Dunsford v. Brown

19 S.C. 560, 1883 S.C. LEXIS 114
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Dunsford v. Brown. Read the opinion of the Court — 23 S.C. 328
Supreme Court of South Carolina·Decided July 31, 1883·Published

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Mr. Justice McGowan.

This was an action in the nature of a bill in equity by Francis W. Dunsford against Thomas B. Brown, his late guardian and his sureties on the guardianship bond, for an account of his guardianship. Brown, the defendant, the sureties concurring, pleaded in bar to the account asked for, that on May 21st, 1880, after the plaintiff had attained to the age of twenty-one years (the day after), the said guardian had a settlement with his ward, the plaintiff, in the Probate office for Bichland county, before Andrew Crawford, Esq., then Probate judge, and with his concurrence, and upon that settlement the said Probate judge ascertained that the sum of $1,496.78 was due to the said ward, the plaintiff, which was paid in full to the said plaintiff, who, being entirely satisfied with the settlement, received the money and gave his receipt in full, drawn by the said Probate judge, absolving him from all further responsibility in connection with the guardianship, and which is in the. following terms:

“Beceived, Columbia, January 9th, 1880, of Col. Thomas Brown, guardian of Francis W. Dunsford, fourteen hundred and twenty-eight dollars due to said ward from the guardian aforesaid, to be retained by me as judge of Probate, until a final discharge shall be granted to said guardian.
“Andrew Crawford, J. P.”
“Also this 10th April, 1880, four hundred and twenty-eight dollars, due on Mrs. A. G. Adams’ bond.
“Andrew Crawford, J. P.”
“Beceived, Columbia, May 21st, 1880, of Andrew Crawford, judge of Probate, fourteen hundred and niDety-six seventy-eight one hundredths dollars, in full and final settlement of all claims I have against my guardian, Thomas B. Brown, and I do in this manner absolve him from all responsibility in connection with the guardianship, as I am now twenty-one years of age. And I take this step after the judge of Probate has fully explained everything to me connected with my affairs.
“ F. W. Dunsford.
“ Witness, J. Meighan.”

[562]*562The case was referred to Nathaniel B. Barnwell, Esq., the master, “ to take the testimony upon all the matters of fact arising on the pleadings, to state the accounts and to report the same,” &c. The master reported the facts to be substantially as follows:

In 1860, the plaintiff, Francis W. Dunsford, was left an orphan, being under two years of age, and was taken by his grandfather, R. J. Dunsford, a poor man, and supported and clothed by him for eleven years. It seems that at that time the child was entitled to a handsome estate in the hands of one Jesse Drafts, his first guardian, who died intestate in August, 1865. The administrators of Drafts, the guardian, refused to account for any of the estate of the ward which had been received by their intestate, the first guardian, claiming that it had been invested in Confederate bonds and lost. At that time, soon after the war, it was difficult to get any one to accept the appointment of guardian, in order to test the responsibility of Drafts, for the ward’s estate; but, finally, a neighbor, William Weston, was prevailed upon to take the guardianship in August, 1870..

He found that neither Drafts nor, after his death, his representative, had rendered any assistance to the ward, who had been supported by his grandfather, R. J. Dunsford, as before stated; and, in doing so, the grandfather had contracted a debt to Weston of something over $600. Weston, as guardian, employed counsel and instituted two suits against the representatives of Drafts. At first he was unsuccessful; but, finally, he succeeded in getting a compromise, by which he secured for the' ward the sum of $4,205.38, which, without his efforts, might have been lost. Out of this money thus secured for the ward he paid an account to the grandfather, R. J. Dunsford, for the support and maintenance of the ward for eleven years, at the rate of $100 per year, aggregating $1,100, for which he returned a voucher; retaining .out of that sum his debt against R. J. Dunsford.

On July 23d, 1873, upon his own application, Weston was discharged as guardian, and Thomas R. Brown, the defendant, was appointed his successor, the then judge of Probate, Sanders D. Swygert, Esq., passing the following order: It is ordered that the letters of guardianship of the personal estate of the [563]*563said Francis W. Dunsford, heretofore issued to William Weston, be and are hereby revoked, and that the said William Weston be and he is hereby required to transfer to his successor, Thomas B. Brown, such portion of said estate of the said infant which has come into his hands, and has not been disbursed, and be discharged from further accountability in respect thereto.” Thomas B. Brown received from his predecessors the portion of the estate which had not been disbursed, and continued guardian until the settlement with .the ward and discharge before stated.

The object of the action was'not only to have an accounting de novo from Brown, the last guardian, but, also, through him, to reach alleged errors in the accounting of Weston, and make Brown and his sureties liable therefor on the ground that he, as last guardian, should have held Weston, his predecessor, to a strict account of the ward’s estate, and especially for the $1,100 paid by Weston to the grandfather for the support and maintenance of the ward before he became guardian. The master, disclaiming any right to decide the legal question involved, except so far as was necessary in stating the accounts, restated, not only the account of Brown, disregarding his settlement with the ward and his discharge by the- judge of Probate, but went back beyond Weston’s discharge, and restated his accounts, disallowing $500 of the money paid to the grandfather, and charging Brown with the same, and also with some small matters of counsel fees paid by Weston, &c.

Both parties excepted, and the case came on to be heard before Judge Kershaw, who held that the Probate Court, upon proper proceedings, could grant a final discharge to a guardian who had fully accounted in that court, which might be pleaded in bar of an accounting sought in another court; that a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction is an estoppel between the parties in regard to all matters which might have been pi’operly brought into consideration in the action; and that the judgment of the judge of Probate, in discharging Brown, could not be collaterally attacked as proposed in this action.

If the plaintiff, therefore, would have attacked this judgment, his very first step in the present action should have been to seek the judgment of the court to vacate it in order that he [564]*564might reach the account concluded by that order. This, however, he has not done, but has come into court on a complaint for an accounting alone, which is the very matter in respect of which he is concluded. Ordinarily, this would be the end of plaintiff’s case; but it has happened here that, notwithstanding the estoppel, he has been permitted to speak the truth. All the evidence and arguments upon the issue presented by the complaint and answers have been heard, which might have' been heard had the proceedings been in the first place to set aside the order of discharge, and, also, for an accounting, which would undoubtedly have been the plaintiff’s proper course of procedure.

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Dunsford v. Brown, 19 S.C. 560, 1883 S.C. LEXIS 114 (S.C. 1883).

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