Angelloz v. Angelloz

16 So. 2d 654, 204 La. 988, 1944 La. LEXIS 643
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJanuary 3, 1944
DocketNo. 36879.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 16 So. 2d 654 (Angelloz v. Angelloz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Angelloz v. Angelloz, 16 So. 2d 654, 204 La. 988, 1944 La. LEXIS 643 (La. 1944).

Opinion

HIGGINS, Justice.

The plaintiff, upon reaching the age of majority, instituted this action against Dewey A. Angelloz, his dative tutor, and Arthur A. Angelloz, his former under tutor and the alleged discharged administrator of the estate of Arthur H. Angelloz, the deceased natural tutor, alleging that he had inherited considerable property and assets from the successions of his mother and father, respectively, and that the natural tutor and the dative tutor had each administered his estate during his minority and both of them had completely failed to, at any time, render an account; and that the¡ administrator of the estate of the deceased natural tutor also failed to render an account either to the plaintiff or to his dative tutor. He prayed that the dative tutor and the administrator of the estate of the deceased natural tutor be ordered to render a complete and de *991 tailed accounting of all sums of money and property, real and personal, that they administered for his account, and that each or both of them be condemned to pay the amount that may be determined to be due him.

Each of the defendants filed exceptions of misjoinder of parties defendant on the ground that there was not any common or community interests between the defendants, each being responsible for his own particular acts and not liable for the others, the claims against them being entirely different. They also filed exceptions of misjoinder of causes of action on the ground that they were two separate and distinct defendants acting in different capacities and, therefore, the causes of action were separate, distinct, and independent of each other.

The judge ad hoc of the lower court sustained the exceptions and rejected the plaintiff’s demands, and he appealed.

The plaintiff’s mother, who was also the mother of the two defendants, died on November 23, 1917, leaving certain community property and ten children, the plaintiff being the youngest. Her succession was opened on March 25, 1918, and the surviving husband and father of the children was appointed as natural tutor for the nine minors, Arthur A. Angelloz, the eldest son, being of the age of majority. He was appointed under tutor. The natural tutor acted in this capacity until his death on January 23, 1928. During all of the years in which he served as natural tutor, he did not render an accounting of his tutorship and none was demanded of him by the under tutor, Arthur A. Angelloz. Five of the children had reached the age of majority before their father’s death. 'On May 8, 1928, Arthur A. Angelloz, the brother and under tutor of the minors, was appointed administrator of the estate of his deceased father, the natural tutor, upon furnishing an administrator’s bond of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company in the sum of $60,000. On May 28, 1929, Dewey D. Angelloz, who had reached the age of majority, was appointed dative tutor of the remaining four minor children, after having furnished a bond of the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, according to law. The administrator did. not render an account to the plaintiff nor his dative tutor of the natural tutor’s administration of the minor’s estate. On June 11, 1929, a petition was filed to place the ten heirs in possession of their father’s estate and the administrator was discharged by judgment of court.

In Gill et al. v. City of Lake Charles et al., 119 La. 17, 43 So. 897, 898, after reviewing the jurisprudence on the question of misjoinder of parties defendant, the court said: “The general result of the foregoing may be said to be that the avoidance of a multiplicity of suits is always, desirable, but that parties are not allowed to join unless they have a common interest as to the point at issue, and that even then the court may exercise a discretion.”

See, also, Reardon v. Dickinson, 156 La. 556, 100 So. 715; Erskine Heirs v. Gardiner, 166 La. 1098, 118 So. 453; Lykes Bros. Ripley S. S. Co., Inc., v. Wiegand Marionneaux Lumber Co. et al., 185 La. *993 1085, 171 So. 453; State ex rel. Woods v. Register of State Land Office, 189 La. 69, 179 So. 38; Keel v. Rodessa Oil & Land Co., 189 La. 732, 180 So. 502; and 47 C.J. 82.

The learned counsel for the defendants insist there is no common interest between the defendants because the term of the natural tutorship began on March 25, 1918, and terminated on January 23, 1928, and involved only the administration of the mother’s undivided half interest in the community property for the nine minor children, whereas the dative tutor’s administration began on May 28, 1929 and continued until the four remaining minors each reached the age of majority and involved all of the community property of the mother and father inherited by these four minors.

The Articles of the Civil Code and the jurisprudence on the subject are clear that the natural tutor is required to render an annual accounting to the minor or minors of his administration and it is the duty of the under tutor to compel the tutor to render such an account. The administrator of a deceased tutor’s estate is bound to render an account to the minor of the administration of his property and it is the duty of a succeeding dative tutor and the under tutor to see that such an accounting is rendered. Hall v. Courtney et al., 184 La. 80, 165 So. 458; Lusk v. Succession of Benton, 30 La.Ann. 686; Succession of Begue, 112 La. 1046, 36 So. 849; Porche v. Ledoux, 12 La.Ann. 350; Thibodeaux v. Thibodeaux et al., Tutors, 5 La.Ann. 597.

It was the neglect of the duty of the respective tutors and the administrator and the failure of the under tutor to see that the accounts were rendered to the minor that placed him (the minor) in the position of being absolutely unable to determine what assets belonging to him were received by the administrator for the succession of the natural tutor and which of those assets were delivered by the administrator to-the dative tutor. In, short, because of the failure of the defendants to comply with the law by rendering proper and timely accounts of their respective administrations of the minor’s property, they have placed the plaintiff in the impossible position of determining what assets were administered by these respective parties defendant. It was within their power, by complying with the law, to leave a clear line of demarcation between their respective administrations but by neglecting and failing to meet the requirements of the law by filing the proper accounts, they have made it impossible for anyone except themselves to establish where one’s administration left off and the other’s began insofar as the administration of the minor’s property is concerned. The defendants certainly have a common interest as to the point at issue that each of them be required to render an account of the property he received and administered-If the plaintiff were compelled to file separate lawsuits based upon the dates when, the parties defendant, whose administrations are involved, were appointed and their offices terminated, it might well be that the defendant administrator would say that he delivered the property to the dative tutor and the defendant dative tutor would say *995 that he had not received it.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re the Succession of Branch
230 So. 2d 124 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 So. 2d 654, 204 La. 988, 1944 La. LEXIS 643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/angelloz-v-angelloz-la-1944.