United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Cushing v. Laird, 107 U.S. 69 (1883)

Cushing v. Laird

Decided March 5, 1883

107 U.S. 69

Syllabus

1. When persons summoned as garnishees in a libel in admiralty in personam are adjudged by the court to have a fund of the principal defendant in their hands and to pay it into court, and the libellant afterwards obtains a final decree against him with an award of execution against the fund in their hands, the first order is interlocutory, and they can appeal from the last decree only.

2. A final decree of acquittal and restitution to the only claimant in a prize cause determines nothing as to the title in the property beyond the question of prize or no prize, and another person, who actually conducts the defense in the prize cause in behalf and by consent of the claimant, without disclosing his own title under a previous bill of sale from the claimant, is not estopped to contest the claimant's title in a subsequent suit brought by creditors attaching the property or its proceeds as belonging to the claimant.

Appeals from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.