Busch v. Truitt

181 P.2d 429, 80 Cal. App. 2d 144, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 930
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 3, 1947
DocketCiv. No. 15612
StatusPublished

This text of 181 P.2d 429 (Busch v. Truitt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Busch v. Truitt, 181 P.2d 429, 80 Cal. App. 2d 144, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 930 (Cal. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

DORAN, J.

This is an appeal from two orders made after judgment, namely, an order denying the defendant’s motion to discharge a writ of execution; and a subsequent order denying defendant’s motion for satisfaction of judgment. Two questions are involved. The first relates to the validity of an execution issued upon what is claimed to be “a judgment rendered against an executor or administrator, upon any claim for money, against the estate. ’ ’ The second question concerns a defendant’s right to tender in satisfaction of a judgment, something other than the stock described in such judgment.

In reference to the first question, section 730 of the Probate Code, quoted above, provides that such a judgment “conclu[145]*145sively establishes the validity of the claim . . . and the judgment must be that the executor or administrator pay, in due course of administration, the amount ascertained to be due. This section contains the further provision that “No execution shall issue upon the judgment, nor shall it create any lien upon the property of the estate, or give the judgment any priority of payment.”

The complaint herein, contained two causes of action against the appellant as administratrix of the estate of Charles C. Truitt, deceased. The first cause of action alleged that the deceased, by virtue of a certain writing, held 1,380 shares of stock of Dried Pood Products, a California corporation, in trust for the plaintiff. The second count alleged that plaintiff had filed a creditor’s claim in the Truitt estate for the said stock. The complaint prayed for judgment “that the Estate . . . holds in trust for the plaintiff” stock in question; and “that plaintiff have judgment for the recovery of said stock or its value on November 16, 1942, in the sum of $5,520.00.”

At the trial, Judge Stutsman rendered judgment “that Plaintiff do have and recover of and from the defendant, Rae Truitt, as Administratrix of the Estate of Charles C. Truitt, Deceased, 1380 shares of the capital stock of the Dried Pood Products Company, a Corporation, and that said defendant is hereby ordered to transfer and deliver certificates representing said 1380 shares of stock to the plaintiff forthwith, or in case that said 1380 shares are not delivered forthwith then that plaintiff do have and recover of and from the defendant . . . $5,520.00 dollars, the value thereof, together with interest as provided by law.” (Italics added.) On appeal, this judgment was reversed by the District Court of Appeal (70 A.C.A. 177, 160 P.2d 925). After a hearing in the Supreme Court, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. (27 Cal.2d 889 [163 P.2d 739].)

After the judgment became final, demand was made that appellant deliver up the stock according to the terms of the judgment; the identical stock, however, was never delivered or tendered due to the fact that the corporation had then been dissolved, as will hereinafter be more fully set forth. Respondent then took out an execution to enforce payment of the money part of the judgment, namely $5,520, representing the value of the stock. In the law and motion department of the superior court, Judge Paonessa then denied appellant’s motion to discharge the writ of execution, such motion being [146]*146based upon the ground that, under section 730 of the Probate Code previously referred to, the execution was invalid. Thereafter, Judge Stutsman, who had rendered the original judgment, denied a further motion by appellant asking the court to order satisfaction of the judgment on the ground that appellant had tendered the “proceeds” of the stock described in the judgment. The present appeal questions the propriety of both orders.

The record discloses that the Dried Poods Products Company, previously engaged in the manufacture of dried eggs, had, prior to March 31, 1941, licensed its patents to Armour & Company. Thereafter Dried Pood Products Company carried on no active business, and assigned the Armour contract, its only asset, to another company known as “Pood Products Corporation,” the Armour contract also being the sole asset of the latter corporation. It is likewise to be noted that July, 1942, the only asset of the Dried Pood Products Company was all of the stock of Pood Products Corporation. Subsequently, Dried Pood Products Company distributed this asset to its stockholders, each shareholder in Dried Pood Products receiving a fractional amount of stock in Pood Products Corporation. Thereafter, Pood Products Corporation distributed its only asset, the Armour contract, to its shareholders. The Armour agreement was placed in escrow at the Citizens National Bank which collected the royalties and distributed these proceeds to the aforesaid owners of fractional interests in the agreement. Both the Dried Pood Products Company and Pood Products Corporation were legally dissolved on December 30, 1944, which date, it should be noted, was after the rendition of judgment by Judge Stutsman on June 20, 1944, but before the affirmance of such judgment by the Supreme Court on November 27, 1945.

It, further appears that after the judgment had become final, and on December 29, 1945, appellant delivered to respondent’s attorney the sum of $2,011.32 representing dividends received by appellant, with interest; that appellant tendered to respondent, not the stock of Dried Pood Products Company as ordered by the judgment, but what appellant denominates as the “proceeds” of such stock, namely, 161.7386 shares of Pood Products Corporation stock and an interest of 0.54767 per cent of the Armour agreement which was in escrow at the Citizens National Bank. Respondent refused to accept these “proceeds” in satisfaction of the judgment, and demanded that, since it was impossible for appellant to [147]*147deliver the identical stock specified in the judgment, appellant should pay the value thereof as ordered by such judgment, the sum of $5,520. Thereafter occurred the issuance of execution, and the two motions in reference thereto, as hereinbefore related.

It is appellant’s contention that the first order, refusing to discharge the execution, “was improper because by it the Respondent was permitted to execute upon the assets of the estate of a decedent upon a judgment rendered against an administratrix upon a claim for money against the estate of her intestate,” in violation of section 730 of the Probate Code hereinbefore mentioned. Appellant likewise contends that the second order denying a motion for satisfaction of the judgment, “was improper because the Appellant offered to perform and did tender the stock in the form she held it at the time the judgment became final.”

The respondent’s brief answers these contentions by affirming that “Appellant was required to deliver 1,380 shares of the stock described in the judgment forthwith. This she did not do,” and that “When delivery of the stock became impossible, Respondent was entitled to recover the money judgment.” It is further argued that “The judgment was rendered in an action to establish title to the stock and was not wholly on a claim against the estate.” Respondent also contends that “Appellant has cited no authority which permits her to deliver different property than that ordered delivered by the judgment. ’ ’

In reference to the validity of the execution issued against the estate of Charles C.

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Related

Hollyfield v. Geibel
20 Cal. App. 2d 142 (California Court of Appeal, 1934)
Wiley v. Santa Rosa Bank
71 P. 441 (California Supreme Court, 1903)
Smith v. Reed
52 Cal. 345 (California Supreme Court, 1877)
Busch v. Truitt
163 P.2d 739 (California Supreme Court, 1945)

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Bluebook (online)
181 P.2d 429, 80 Cal. App. 2d 144, 1947 Cal. App. LEXIS 930, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/busch-v-truitt-calctapp-1947.