ARTICLE 3 THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS

18-3-50. Procedure generally.

When property is levied on by virtue of an attachment and the same is claimed by any person not a party to the attachment, it shall be the duty of the person claiming the same, his agent, or his attorney at law to make an oath before some person authorized by law to administer an oath that the property levied on is the property of the claimant and is not subject to the attachment according to the best of his knowledge and belief.

The claimant shall give bond, with good security, payable to the plaintiff in attachment in a sum not larger than double the amount of the attachment levied and, where the property attached is of less value than the attachment, in the judgment of the levying officer, then in double the value of the property conditioned to pay the plaintiff all damages which the jury, on the trial of the right of property, may assess against him in case it should be made to appear that the claim was made for the purpose of delay; and, in case the claim is interposed by the agent or attorney at law of the claimant, the agent or attorney at law shall have power to sign the name of the claimant to the bond, and the claimant shall be bound in the same manner as though he had signed it himself. It shall be the duty of the levying officer taking the affidavit and bond to return the same to the court to which the attachment is returnable, unless the property levied on should be real estate, in which case it shall be his duty to return the same to the superior court of the county where the land lies, provided that, if the claimant is unable to give such bond and security, he may interpose his claim as provided in Code Section 9-15-2.

(Laws 1814, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 72; Ga. L. 1855-56, p. 25, § 34; Code 1863, § 3235; Code 1868, § 3246; Code 1873, § 3322; Code 1882, § 3322; Ga. L. 1887, p. 40, § 1; Civil Code 1895, § 4569; Civil Code 1910, § 5115; Code 1933, § 8-801.)

Cross references.

- Intervention generally, § 9-11-24.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Intervention in action.

- Claimant who alleges being the true owner is permitted to intervene in an attachment action. Trax, Inc. v. Pentagon Aero-Marine Corp., 162 Ga. App. 276, 290 S.E.2d 196 (1982).

Construing O.C.G.A. §§ 18-3-15 and18-3-31 in pari materia, in light of the due process requirements, the intervenor has the same right to traverse the plaintiff's affidavit of attachment as the defendant, and once the affidavit of attachment is traversed, the procedure to follow is the same as that accorded the defendant. Trax, Inc. v. Pentagon Aero-Marine Corp., 162 Ga. App. 276, 290 S.E.2d 196 (1982).

Only issue in third-party claim requires determination of who has title.

- When property is levied on by virtue of attachment and is claimed by one not party to the attachment, the only issue on trial requires determination of who has title to the property. Bank of Manchester v. Universal Credit Co., 45 Ga. App. 233, 164 S.E. 95 (1932).

Prevailing party refusing to take property back and seeking value instead.

- When tortious levy is made upon property of one not party to the process, and one files statutory claim to the property one cannot, upon recovering judgment finding the property not subject, refuse to take the property back from the officer, and instead seek to hold person causing the levy liable for the property's full market value. Maxwell v. Speth, 9 Ga. App. 745, 72 S.E. 292 (1911).

To whom bond payable.

- When a claim for property attached is not interposed until after judgment on attachment, claim bond should be made payable to the sheriff as in other claim cases. Benton v. Benson, 32 Ga. 354 (1861).

Cited in James Selman & Co. v. Shackelford, 17 Ga. 615 (1855); Manufacturers' Fin. Acceptance Corp. v. Bradley, 50 Ga. App. 138, 177 S.E. 272 (1934); Rahal v. Titus, 107 Ga. App. 844, 131 S.E.2d 659 (1963).

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2018 Georgia Code 18-3-50 | Car Wreck Lawyer

TITLE 18 DEBTOR AND CREDITOR

Section 3. Attachment Proceedings, 18-3-1 through 18-3-75.