On the return of an attachment before a justice of the peace, the defendant may file an affidavit, or plea sworn to, traversing the grounds on which the attachment was sued out, and the justice shall hear all evidence adduced by either party, as to whether said attachment was wrongfully sued out or not; and, if the same was wrongfully sued out, he shall dismiss the attachment, with costs, and shall give judgment against the plaintiff for such damages as the defendant may have sustained by the wrongful suing out of said attachment, and shall proceed to hear the case on the merits.