Felix Frankfurter

“ It is not our function to find our way through a maze of local statutes and decisions on so technical and specialized a subject as the scope of a garnishment proceeding in a particular jurisdiction. For one thing, it is too easy to lose our way. For example, there are numerous decisions of the Supreme Court of Missouri which declare a general principle that the garnishee can assert any defenses in a garnishment proceeding that would be open in a suit brought against him by the judgment debtor. ”

“ The Missouri law, if not conclusively against the assertion of the present cause in the Missouri garnishment proceeding, is at least so doubtful that respondent ought not to be compelled to seek the futile prophecy of the district court in Kansas as to how the Missouri courts will resolve an unsettled point of Missouri practice. Since petitioner has failed to sustain his burden of showing that the case is a proper one for dismissal, the district court should exercise its jurisdiction by proceeding to determine the merits without further delay. ”

“ Respondent, reinsurer of an automobile public liability insurance policy, has been made a party to a garnishment proceeding instituted under the Missouri statutes by petitioner, who has secured a Missouri default judgment upon a liability of the insured said to be covered by the policy. ”