Clarke v. Organ

329 S.W.2d 670
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 14, 1959
Docket46731
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 329 S.W.2d 670 (Clarke v. Organ) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clarke v. Organ, 329 S.W.2d 670 (Mo. 1959).

Opinions

EAGER, Judge.

This is a suit for the wrongful deaths of both parents of the plaintiff’s minor wards; those deaths occurred as the result of the collision of the parents’ motorcycle with a car driven by William Dee Organ, whose administratrix is the defendant here. All three persons died on Sept. 1, 1956, the date of the collision. Plaintiff is the guardian of the three minor children. Defendant was appointed administratrix of Organ’s estate on Oct. 8, 1956, and the first publication of the Notice of Letters was made on Oct. 11, 1956. This suit was instituted on Nov. 10, 1956, seeking damages of $50,000 for the death of both parents, and asserting that the deaths were caused by the negligence of decedent Organ. Service of process was had on the defendant on Nov. 23, 1956. On Jan. 5, 1957, defendant filed answer, admitting the appoint[672]*672ments of the Guardian and the Adminis-tratrix, denying all substantive allegations, and pleading negligence on the part of the minors’ parents. On Oct. 16, 1957, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the petition for failure to comply with the provisions of the Probate Code (sections 473.-360, 473.363 and 473.367, Mo.Cum.Supp. 1957, V.A.M.S.) by filing copies of the .summons and return in the probate court within nine months after the first publication of the Notice of Letters. Copies of the petition, summons and return were filed in the Probate Court of Jackson County on Nov. 18, 1957, more than 13 months after the first publication of Notice of Letters. The motion to dismiss was sustained after the introduction of evidence of a formal nature showing the facts of record in the Probate Court, largely as already ■stated. Thereafter, and on motion, the court set aside that order to permit further evidence, but again dismissed the petition on Dec. 26, 1957. This appeal followed that order. That evidence consisted of further probate files and records and the testimony of counsel for defendant (elicited over objections) that an insurance company was interested in the defense. No further facts whatever were. developed as to the insurance. The inventory of the 'estate listed personal property valued at :$125;. no claims had been filed against the estate; the public administrator had filed a petition for the issuance of letters, but the letters were issued to a sister, the defendant here. The attorneys who defend this case are also the attorneys for the estate. It is clear that neither a notice of the institution of this suit nor copies of the summons and return were filed in the Probate Court within nine months of the first publication. 'All statutory references herein are to the Mo.Cum.Supp.1957, unless otherwise stated.

The only question involved is the correctness of the dismissal, which was based upon the failure to file notice of the institution of the suit (section 473.360, subd. 2) or copies of the process and return of service (section 473.367) in the Probate Court within nine months after the first publication. We need not concern ourselves with any possible distinctions between these two requirements, for plaintiff filed neither. We first note the statutes involved; all emphasis used is ours. Section 473.367 provides that any action commenced against an executor or administrator “is considered a claim duly filed against the estate from the time of serving the original process on the executor or administrator and the filing of a copy of the process and return of service thereof in the prohate court.” Section 473.360 provides that all claims (with exceptions not important here) “ * * * whether due [or] 1 to become due, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, founded on contract or otherwise, which are not filed in the probate court within nine months after the first published notice of letters * * * are forever barred against the estate, the executor or administrator, the heirs, devisees and legatees. * * * ” Paragraph 2 of the last mentioned section expressly provides that “All actions against the estate of a deceased person, pending or filed under sections 473.363 or 473.367, shall abate or shall he barred unless notice of the revival or institution thereof is filed in the probate court within nine months after the first published notice of letters.” Section 473.367 has already been digested, supra; section 473.363 provides that a pending action becomes a claim against a decedent’s estate when it is revived “and notice of the revival is filed in the probate court.” Section 473.360, subd. 4 is as follows: “Nothing in this section affects or prevents any action or proceeding to enforce any mortgage, pledge or other lien upon property of the estate, except that attachment, judgment and execution liens shall be enforced as provided in this law and not otherwise.” Section 473.370 is as [673]*673follows: “Establishment of claim by judgment — judgment deemed filed, when.- — 1. A person having a claim against an estate may establish the same by the judgment or decree of some court of record other than a magistrate court, in the ordinary course of proceeding, upon filing a copy of the judgment or decree in the probate court. Copies of unsatisfied judgments or decrees of any court rendered in the lifetime of the decedent shall also be filed in the probate court.

“2. Except where notice of revival of an action or of institution of an action is filed as required by section 473.363 or 473.367, any judgment or decree is deemed filed within the meaning of section 473.360 as of the time a copy of the judgment or decree is filed in the probate court as required by this section.”

It should first be noted that these statutes are considerably more far reaching than the previous non-claim statutes, sections 464.020^-64.070 RSMo 1949, V.A.M. S.; for instance, the prior statutes contained saving provisions to infants, persons of unsound mind and persons imprisoned; there was no requirement of the filing of notice of suit, and no such provision as the present section 473.360, subd. 2; also, section 473.360, subd. 1 is much more inclusive than section 464.020, its earlier counterpart. Indeed the very method of consummating a claim has been changed from an exhibiting and presenting to the filing. We may also observe that the new act has not attempted to impair the general jurisdiction of the circuit courts in actions against executors or administrators. Note, for instance, sections 473.367, 473.-363, 473.370, 473.373. These sections are simply a continuation of the statutory method of liquidating claims in the circuit courts, but subject to specific limitations. Taking these statutes at their face value, they bar (or abate) all claims, whether filed in the probate court or instituted in the circuit court, unless the claim or the required notice of stdt or copies of the process and rettirn are timely filed in the pro-bate court. We have very recently held in the case of North v. Hawkinson, Mo., 324 S.W.2d 733, that an action in equity for an accounting and a money judgment was barred and properly dismissed, where filed more than nine months after the first publication of notice of letters. There is much in the two opinions in that case which is applicable here. It seems obvious that unless there is some exception not apparent on the face of these statutes, the present suit is barred and was properly dismissed.

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Bluebook (online)
329 S.W.2d 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clarke-v-organ-mo-1959.