Argued: June 22, 2017
Appeal
from the Vanderburgh Superior Court No. 82D07-1310-PL-4775
The Honorable Richard G. D'Amour, Judge
On
Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals No.
82A01-1512-PL-2362
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT Curt J. Angermeier Evansville, Indiana
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE Joseph H. Harrison Evansville, Indiana
OPINION
Slaughter, J.
At
issue is whether Indiana law allows a judgment-creditor to
garnish a cash bail bond the judgment-debtor posted in an
unrelated criminal matter. The plaintiff tried to garnish the
bond to satisfy his unpaid civil judgment, but the trial
clerk, who was named a garnishee-defendant in the civil case,
released it to the defendant's attorney. The plaintiff
sought to hold the clerk liable, but the trial court ruled
the bond was not subject to garnishment and found for the
clerk. We disagree and reverse. The clerk who holds the bond
in a criminal case is an eligible garnishee-defendant in the
civil case where the judgment was entered, and the bond
remains subject to the garnishment lien filed there. The only
qualification is that the judgment-creditor may not recover
on the bond until the criminal court releases it. Here, the
clerk is liable on the bond because she distributed its
proceeds before the civil court determined the
plaintiff's right to them.
Factual
and Procedural History
In 2013
Plaintiff, Dennis Garner, obtained a default judgment for
$20, 600, plus costs, against Gregory Kempf in the
Vanderburgh Superior Court 7. In that same court, Garner
initiated proceedings supplementary to execution to collect
on his civil judgment by garnishing Kempf's bank account
and tax refunds.
On July
30, 2015, while his judgment to Garner remained unsatisfied,
Kempf was arrested in an unrelated criminal matter. He
appeared in a different court in Vanderburgh County-Superior
Court 3-and posted a $5, 000 cash bond with the County Clerk.
The Clerk acknowledged Kempf's cash deposit by issuing
receipt number 2015-40294-CLK.
The
next day, Garner initiated new proceedings supplemental in
the Civil Court, where he secured the default judgment,
seeking to garnish the cash bond Kempf had posted in the
Criminal Court. Garner's complaint named Kempf as
defendant and the Clerk as garnishee-defendant. Garner served
both defendants personally but filed nothing concerning the
bond in the Criminal Court.
On
August 13, after Kempf had been charged with a separate
felony for which he was held without bond, he moved the
Criminal Court to release the $5, 000 bond to his defense
counsel to pay legal fees. The Criminal Court granted the
motion and ordered the Clerk to issue a check payable to
Kempf's lawyer "for all monies and proceeds due
under receipt number 2015-40294-CLK." Nobody notified
the Criminal Court of the proceedings supplemental pending in
the Civil Court.
On
September 22, the Civil Court held a hearing on Garner's
complaint concerning the proceedings supplemental. Garner
sought a judgment against the Clerk for $5, 000, arguing that
once she received notice of the proceedings supplemental in
the Civil Court concerning the Criminal Court bond, a
judicial lien attached to that bond by operation of law and
prevented her from releasing the money. The Clerk maintained
she properly released the bond under the Criminal Court order
because there was no final garnishment order concerning the
proceedings supplemental from the Civil Court.
The
Civil Court ruled against Garner, concluding that the Clerk
"[was] not holding any funds of the Defendant [Kempf]
subject to garnishment" and "that the Plaintiff
[Garner] [was] not entitled to a judgment against the
Garnishee Defendant, Vanderburgh County Clerk, in the amount
of $5, 000 for the release of the bond to Defendant's
attorney in his criminal matter." In support of its
ruling, the Civil Court relied on an internal court
memorandum that the judges of the Circuit and Superior Court
had sent to a prior Vanderburgh County clerk. In pertinent
part, the memo instructed the clerk that bonds released in a
criminal case are subject to garnishment orders and must be
entered on the CCS in the criminal case.
Please be advised that when a Court releases a bond in a
criminal case, the release of the bond is subject to any
garnishment orders, liens, or assignments placed against the
bond. In order for such a claim to be placed against the
bond, a minute must be entered on the Chronological Case
Summary for the criminal case[.]
The
Civil Court ruled against Garner because it concluded the
Clerk was not holding any funds of Kempf subject to
garnishment and, contrary to the internal memo, Garner failed
to notify the Criminal Court of his garnishment lien pending
against Kempf in the Civil Court.
Garner
appealed, and a divided Court of Appeals reversed. Garner
v. Kempf, 70 N.E.3d 408 (Ind.Ct.App. 2017). The Clerk
then sought transfer, which we granted, thereby vacating the
Court of Appeals' opinion.
Discussion
and Decision
This
case involves the interplay among several statutes-those
governing garnishments, proceedings supplemental, and bail
bonds. See Ind. Code ch. 34-25-3; 34-55-8; 35-33-8
(2008 Repl.). We must determine not only what each statute
means but also how each interacts with the others. A
statute's meaning and scope are legal questions we review
de novo. ESPN, Inc. v. Univ. of Notre Dame Police
Dep't., 62 N.E.3d 1192, 1195 (Ind. 2016). If a
statute is clear and unambiguous, we apply its words and
phrases "in their plain, ordinary, and usual
sense." KS&E Sports v. Runnels, 72 N.E.3d
892, 898-99 (Ind. 2017) (citation omitted). As we interpret a
statute, "we are mindful of both what it does say and
what it does not say." ESPN, Inc., 62 N.E.3d at
1195 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). Our
goal is to effectuate the statute's reasonable, commonly
understood meaning.
We hold
that the governing statutes permit a civil-judgment-creditor
to garnish a cash bond held by a court clerk that a
judgment-debtor has posted in an unrelated criminal matter,
but those funds are available to the judgment-creditor only
if the criminal court has ordered the bond released. Here,
the Clerk should have held the cash bond posted in the
criminal matter until the Civil Court determined Garner's
right to the proceeds to satisfy his ...