Cotton v. State ex rel. Roberts

64 Ind. 573
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 64 Ind. 573 (Cotton v. State ex rel. Roberts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cotton v. State ex rel. Roberts, 64 Ind. 573 (Ind. 1878).

Opinion

Howk, C. J.

This was a suit by the appellee, on the relation of the guardian of the minor heirs of William Splain, deceased, against the appellant and a number of other defendants, on the bond of Eranklin Joyce, as the former guardian of the relator’s wards and other heirs, then minors, of said William Splain, deceased. This bond was in the penal sum of fifty thousand dollars, was dated March 19th, 1864, was executed, among others, by the appellant’s testator, Benjamin Tevis, and was conditioned that the said Joyce would faithfully discharge his duties as guardian of the persons and property of the then minor heirs of said William Splain, deceased, of three of which minor heirs the relator afterward became the legal guardian.

The complaint was in one paragraph, and it was [575]*575alleged therein that the said Joyce had committed divers breaches of his trust, as the former, guardian of the relator’s wards.

The appellant separately demurred to the relator’s complaint, for the want of sufficient facts therein to constitute a cause of action; and, jointly, with her eodefendants, she also demurred to each breach assigned in said complaint, upon the same ground of objection, which demurrers were overruled by the court, and to these decisions the appellant excepted.

The appellant separately answered in nine paragraphs, the first of which was a general denial, and each of the others set up affirmative matter by way of defence. The appellee’s relator demurred to each of the affirmative paragraphs of the appellant’s answer, for the alleged insufficiency of the facts therein to constitute a defence to the relator’s -action, which demurrer was overruled as to the second, third, sixth and seventh paragraphs, and was sustained by the court as to the fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth paragraphs of said answer, to -which latter decision the appellant excepted. The relator then replied, by a general denial, to the second, third, sixth and seventh paragraphs of the appellant’s separate answer.

The issues joined were tried by the court, and a finding was made for the appellee’s relator, assessing his damages in the sum of nine thousand and eighty-two dollars and forty cents; and judgment was rendered upon and in accordance with said finding, from which judgment the appellant alone has appealed to this court.

The appellant has here assigned, as errors, the following decisions of the circuit court:

1. In overruling her demurrer to the relator’s complaint ;

2. In overruling her demurrer to each of the breaches assigned in the complaint;

[576]*5763. In sustaining the demurrer to the fourth paragraph of her answer;

4. In sustaining the demurrer to the fifth, paragraph of her answer;

5. In sustaining the demurrer to the eighth paragraph of her answer;

6. In sustaining the demurrer to the ninth paragraph of her answer ; and,

7. In overruling her demurrer to the relator’s reply to her separate answer.

We will consider and decide the several questions presented and discussed by the appellant’s counsel, in his brief of this cause in this- court, in the same order in which he has presented them.

1. It is insisted by the appellant that her demurrer to the relator’s complaint ought to have been sustained, because, it is said, there is a fatal variance between the bond in suit, as described in the complaint, and the copy of said bond .therewith filed. This point is not well taken. The appellant’s testator appeared to have been a maker of the bond sued upon, as it was described in the complaint, and in the said copy thereof, and any other variance between the description and the copy could not injure the appellant in her defence of this suit. If there is any variance between the copy of the instrument in suit and the attempted description thereof in the complaint, the rule is that the copy controls and will be presumed to be right, until the contrary is shown. Mercer v. Hebert, 41 Ind. 459 ; Stafford v. Davidson, 47 Ind. 319; and Crandall v. The First National Bank of Auburn, 61 Ind. 349. In this case, the variance was immaterial, in so far as the appellant was concerned, for it appeared both from the description and the copy of the bond, that the appellant’s testator, Benjamin Tevis, had been one of the makers thereof.

[577]*577It is alleged in the complaint, that a copy of the hond sued on was filed therewith and made part thereof. In making up the transcript of the record of this cause on file in this court, the clerk of the court below apparently omitted to transcribe at the proper place the copy of the bond filed, and did not discover the omission until the transcript was completed. Tie then made a copy of the bond, on a separate paper, and pasted it on the transcript at the point where it ought to have been inserted. This does not show, as it seems to us, that a copy of the bond was not in fact filed with the complaint, but it shows, if anything, the very reverse. For the transcript on this appeal was, of course, procured and filed in this court by the appellant, and we can not believe that she would have prepared and pasted a copy of the bond on the transcript, unless such copy of the bond had in fact been filed with the complaint. The court did not err, we think, in overruling the appellant’s demurrer to the relator’s complaint.

2. The second error assigned by the appellant is not even noticed by her counsel, in his argument of this cause. Under the well settled practice of this court, therefore, this alleged error must be regarded as waived.

3. The third alleged error is the decision of the circuit court in sustaining the relator’s demurrer- to the fourth paragraph of the appellant’s answer. In this fourth paragraph of her answer, the appellant alleged, in substance, that her testator, Benjamin Tevis, died on the-day of November, 1868, at Jefferson county, Indiana, and that letters testamentary on said decedent’s estate were then issued to the appellant, by the court of common pleas of said county, in which court the guardianship of the minor heirs of William Splain, deceased, was then pending; that the defalcation and breaches of the bond in suit, and the failure to discharge the duties of said trust, alleged in the relator’s complaint, took place long after the death of said Ben[578]*578jamin Tevis, and long after letters testamentary had been granted her, as such executrix, and long after partial reports made by said guardian after the death of said Tevis had been presented and passed upon, and said guardianship continued, by said court of common pléas; that the said moneys, etc., in said complaint mentioned, were in the hands of said guardian at the time of the death of said Tevis, and of the granting of said letters testamentary on his estate, and of said first partial report and the continuance of said guardianship by said court, after the death of said Benjamin Tevis, and that the defalcations, or breaches in the bond sued on, had occurred since then, and not otherwise. Wherefore the appellee’s relator ought to take nothing against the estate of said Benjamin Tevis, deceased.

It will be seen from the averments of this fourth paragraph of answer, that'it is founded upon the theory, that the estate of a deceased surety upon a guardian’s bond is not liable for a default of the guardian, which occurred after the death of such surety.

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

Related

Kramien v. State of Indiana
195 N.E. 74 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1935)
Stewart v. Knight & Jillson Co.
76 N.E. 743 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1906)
Miller v. Wayne International Building & Loan Ass'n
70 N.E. 180 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1904)
Dunlap v. Eden
44 N.E. 560 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1896)
Stengel v. Boyce
42 N.E. 905 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1896)
Goodbub v. Scheller
29 N.E. 610 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1892)
McPherson v. Ryan
26 N.W. 321 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1886)
Moody v. State ex rel. Burton
84 Ind. 433 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1882)
Parker v. Teas
79 Ind. 235 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1881)
Hurlburt v. State ex rel. Ault
71 Ind. 154 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1880)
Bentley v. Dunkle
57 Ind. 374 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1877)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 Ind. 573, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cotton-v-state-ex-rel-roberts-ind-1878.