United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Jeffrey v. Moran, 101 U.S. 285 (1879)

Jeffrey v. Moran

101 U.S. 285

Syllabus

A railroad company in Ohio was reorganized under a statute of that state of April 11, 1881, the sixth section of which provides as follows:

"The lien of the mortgages and deeds of trust authorized to be made by this act shall be subject to the lien of judgments recovered against said corporation -- after its reorganization -- for labor thereafter performed for it, or for materials or supplies thereafter furnished to it, or for damages for losses or injuries thereafter suffered or sustained by the misconduct of its agents, or in any action founded on its contracts, or liability as a common carrier thereafter made or incurred."

The new company executed, April 1, 1864, a mortgage on its road to secure the payment of the principal and interest of certain bonds. Default having been made in the payment of the interest, a foreclosure suit was instituted, and a decree rendered whereunder a sale of the road was made, which was reported to the court Dec. 2, 1869, and on that day confirmed. The proceeds of the sale were less than the mortgage debt. A. was killed on the road June 22, 1866. His administrator, in a court in one of the counties through which the road passed, recovered, Feb. 28, 1871, judgment against the company for $5,000. In November, 1875, he became a party to the foreclosure suit, and claimed payment out of such proceeds.

Held:

1. That by the law of Ohio, a judgment is a lien from "the first day of the term at which the judgment is rendered," and as before that day the road had been sold and the sale confirmed, no lien by the judgment existed.

2. That there being no lien at law upon the road, there could be none in equity upon the fund arising from the sale.

Page 101 U. S. 286

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.