Drain v. Stough

61 F.2d 668, 87 A.L.R. 490, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4373
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 7, 1932
Docket6860
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 61 F.2d 668 (Drain v. Stough) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drain v. Stough, 61 F.2d 668, 87 A.L.R. 490, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4373 (9th Cir. 1932).

Opinion

WILBUR, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought by the receiver of an insolvent national bank against the executor of the will of a deceased stockholder, Harry S. Landis, to recover the amount of an assessment levied by the comptroller of currency upon thq stockholders of the bank. The facts were stipulated, and the trial court rendered a judgment of dismissal upon the ground that the claim sued upon had not been presented to the executor within six months after the first publication of notice to creditors by the executor and hence that it was barred by reason of the state law-requiring claims against the deeedent to be filed within six months after the first publication of such notice. The deeedent stockholder died June 7, 1930. His will was admitted to probate, the executor duly qualified, and, on June 18, 1930, the notice to creditors was first published. The comptroller of currency on January 19, 1931, made and levied an assessment upon the stockholders of the *669 bank for the par value of “each and every share.” This, it will be observed, was after the expiration of the six months’ period. On February 21, 1931, the receiver notified the executor of said assessment and demanded payment thereof, and in August, 1931, filed a duly verified claim therefor. But one other date need be stated, namely, that on November 20, 1930, the comptroller appointed the appellant) receiver and that he thereupon qualified as such. The appellee contends that the laws of the state of Washington with reference to the statute of limitations and the “non claim” statute as to- estates, as interpreted by the state court, are conclusive on the question.

We are then to consider the question as to whether the fact that the national bank went into the hands of a receiver after the death of the stockholder created such a claim as must be presented to the exeeutor under the Washington statute (section 1477, et seq., Remington’s Compiled Statutes). It will be observed that the notice published by the executor is directed to “all persons having claims against the deceased to serve the same on the executor or administrator or his attorney of record * * * within six months after the date of the first publication of such notice,” and that, “if a claim be not filed within the time aforesaid, it shall be barred. * * * ” (Italics ours.) Is this a claim “against the deceased”? At the time of his death the bank was solvent, the stock passed to his executors upon his death and their qualification, with the ultimate ownership in the heirs. The liability of the estate to creditors is fixed by the statute specially applicable, section 5152, R. S. (12 USCA § 66), as follows: “Persons holding stock as executors, administrators, guardians, or trustees, shall not be personally subject to any liabilities as stockholders; but the estates and funds in their hands shall be liable in like manner and to the same extent as the testator, intestate, ward, or person interested in such trust funds would be, if living and competent to act and hold the stock in his own name.”

That is to say, the estate is charged with an equitable lien for the assessments properly apportioned to the stock, and neither the decedent nor the owner of the stock, whether executor, administrator, legatee, or distributee, is personally liable for said assessment, as is the case with other transferees or owners, but the estate left by the decedent is liable. Zimmerman v. Carpenter (C. C.) 84 F. 747. The obligation to the bank’s creditors, although arising out of an implied contract of the decedent stockholder, is a statutory obligation. McDonald v. Thompson, 184 U. S. 71, 22 S. Ct. 297, 46 L. Ed. 437; McClaine v. Rankin, 197 U. S. 154, 25 S. Ct. 410, 49 L. Ed. 702, 3 Ann. Cas. 500. It is well settled that a statute, requiring the presentation of claims against a decedent, does not apply to claims against his estate arising in the course of administration, that is, to claims against the funds in the hands of the executor or administrator. It was so hold under a similar statute of California requiring the presentation of claims to an executor. Miller & Lux v. Katz, 10 Cal. App. 576, 102 P. 946. There the corporate stock was owned by the deceased. After his death the corporate debt was created. It was held that the estate was liable for its proportion of the debt, fixed by statute upon a stockholder, and that the claim therefor need not be presented to the exeeutor. See, also, Plummer v. Light, 139 Wash. 670, 247 P. 1022. The Supreme Court of the state of Montana, with laws similar to Washington and California with reference to the presentation of claims against a decedent, in the ease of Springhorn v. Dirks, 72 Mont. 121, 231 P. 912, 915, held, under a state statute identical with section 5152, R. S. (12 USCA § 66, supra), it was not necessary to present a claim to the exeeutor of the will of a deceased stockholder in a state bank as a basis for a recovery of the assessment made for the benefit of creditors of the bank, following Zimmerman v. Carpenter (C. C.) 84 F. 747, supra, and Rankin v. Miller (D. C.) 207 F. 602.

We conclude, that the law of the state of Washington did not require the presentation of a claim for either a contingent or accrued liability on stock in a national bank, where the insolvency of the bank occurred after the death of the stockholder. There is no decision of the state Supreme Court to the contrary. The Supreme Court of the state of Washington, in In re Macdonald’s Estate (Macdonald v. Frater), 29 Wash. 422, 69 P. 1111, 1115, held that a claim by a federal receiver of an insolvent national bank need not be presented to the executor of the deceased stockholder’s estate, if the claim “did not exist until after * * * £he year specified in the notice to creditors.” In that case the assessment was made April 16, 3896. Neither the exact date of publication of the notice to creditors, or of the expiration of the year is given in the report of the ease, nor are the dates upon which the receiver took charge of the bank and upon which it became insolvent so stated. The date of the *670 assessment is the date upon which the liability of the stockholder to the receiver accrues and not until the assessment is made and then only does the statute of limitations begin to run. Scovill v. Thayer, 105 U. S. 143, 26 L. Ed. 968; Hawkins v. Glenn, 131 U. S. 319, 9 S. Ct. 739, 33 L. Ed. 184; McDonald v. Thompson, 184 U. S. 71, 76, 22 S. Ct. 297, 46 L. Ed. 437. Apparently the Supreme Court of Washington based its decision upon this point solely upon the fact that the assessment was made after the period for the presentation of claims had expired. That is the case here.

Appellee relies upon the decision of the Supreme Court of Washington in Barto v. Stewart, 21 Wash. 605, 59 P. 480, wherein, that court construed the Washington statutes relating to the filing of claims against the estate of a decedent, now embodied in Remington’s Compiled Statutes of 1922, §§ 1477, 1478, 1483, 1484, 1543, and 1549, and held that a failure to file a claim against the estate of a deceased stockholder of a state bank for the recovery of a stockholder's liability under a Washington statute (section 3242, Rem. Comp. Stat.

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

Related

In Re Estate of Kulow
439 So. 2d 280 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1983)
Foley v. Smith
539 P.2d 874 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1975)
Futrall v. Ray
111 F.2d 695 (Eighth Circuit, 1940)
Coffey v. Fisher
100 F.2d 51 (Sixth Circuit, 1938)
Tobin v. Hymers
99 F.2d 740 (Ninth Circuit, 1938)
Tobin v. Hymers
19 F. Supp. 795 (D. Nevada, 1937)
In re Estates of Weimer
23 Ohio Law. Abs. 636 (Montgomery County Probate Court, 1937)
Johnson v. Greene
88 F.2d 683 (Ninth Circuit, 1937)
Soper v. Burns
172 So. 598 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1937)
Erickson v. Richardson
86 F.2d 963 (Ninth Circuit, 1936)
Ward v. Integrity Trust Co.
17 F. Supp. 122 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1936)
Donald v. Bird
85 F.2d 663 (Ninth Circuit, 1936)
In Re Graham's Estate
267 N.W. 629 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1936)
Johnson v. Greene
14 F. Supp. 945 (S.D. California, 1936)
Drake v. McKinney
9 F. Supp. 671 (E.D. Illinois, 1935)
Jack v. Forrest
71 F.2d 264 (Tenth Circuit, 1934)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 F.2d 668, 87 A.L.R. 490, 1932 U.S. App. LEXIS 4373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drain-v-stough-ca9-1932.