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62 Ala. 267

Higgins v. Mansfield

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided December 15, 1878

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1878-12-15

Tried before Hon. George H. Craig. This was an action on an attachment bond, commenced by the appellee, Charles H. Mansfield, against the appellants, Alfred W. Higgins and the sureties on the bond. The complaint claimed damages for the mere wrongful suing out of the attachment, and also vindictive damages for its vexatious suing out. The case was tried on the plea of the general issue.

Relies on Donnell v. Jones · Goldsmith, Forcheimer & Co. v. Picard · Saltmarsh v. P. & M. Bank

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1878-12-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 19 later decisions — most recently May 1986

18 state decisions

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Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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STONE, J.

¶1In Herring v. Skaggs, at the present term, we considered very fully the question, what damages are recoverable in an action for a breach of warranty, and held that only such damages as are the natural and proximate consequence of the act complained of can be recovered. The rule of damages in the present form of action is, in this respect, the same as that above stated. — Hogan v. Thorington, 8 Por. 428; Kornegay v. White, 10 Ala. 255; Willis v. Dudley, Ib. 933; Donnell v. Jones, 13 Ala. 490, 509 ; Sims v. Glazener, 14 Ala. 695 ; Donnell v. Jones, 14 Ala. 680; Marshall v. Betrier, Ib. 832; Goldsmith v. Picard, 27 Ala. 142; Burton v. Holley, 29 Ala. 318; Metcalf v. Young, 43 Ala. 643. The cases of Sims v. Glazener, 14 Ala. 698, and Burton v. Holley, 29 Ala. 319-20, declare the true rule as to damages that are, and are not, too remote. The circuit court did not err in receiving evidence of counsel fees paid or promised for the defense of the attachment suit, and the reasonable value of such services. Neither was there error in allowing testimony of time lost, and expenses incurred, in attending court for the trial of that cause. The fact, however, that it was then cotton picking time, and the danger of losing cotton by reason of his absence from the cotton field, should not be estimated in fixing the value of his services, nor should the fact that he *269took a mule from the plow, exert any influence in the assessment. These were not the natural or proximate consequence of the issue and levy of the attachment. The evidence, numbered 3d, 4th and 5th in the bill of exceptions, was improperly admitted. — Drake on Attachment, section 175, et seq.

¶2Beversed and remanded.

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