Short answer. Yes, but the deadline is unforgiving. Under Rule 57, Section 20, an application for damages for improper, irregular or excessive attachment must be filed before trial, before the appeal is perfected, or before the judgment becomes executory — with notice to the attaching party and its surety — and is decided in the same case.
What the law says
An application for damages on account of improper, irregular or excessive attachment must be filed before the trial or before appeal is perfected or before the judgment becomes executory, with due notice to the attaching party and his surety or sureties, setting forth the facts showing his right to damages and the amount thereof.
Rule 57, Section 20 — Claim for damages on account of improper, irregular or excessive attachment. Read the full provision →
The right and its grounds
Attachment is a provisional remedy obtained at the start of a case, often before the defendant is heard, and the Rules balance that power with liability when it is misused. Section 20 covers damages on account of improper, irregular or excessive attachment — an attachment that should never have issued, one that issued in a defective manner, or one that seized far more than the claim justified. The application is made by setting forth the facts showing his right to damages and the amount thereof, and the damages may be awarded only after proper hearing.
The deadline: inside the same case, before it ends
The application must be filed before the trial or before appeal is perfected or before the judgment becomes executory, with due notice to the attaching party and his surety or sureties. The award, when made, shall be included in the judgment on the main case. The design is deliberate: the wrongful-attachment claim lives inside the very action in which the attachment issued, and it is resolved in that action's judgment. The section's must leaves no room for raising the claim after the case has closed — the notice to the surety and the hearing all have to happen before finality.
Damages sustained during the appeal
The section has a second window for losses that accrue while the case is on appeal. If the appellate judgment favours the party against whom the attachment was issued, that party must claim damages sustained during the pendency of the appeal by filing an application in the appellate court, with notice to the attaching party or the sureties, before the judgment of the appellate court becomes executory. The appellate court need not hear the matter itself: it may allow the application to be heard and decided by the trial court. The same discipline applies — claim before finality.
If the bond is not enough
The bond posted by the attaching party is the primary fund, but it is not the ceiling. The final sentence preserves recovery in the same action from any property of the attaching party not exempt from execution should the bond or deposit given by the latter be insufficient or fail to fully satisfy the award. For a defendant whose assets were tied up wrongly, the practical checklist is short: document every loss the attachment causes as it happens, identify the surety on the attachment bond, and file the application with notice before the case reaches finality.