Cronkleton v. Jones

67 F.2d 21, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4355
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 21, 1933
DocketNo. 9697
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 67 F.2d 21 (Cronkleton v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cronkleton v. Jones, 67 F.2d 21, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4355 (8th Cir. 1933).

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURGH, Circuit Judge.

This suit was brought to recover the double, or statutory, liability on one hundred shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Neb., bequeathed to his exeeutors and successors in trust for his daughter, Lida Clarke Seaton, by Alonzo L. Clarke of Hastings, Neb., in paragraph No. 24 of his will. It was consolidated for purposes of trial with causes numbered 9681 and 9694, both entitled Arthur H. Jones & Ford McWhorter, Trustees of the Estate of Alonzo L. Clarke, Deceased, Appellants, v. George G. Cronkleton, Receiver of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, Appellee, 67 F.(2d) 17, the decision of this court in which eases is handed down contemporaneously herewith; and reference is made to the opinion therein for facts stated and views expressed.

In the instant ease, the judgment of the court was, in effect, in favor of the defendants, appellees herein, from which judgment the receiver appeals.

The paragraph of the will by which the shares of bank stock here involved were devised is numbered 24, and reads as follows: i(I give and bequeath to my executors and their successors in trust one hundred (100) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, in trust, to collect and receive the dividends and income therefrom, and to pay the dividends and income therefrom annually, or at the time they shall be declared or received, to my daughter, Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton, of Upminster, England, during her natural life, and at the time of the death of said Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton I give and bequeath said one hundred (100) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Hastings, Nebraska, and the accrued accumulations therefrom, to the heirs at law of said Mrs. Lida Clarke Seaton, deceased, and direct my said exeeutors op their successors in trust to convey, transfer, deliver and pay the same at said time to her heirs at law absolutely.”

It is the contention of appellant that there are other paragraphs of the will, to wit, Nos. 22 and 27, which also condition recovery in this action. Dependence upon other paragraphs of the will for the recovery asked appears to have been abandoned. Paragraph 22 reads thus: “I give and bequeath to my executors and their successors in trust fifty (50) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Holdrege, Nebraska, and fifty (50) shares of the preferred stock of the Beatrice Creamery Company, in trust, to collect and receive the dividends and income therefrom, and to pay the dividends and income therefrom annually, or at the time they shall be declared or received, to my son, William H. Clarke, during his natural life, and at the time of the death of said William H. Clarke I give and bequeath said fifty (50) shares of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Holdrege, Nebraska, and said fifty (50) shares of the preferred stock of the Beatrice Creamery Company and the accrued accumulations therefrom, to the heirs at law of said William H. Clarke, deceased, and direct my said exeeutors or their successors in trust to convey, transfer, deliver and pay the same at said time to his heirs at law, absolutely.”

Paragraph 27 has been copied and discussed in the opinion in causes Nos. 9681 and 9694, and for brevity’s salce will not be fully reproduced here.

The will of Alonzo L. Clarke was executed in 1915. He died May 3, 1918, and his will was admitted to probate June 4, 1918. In 1922, Wesley A. Taylor and Charles B. Hutton, exeeutors, refused to act as trustees except under paragraph 24, the bequest in trust to Mrs. Seaton. Later Hutton declined to act further, and Taylor was appointed as sole trustee, and qualified as such. March 17, 1922, by order of the county court, assets bequeathed in trust under the provisions of the various paragraphs of the will were transferred to the trustees in the several trusts, [23]*23and, at all times after June 1,192-3, the management of these was conducted by the trustees, separately and distinctly from the administration of the estate, which was closed in 1928. January 7,1924, prior stock certificates were surrendered and new ones, under paragraph 24, were issued to Wesley A. Taylor, as trustee. September 23, 1925, Taylor resigned as trustee under paragraph 24, and the stock was transferred on the books of the bank to the Clarke-Buehanan Company as trustee. This company continued to hold the certificates and acted as trustee under this paragraph. The First National Bank of Hastings became insolvent October 5, 1931, and its receiver, appellant, was appointed. In November, 1931, the Clarke-Buehanan Company became insolvent, and Harry E. Bowman was appointed its receiver. Meantime Arthur H. Jones and Ford McWhorter, by appointment of court, had succeeded to the trusteeship under paragraphs 22 and 27 of the will, and other paragraphs not deemed material to this controversy. November 16, 1931, the Comptroller of the Currency issued an order assessing shareholders of the First National Bank of Hastings a sum equivalent to the par value of their stock, amounting to $10,000 upon the stock devised by paragraph 24 of the will.

In the amended petition filed in the District Court for the District of Nebraska, the following were named as defendants: “Arthur H. Jones, Archie D. Marvel and The Clarke-Buehanan Company, a corporation, trustees of the estate of Alonzo L. Clarke, deceased; Harry E. Bowman, Receiver of the Clarke-Buehanan Company, a corporation; and Lida Clarke Seaton.” At that time Marvel was a cotrustee in certain trusts, other than No. 24, with appellant Jones, and was afterwards succeeded by Ford Mc-Whorter. Besides his daughter, Lida Clarke Seaton, Alonzo' L. ' Clarke left two sons, Frank N. Clarke and William H. Clarke. Frank N. Clarke died January 28, 1932, leaving surviving him, as his sole and only heirs, Carrie Detweiler Clarke, his wife, life beneficiary in paragraphs 26 and 27 of the will, and Helen Clarke, his daughter; William H. Clarke died February 10, 1932, and left surviving him his wife, Gertrude Touzlin Clarke, life beneficiary under paragraphs 25 and 27 of the will, and an adopted daughter, Margaret Clarke. The contention of appellant is that Lida Clarke Seaton is an heir at law of William H. Clarke, and as such is a potential beneficiary in any of the several trusts in which his heirs may, however remotely, have a contingent interest. The heirship of Mangaret Clarke, adopted daughter, is denied by appellant on the ground that her adoption took place long after the testator’s death, and therefore she was not an heir at law of William H. Clarke within the meaning of the' will of Alonzo L. Clarke. This issue was submitted to the district court of Adams county, Neb., and was by that court decided in favor of Margaret Clarke. An appeal from this decision is now pending in the Supreme Court of Nebraska. The same issue was presented to the court below, and the same conclusion reached. Since it would appear that the said Margaret Clarke is the heir of the adopting parent, no claim of collateral heirship being made, the conclusions reached by the two trial courts referred to are entitled to much respect. However, in the view we take of the principles involved in this appeal, we do not deem it necessary to decide this point in controversy. Of course, appellant concedes that, if Margaret Clarke is an heir of William H. Clarke, then, necessarily, his sister, Lida Clarke Sea-ton, is not an heir.

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Bluebook (online)
67 F.2d 21, 1933 U.S. App. LEXIS 4355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cronkleton-v-jones-ca8-1933.