Short answer. Yes. If judgment is rendered against the attaching party, all proceeds of sales and money collected or received by the sheriff under the attachment order, together with all property still in the sheriff's hands, must be delivered to you, and the order of attachment is discharged.
What the law says
If judgment be rendered against the attaching party, all the proceeds of sales and money collected or received by the sheriff, under the order of attachment, and all property attached remaining in any such officer's hands, shall be delivered to the party against whom attachment was issued, and the order of attachment discharged.
Rule 57, Section 19 — Disposition of attached property where judgment is for party against whom attachment was issued. Read the full provision →
A losing attaching party gets nothing from the attachment
Rule 57, Section 19 sets out the consequence when the party who sought the attachment ultimately loses the case. Since the attachment was only ever a provisional remedy meant to secure a claim that has now been rejected by the court, there is no longer any basis for the attaching party to retain anything obtained through it. This reflects a basic fairness principle running through the whole rule on attachment: the remedy exists only to protect a claim that turns out to be valid, not to reward or benefit a party whose claim the court has rejected.
Everything the sheriff holds goes back
The section covers everything realized through the attachment: proceeds of any sales, money collected or received by the sheriff under the attachment order, and any property still remaining in the officer's hands. All of it must be delivered back to the party against whom the attachment was issued — the winning party in this scenario. This is a comprehensive return, not a partial one — the section does not carve out any deduction for the sheriff's expenses or the losing attaching party's costs, so the winning party is entitled to the full value of what was taken, sold, or collected while the attachment was in force.
The order of attachment is discharged
Along with the return of property and proceeds, the section requires the order of attachment itself to be discharged. This formally ends the attachment's legal effect, clearing any encumbrance the attachment placed on the returned property or on the party's other affairs. Discharge matters beyond the symbolism of paperwork: while an attachment order remains on record, it can still cloud a title or complicate a sale, so lifting it formally removes any lingering claim the losing attaching party might otherwise appear to have against that property in the public record. This discharge is what finally lets the winning party deal with the property freely again, whether by selling, mortgaging, or otherwise using it without a cloud from the earlier attachment.
Related provisions
- Rule 57, Section 19 — Disposition of attached property where judgment is for party against whom attachment was issued
- Rule 57, Section 18 — Disposition of money deposited
- Rule 57, Section 16 — Balance due collected upon an execution; excess delivered to judgment obligor