 Met. 279. Esty v. Wilmot, 15 Gray, 168, 169.
It is contemplated by our statutes governing attachments of personal property, that the attaching officer shall take immediate possession and hold the property so…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Cutter v. HoweMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1877
- Watson v. ToddMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1809
- Abbott v. KimballSupreme Court of Vermont · 1847
- Boynton v. WarrenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
- Bergin v. HaywardMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
3Cited by5 opinions
- Clikos v. LongSupreme Court of Alabama · 1936
- Saliem v. GlovskySupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1934
- Shaw v. FultonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1929
- Costa v. GoldenbergMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1927
- Cary Brick Co. v. TiltonCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1913