Saba v. Stroup

Opinion

STRANKMAN, P. J. A judgment creditor garnished cash seized by a county sheriff during an arrest of the judgment debtor on an unrelated criminal matter. The judgment debtor claimed a public policy exemption for [1256]property seized by law enforcement officers from an arrestee. (Emmanuel v. Sichofsky (1926) 198 Cal. 713, 715 [247 P. 205, 48 A.L.R. 580].) The trial court denied the debtor’s claim of exemption and ordered the cash released to the creditor. We reverse the order.

Facts

In 1991, respondent Nora E. Saba was renting a room at Nevada’s Kit Kat Guest Ranch where women “entertain guests in the rooms.” Appellant Bobby Jehu Stroup was a “guest.” Appellant punched and whipped respondent in the face. Appellant was convicted of battery and the conviction was affirmed in 1992. Respondent then sued appellant for personal injuries and recovered a default judgment totaling over $2 million in 1996. Respondent could not locate appellant to collect on the judgment. Two years later, in August 1998, Nevada issued an arrest warrant for appellant on murder charges. Appellant was arrested later that month in California’s Sonoma County. In the course of the arrest, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department seized $48,590 in cash from appellant’s home closet.

In November 1998, respondent had the sister-state judgment from Nevada entered in California. The amount of the judgment, with interest, was then close to $3 million. A writ of execution was issued and respondent filed a notice of levy under the writ to garnish the cash seized and held by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department from appellant’s arrest. Appellant claimed that an arrestee’s property held by law enforcement officers is exempt from the execution of an unrelated civil judgment. The trial court denied the claimed exemption in January 1999, and this appeal followed.

Discussion

It is a long-standing principle that creditors may not garnish an arrested debtor’s property seized and held by law enforcement officers. A century ago, our Supreme Court stated: “It is generally held to be the law that property taken from a prisoner on his arrest by an officer charged with that duty is not, while in the hands of such officer, subject to levy, and cannot be reached by the process of garnishment, the reason being that to hold otherwise would lead to a grave abuse of criminal process.” (Coffee v. Haynes (1899) 124 Cal. 561, 566 [57 P. 482].)