Conway v. Carter

68 P. 941, 11 N.M. 419
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedApril 25, 1902
DocketNo. 938
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 68 P. 941 (Conway v. Carter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conway v. Carter, 68 P. 941, 11 N.M. 419 (N.M. 1902).

Opinion

OPINION OP THE COURT.

McFIE, J.

The judgment having been rendered upon the pleadings in this case, the state of the pleadings at the time the judgment was rendered, has been set out above, substantially, in full. The appellant, who seeks a reversal of the judgment, is a surety upon an administrator’s bond, and who stands in this court upon his answer in the court below, admitting the execution of the bond as alleged in paragraph three of the complaint; admitting the allegations of paragraph four, that his principal “did receive and take into his custody and possession as such administrator” the money sued for; admitting also the allegation that Conway “did not faithfully perform his duties as such administrator; admitting the further allegation that the said Thomas F. Conway, during his lifetime and while administrator as ■aforesaid; squandered, wasted and converted to his own use, all of the said sum of money so as aforesaid realized from the said life insurance policy and collected and taken into his own custody as such administrator aforesaid, by reason whereof the same became and still is wholly lost to the plaintiff,” and admitting the allegation of paragraph six that a demand was made upon him and the administrator, his principal to pay over the money which by judgment of the courts he was ordered to pay the plaintiff, and that they failed and refused to do so. These, and many other admissions, having been made by the appellant in his answer, and as the record shows an election to stand upon his answer, the sole denial of which was the insolvency of Conway, deceased administrator, which raised an immaterial issue, the court was clearly right in rendering judgment for the plaintiff upon the pleadings containing such admissions.

The counsel for appellant in this court, W. B. ■Childers, Esq., did not try this case in the court below, -and while counsel now seeks to raise issues not presented to or considered by the trial court, counsel as well as this court is concluded by the record as it comes to us from the lower court, and the case must be decided upon it. The admissions made by the defendant in his answer are conclusive here, as the judgment of the lower court was rendered upon the admissions of the defendant, v which have the effect of establishing the facts admitted without the necessity of proof.

1 The first assignment of error, that the demurrer to ■the original complaint should have been sustained, will be overruled for two reasons: First, the demurrer, was sustained in the court below, in part at least,, and plaintiff filed an amended complaint. The record does not show any exceptions taken to the action of the court upon demurrer, and the defendant did not interpose a demurrer to the amended complaint, but instead answered the complaint; second, the demurrer to the original complaint did not raise the objection to the complaint sought to be raised in this court. Counsel here contend that the snit must be brought in the name of the Territory, whereas in support of the demurrer in the court below, a non-joinder of parties was urged. Not that the plaintiff in this action was an improper party,, but that the Territory and the personal representatives should be joined.

It has been repeatedly held that objections not raised in the court below will not be considered in this court. 1 Ency. P. and P. 722; Brown v. McKee, 108 N. C. 387; People v. Stroller, 16 Hun (N. Y.) 234; Pueblo of Laguna v. Pueblo of Acoma, 1 N. M. 220; Coler v. Board of County Commissioners, 6 N. M. 88.

But if counsel for the appellant is correct, that the first clause of appellant’s answer properly raises the objection that this suit must be brought in the name of the Territory, we are of the opinion, that under the code of this Territory, the objection is not well taken. Subsection 2 of the code requires all civil suits to be brought in the name of the real party in interest, except as provided in subsection 3, which provides that “An executor or administrator, a trustee of an express trust, or a person expressly authorized by the statute may sue in his own name, without joining with him the persons for whose benefit the suit is prosecuted.” It will not be contended that under these provisions, the Territory is a person expressly authorized by the statute to sue, because the Territory is not the real party in interest. It is at most, only a nominal party to whom the bond is given as a mere matter of convenience, and the party entitled to recover the proceeds of a judgment upon an administrator’s bond is the real party in interest. That an administrator, executor, or trustee of an express trust, or a person expressly authorized by the statute may bring such action, need not be questioned here, but it does not follow that they must do so, because it will be observed that subsection 3, is different from subsection 2, in that it is a permissive section, and those authorized to bring suits in their own name, may or may not also join the person for whom the suit is prosecuted.

There is no statutory provision prescribing the form of an action on an administrator’s bond and specially authorizing the Territory to bring the suit, and in the absence of such a provision of law, we are of the opinion, that the beneficiary under such bond is the real party in interest, who under subsection 2 of the code, is required to bring the suit in his own name. Amazon v. Nash, 24 Ala. 279.

Pomeroy on Remedies and Remedial Rights, in section 138, says: “It is no longer, consistent with the provisions of the codes, possible for one person to sue to the use of another, as was common in some States. The parties beneficially interested must themselves bring the action. There are some cases which hold that when there is a trustee of an express trust, he must bring the action, and that the beneficiary can not in such case sue in his own name, at least, alona The correctness of this, rule may well be doubted. The section relative to the real party in interest is, in all codes, imperative, while that in relation to the trustee of an express trust is permissive.” Lytle v. Lytle, 2 Met. 1127; State v. Johnson, 52 Ind. 197; Shane v. Francis, 30 Ind. 92; Wilkes v. Moorehead, Stanton’s Code (Ky.) 31. Mr. Pomeroy in section 139 further says: “The result of this and other decisions is, that the third person for whose benefit an undertaking is entered into between other parties, may sue upon it, although such undertaking be an instrument in writing and under seal.”

Counsel for appellant directs our attention to some •authorities under the laws of Missouri and New York holding a different doctrine, but it will be found that in the States above named, there is a provision of statute prescribing in whose name the action shall be brought, but we have no such statute in New Mexico'.

2 The second ground upon which appellant’s counsel seeks a reversal of the judgment in this case is, that the money collected upon the insurance policy by the deceased administrator was not assets in his hands as administrator for the recovery of which the appellant can be held as surety upon the administrator’s bond. The answer of the defendant in the court below specifically admitted that the deceased administrator took the money into his custody as administrator, and the answer also admits that the policy of insurance was made payable in case of his death to his executor, administrator and assigns by assignment of Cabell E.

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

Related

State v. Barker
178 P.2d 401 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1947)
Green v. Brown & Manzanares Co.
72 P. 17 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 P. 941, 11 N.M. 419, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conway-v-carter-nm-1902.