Twining v. Taylor

HOWDEN, J.

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment denying a claim of exemption from execution. The judgment is appealable (Code Civ. Proc., § 690.26, subd. 14). The facts material to this proceeding are not in dispute. Plaintiff recovered a judgment against defendant and thereafter levied execution on a “D-2 Caterpillar tractor with a bucket ‘dozer attachment.’ ” Defendant filed an affidavit of exemption which stated no facts. Plaintiff submitted a counteraffidavit consisting solely of a lament that defendant had alleged no facts. Defendant thereafter submitted a supplemental affidavit averring that the tractor was of a value of less than $4,000. However, this latter document is now of no consequence since, on oral argument, defendant abandoned his contention that the tractor was a farming utensil or implement of husbandry as defined in Code of Civil Procedure, section

*Supp. 844

690.3. Defendant now places sole reliance upon section 690.4 providing exemption for “the tools or implements of a mechanic or artisan, necessary to carry on his trade.”

Defendant was the sole witness at the time of the hearing. His testimony cured the defects in his affidavit. He testified that his occupation or business was that of spreading gypsum and fertilizer in the field for farmers. He acquired the tractor in 1951 or 1952 and at the time of the levy (in September 1958) the equipment was in the yard of his home at Wasco. He has followed his particular occupation for 10 or 12 years. Without the use of the tractor he cannot engage, profitably, in his occupation. He had not used the tractor within 60 days of the levy since it was the slow season in agriculture. He engages in this particular occupation from the end of cotton harvest until late spring. He sells gypsum and other soil conditioners to farmers and also bids for the application of the materials. On the basis of this evidence, the trial court denied the claim of exemption. Defendant appeals.

By the terms of the statute (Code Civ. Proc., § 690.4) the party seeking the exemption here involved must meet three requirements. (1) He must be a “mechanic or artisan.” (2) The equipment involved must be a tool or implement. (3) The equipment must be “necessary to carry on his trade.”

Respondent urges that appellant is not a “mechanic or artisan” and in support of his position presents several dictionary definitions of the words in question. In

Estate of Nelson,

132 Cal. 182 [64 P. 294] it was said: “Philology is, at best, an unsafe criterion for ascertaining the meaning of words which are in common use, and the definition thus obtained is always subordinate to the meaning derived from the context, or from the circumstances under which the word is used.” (See also