COLEMAN MUSIC AND GAMES CO., INC., APPELLANT,
v.
RANDY A. MCDANIEL, INDIVIDUALLY, AND RANDY A. MCDANIEL, D/B/A DISCO INFERNO, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1981-09-23
No. 81-100
DAUKSCH, C. J., and ORFINGER, J., concur.
411 So. 2d 193 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1981) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Coleman Music and Games Co. appealed the dissolution of a garnishment writ against McDaniel, the maker of a negotiable promissory note. The court held that garnishment of negotiable notes is permissible when the note is mature or has matured payments due, contrary to prior dicta suggesting notes cannot be garnished while current.


Holding

A judgment creditor may garnish payments on a negotiable note through garnishment when: (1) the note is mature or one or more payments have matured before service of the garnishment answer, and (2) the garnishor establishes that the judgment debtor remains the holder of the note. The prior rule prohibiting garnishment of current notes was rejected as incorrect in all instances.


Headnotes

[1] A debt due to a judgment debtor by a third person is subject to garnishment by the judgment creditor.

[2] A garnishor steps into the shoes of the debtor and may assert all the debtor's rights against the garnishee.

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Key Quotes

“Garnishment is available to subject any debt due to a judgment debtor by a third person to the claims of the judgment creditor.”

Establishes the broad availability of garnishment under Florida statute to reach debts owed to judgment debtors.

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Facts & Procedural History

Coleman Music and Games Co. held a judgment against Randy McDaniel. Coleman sought to garnish payments due under a negotiable note made by McDaniel on…

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Opinion of the Court
COWART, Judge.

COWART, Judge.

The question presented by this appeal is whether, and under what circumstances, one who holds a judgment against the holder of a negotiable note may receive payment of the note by the maker through garnishment.

Garnishment is available to subject any debt due to a judgment debtor by a third person to the claims of the judgment creditor. § 77.01, Fla.Stat. (1979). Since the maker of a negotiable note is liable to satisfy the note, when due, to the holder of the note, the maker should logically be subject to satisfy the note to a judgment creditor of the holder under the authority of a writ of garnishment. This is so because the garnishor, in enforcing through garnishment a debt due to the debtor, steps into the shoes of the debtor and may assert all the debtor’s rights against the garnishee,1 and because a maker is justified in paying the note to an agent of the holder where the agent’s authority to receive payment is apparent.2

The appellee contends that the rule in Florida is as stated in Huot, Kelly & Co. v. Ely, Candee & Wilder, 17 Fla. 775 (1880), and quoted in Universal G. I. T. Credit Corp. v. Broward Nat’l Bank of Fort Lauderdale, 144 So. 2d 844 (Fla.2d DCA 1962), and Hollopeter & Post, Inc. v. Saenz, 133 Fla. 279, 182 So. 906 (1938):

The maker of a negotiable note should not be charged as garnishee of the payee while such note is still current, unless the garnishee has it in his possession or under his control.... ‘The reason of this rule is founded upon the negotiable quality of such note. If the trustee could be charged in such a case, then it might happen that either a bona fide purchaser of the note must lose the amount of it, or the maker, without any fault on his part, be compelled to pay it twice. To avoid such a dilemma the rule was established.’

This statement was unnecessary to the holdings of all three cases, since, in each case, before service of the writ of garnishment a negotiable instrument had been negotiated to a third party and was not in the possession of the judgment debtor; there was therefore no debt due under the instrument to the judgment debtor which could be garnished. Furthermore, the statement is not correct in all instances.

Where a single payment note is mature, or where maturity on one or more payments has been reached before service of the answer to the writ of garnishment, the garnishor can establish that the judgment debtor is the holder of the note at the time, requiring the garnishee to pay the note to the garnishor cannot subject the garnishee to liability to a holder in due course to whom the judgment debtor subsequently negotiates the note because, as to overdue payments, there can be no holder in due course. § 673.302(l)(c), Fla.Stat. (1979).

The instant case involves a note requiring monthly payments; the trial judge dissolved the writ of garnishment seeking to require payment of this note to the appellant-garnishor on the ground that payments under a note cannot be garnished as a matter of law. The order dissolving the writ is reversed and the cause is remanded; upon remand, the trial judge should subject any monthly payments currently due or past due to garnishment, upon a showing by the garnishor that the judgment debtor still is holder of the note.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

DAUKSCH, C. J., and ORFINGER, J., concur. . Coyle v. Pan American Bank of Miami, 377 So. 2d 213 (Fla.3d DCA 1979); Reeves v. Don L. Tullís & Assoc., Inc., 305 So. 2d 813 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975).

. See R. Anderson, Anderson on the Uniform Commercial Code, § 3-603:14 (2d Ed. 1971); Caballero v. Wilkinson, 367 So. 2d 349 (La.1979).


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Citator

Cited By

  • W.L. Gieger v. SUN First Nat'l Bank OF Orlando, 427 So. 2d 815 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)
    …r the maker, without any fault on his part, be compelled to pay it twice. To avoid such a dilemma the rule was established.’ Although referring to the quoted portion as dictum, we have recognized it. See Coleman Music & Games Co., Inc. v. McDaniel, 411 So. 2d 193 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). This rule has never been changed in this jurisdiction. The trial court was thus in error in ordering garnishment of future payments not due at the time the answer to the writ of garnishment was filed, or at the time the writ wa…
  • Cap. Factors, Inc. v. Alba Rent-A-Car, Inc., 965 So. 2d 1178 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007)
    …rnishment. Ala. Hotel Co. v. J.L. Mott Iron Works, 86 Fla. 608, 98 So. 825, 827 (1924). After the settlement, the debt was structured as a payment schedule. A note requiring scheduled payments can be garnished. Coleman Music & Games Co. v. McDaniel, 411 So. 2d 193, 194 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); see also Schulz v. Schulz, 627 S.W. 2d 91 ■ (Mo.App. S.D.1982) (holding a payment schedule in a marital settlement agreement sufficiently definite to warrant garnishment). The Olivieris also raised a tenancy by the entiret…

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