Barrett v. Whitmore

226 P. 452, 31 Wyo. 301, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 31
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMay 20, 1924
DocketNo. 1053
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 226 P. 452 (Barrett v. Whitmore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barrett v. Whitmore, 226 P. 452, 31 Wyo. 301, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 31 (Wyo. 1924).

Opinion

Kimball, Justice.

Mary Barrett died intestate December 11, 1912, survived by four children, Mary, James, Patrick C. and Joseph E. The estate was administered in Sweetwater County which, at the times herein mentioned, was in the third judicial district. In 1914, the judge of that district deeming himself disqualified to act in the estate, Judge Tidball of the second judicial district was called in to take charge of the matter. The administrator’s final account and petition for distribution were filed November 7, 1919, and a notice thereof given by publication pursuant to section 6974 Wyo. C. S. 1920. Assignments of error questioning [306]*306the sufficiency of this notice have been abandoned by' plaintiff in error. The time as provided by the published notice and the statute aforesaid, for filing objections .to said account and petition, expired December 28, 1919, and the notice recited that final settlement would be made at the court house at Green River, the county seat of Sweet-water County, at 2 o’clock p. m., December 29, 1919, or as soon thereafter as the matter might be heard.

On April 17, 1920, the account and petition for distribution being still pending and undisposed of, the administrator filed a supplemental report. Assignments of error questioning the right of the court to act upon this supplemental report without notice having been given of its filing have also been abandoned by the plaintiff in error.

On April 24, 1920, no objections having been filed, Judge Tidball, while at Laramie in the second judicial district, signed a decree of settlement of final account and of final distribution of said estate which, among other things, recited that said final account, petition for distribution and supplemental report came on regularly to be heard on said day, there being present the administrator and James Barrett, and that the facts found appeared “from the said reports and petition and the evidence adduced at said hearing.” From these recitals and other things appearing in the record we think it clear that the hearing on which the decree was based was held at Laramie.

Only a few of the provisions of this decree need be noticed. The administrator’s accounts were approved and settled. The four children above mentioned were decreed to be the heirs. The administrator having reported that James Barrett had assigned his interest in the estate to his sister, Mary Barrett, it was stated in the decree that there was not sufficient evidence to establish said assignment, and James Barrett’s distributive share was ordered paid to him. The administrator having reported also that [307]*307on garnishment in an action wherein Joseph B. Barrett was defendant, the administrator had been ordered to hold moneys due said Joseph E. Barrett subject to said garnishment, and that by similar orders in two actions wherein Patrick C. Barrett was defendant, the administrator had been ordered to hold moneys due Patrick C. Barrett, it was provided in the decree that the amounts so held under garnishment should be paid by the administrator to the garnisheeing creditors out of the respective distributive shares of said defendants. On the day of its date the decree was transmitted to the clerk of the court of Sweetwater County by whom it was filed and entered.

On April 30, 1920, during the same term of court at which said decree was entered, Mary Barrett, Patrick C. Barrett and Joseph E. Barrett filed in the district court of Sweetwater County a so-called petition to vacate and set aside said decree on the ground, among others, that the decree was rendered on a hearing had in a county outside the judicial district where the estate’ was pending. From this petition to vacate it appears that the petitioners, particularly Mary Barrett, desired to raise two objections, which were stated as follows:

First: ‘ ‘ That heretofore, to-wit, on or about the 2nd day of July, 1918, James Barrett, * * * for a valuable consideration released and relinquished by an instrument in writing all his right, title and interest in and to said estate to the said Mary Barrett. ’ ’
Second: “That heretofore, to-wit, about seven years ago the said Patrick C. Barrett and Joseph B. Barrett in open court, in a hearing in respect of the above entitled estate and matter, and under oath, disclaimed any and all interest in said estate as heirs at law, and expressly stated that the property involved belonged to and was owned by your petitioner, Mary Barrett, and that they had been provided for by their mother before her death.”

[308]*308Because sbe bad not bad an opportunity to present these objections, Mary Barrett claimed sbe was prejudiced by that part of tbe decree finding that there was not sufficient evidence to establish tbe assignment from James Barrett to her, and by that part finding that Patrick C. Barrett and Joseph E. Barrett were entitled to distributive shares subject to the claims of tbe garnisbeeing creditors.

Tbe petition to vacate came on for bearing at Green River before Judge.Tidball on June 9, 1920, tbe administrator and all heirs being present or represented. At this bearing tbe attorney for tbe administrator moved that tbe petition to vacate be stricken from tbe files, and tbe motion was sustained apparently on tbe ground that tbe petitioners bad failed to file any objections to tbe administrator’s final accounts and petition for distribution. After striking tbe petition to vacate, the court announced:

“I will just enter the original decree while I am in Green River to-day, so that that question cannot be raised, or I can enter a nunc pro tunc order to-day as of the date of tbe bearing at Laramie. ’ ’

Thereupon the attorney for tbe heirs who bad filed the petition to vacate made the following offer, viz:

“Tbe petitioners offer at this time to introduce evidence to the effect that Joseph E. Barrett and Patrick C. Barrett do not and have not claimed for seven years last past any interest in tbe said estate; and that they-now offer to introduce evidence to show that tbe interests of James Barrett in and to said estate have been assigned to tbe said Mary Barrett. ’ ’

Tbe court refused to hear tbe offered evidence, and thereupon tbe decree, as previously made at Laramie on April 24, was re-entered “nunc pro tunc as of the 24th day of April, 1920.” From this decree Mary Barrett prosecutes this proceeding in error.

[309]*309The plaintiff in error contends that the decree of April 24, either as a decree of that date or as a decree of June 9 namcr pro tunc, is void because based on a hearing held at a place outside the judicial district where the matter erf- the estate was pending and the final' account and petition for distribution had been noticed for hearing. We agree that that decree, as made April 24 at Laramie, was at least irregular and voidable. In Schlissinger v. Cook, 8 Wyo. 484, 489, 58 Pac. 757, 759, it was said that:

“It is a general rule that all judicial business must be transacted in court, unless the statute expressly provides otherwise; and the doctrine is well settled that a judge out of court has no authority to perform strictly judicial business, or to make decisions or orders which, for their validity, depend upon the judicial power of the court, unless expressly authorized by statute to do so.”

Our attention has not been called to any statute authorizing a judge to hear and make a decree in one.

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Related

Christensen v. State
854 P.2d 675 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1993)
Martinez v. City of Cheyenne
791 P.2d 949 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1990)
Barrett v. Whitmore
228 P. 502 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
226 P. 452, 31 Wyo. 301, 1924 Wyo. LEXIS 31, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barrett-v-whitmore-wyo-1924.