Barry v. Minahan

107 N.W. 488, 127 Wis. 570, 1906 Wisc. LEXIS 206
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 20, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 107 N.W. 488 (Barry v. Minahan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barry v. Minahan, 107 N.W. 488, 127 Wis. 570, 1906 Wisc. LEXIS 206 (Wis. 1906).

Opinion

KbewiN, J.

Tbe question raised by the first assignment ■of error and tbe controlling one upon this appeal is whether tbe claim of the respondent was barred because not presented to tbe -county court- within tbe time allowed by tbe order for tbe presentation of claims against tbe estate of Jobn Min-aghan, deceased. Tbe time fixed by the order expired on tbe fith day of January, 1902, and tbe claim of tbe respondent [573]*573was presented by petition in February, 1904. Tbe claim is' based upon a loan made by Catherine Minaghan to John Min-aghan, her husband, about a year before her death, payable-on demand. The petition for the allowance of the claim alleged these facts and the testimony tended to establish them.. The respondent’s claim, therefore, is based upon a loan which was due and enforceable before the death of John Minaghan or his wife, Catherine Minaghan. Upon well-established principles of law, the cause of action to recover money loaned upon demand accrues at the time of the loan. Hall v. Letts, 21 Iowa, 596; Ware v. Hewey, 57 Me. 391; Kimball v. Kimball, 16 Mich. 211; Cook’s Adm’rs v. Cook, 19 Tex. 434; Baxter v. State, 17 Wis. 588; Curran v. Witter, 68 Wis. 16, 31 N. W. 705; Schriber v. Richmond, 73 Wis. 5, 40 N. W. 644; Turner v. Iron Chief M. Co. 74 Wis. 355, 43 N. W. 149.

“A cause of action accrues where there exists a claim capable of present enforcement, a suable party against whom it may be enforced, and a party who has a present right to enforce it.” Murphy v. Omaha (Neb.) 95 N. W. 680; Arnold’s Heirs v. Arnold (Ky.) 82 S. W. 606; 19 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law (2d ed.) 193; Weiser v. McDowell, 93 Iowa, 772, 61 N. W. 1094; Smith v. Bythewood, Rice, Law (S. C.) 245, 33 Am. Dec. 111.

The cause of action set up in the petition and claim filed existed in favor of Catherine Minaghan, and was capable of' being enforced by her for a period of about a year before her death, and was during such time an accrued, valid, and existing cause of action, which she had a right to enforce. She-had from the time of Hie loan down to the time of her death a present right to enforce the claim against her1 husband, and it passed to her estate an accrued claim against her husband,, and at the- time of his death was a valid, existing claim against his estate. The court below held that the claim was: enforceable against the estate of John Minaghan, deceased, notwithstanding it had not been presented during the time-[574]*574■required by the order for the presentation of claims, upon the theory that it did not accrue against the estate of John Min-aghan, deceased, until a personal representative of the estate ■of Catherine Minaghan had been appointed, and therefore was not barred, on the authority of Stehn v. Hayssen, 124 Wis. 583, 102 N. W. 1074. But it will be seen that in the ■Stehn-Hayssen Gase the cause of action did not arise until ■after death, and there this court held that a cause of action which arises after death cannot accrue until there is some person in existence who can bring it, and that there is no person in existence to bring an action in favor of the estate of a deceased person which arises after death until an executor or administrator is appointed. The court below obviously overlooked the distinction between causes of action arising after death and those accruing before death. In the former there 'is no person in existence who can bring the action until an ■executor or administrator is appointed, while in the case at 'bar there was a person capable of suing, a person to be sued, and an existing accrued cause of action. The distinction is •clearly recognized in the statute (secs. 3840, 3844, 3860, Stats. 1898). The former sections (3840 and 3844) plainly make provision for accrued claims, while sec. 3860 provides for claims which accrue or become absolute after the time limited for creditors to present their claims, and further pro•vides that the same may be presented and proved at any time within one year after they shall accrue or become absolute. It 'is therefore very clear that Stehn v. Hayssen, supra, does not apply to causes of action which accrue before death, and which are valid existing causes of action capable of being enforced before the death of the party against whose estate they •are filed. In other words,, the statutes contemplate two classes ■of claims: first, those accrued and existing at the time of death; and, second, those which accrue or become absolute after death; and it was held in the Stehn-Hayssen Gase that •a cause of action which arises after death cannot accrue until [575]*575there is some person in existence who can bring it. Stehn v. Hayssen, supra, has reference to cases falling under sec. 3860, Stats. 1898, wbicb accrue or become absolute after death, and the doctrine of that case is well supported by the authorities, some of which are referred to in the opinion of the court, but it is very clear that such cases have no reference to a case like the one at bar. Bucklin v. Ford, 5 Barb. 393; Sanford v. Sanford, 62 N. Y. 553; Baker’s Adm’r v. Baker’s Adm’r, 13 B. Mon. 406. The decision in Stehn v. Hayssen, supra, is strictly confined to causes of action which arise after death, and, therefore, has no application here where the cause of action accrued before the death of either Catherine Minaghan or her husband, John Minaghan. The question, therefore, is whether the respondent has become barred because of failure to present the claim set forth in the petition as required by sec. 3844, Stats. 1898. Sec. 3840, Stats. 1898, provides:

“At the time of granting letters testamentary or of administration the county court, by order, shall fix a time, not less than six months nor more than one year thereafter, as the circumstances of the case may require, within which creditors shall present their claims for examination and allowance. ...”

Sec» 3844, Stats. 1898, provides:

“Every person having a claim against a deceased person, proper to be allowed by the court, who shall not, after notice given as required by sec. 3839, exhibit his claim to the court within the time limited for that purpose shall be forever barred from recovering such demand or from setting off the same in any action whatever.”

The rule is well established that words in a statute must receive a general construction, unless there is in the statute itself some ground for restraining their meaning by reasonable construction, not by arbitrary addition or retrenchment., The statute here contains no exception, but provides that every person having a claim, proper to be allowed, who shall not present it within the time limited, shall be forever barred. [576]*576Such statutes are known as “statutes of nonclaim,”' and1 are generally applied more rigorously than the general statutes of limitation, and in tbe absence of a- saving clause run against all persons. Winter v. Winter, 101 Wis. 494, 77 N. W. 883. Suck statutes bave been beld to bar- married women, infants, and nonresidents, where there is no saving clause in their favor. 2 Woerner, Adm’n (2d ed.) § 402, and cases- there cited; Richardson v. Harrison, 36 Mo. 96; Rowell v. Patterson, 76 Me. 196; Erwin v. Turner, 6 Ark. 14; Morgan v. Hamlet, 113 U. S. 449, 5 Sup. Ct. 583; Van Steenwyck v. Washburn, 59 Wis. 483, 17 N. W. 289.

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Bluebook (online)
107 N.W. 488, 127 Wis. 570, 1906 Wisc. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barry-v-minahan-wis-1906.