Hesler v. Snyder

1967 OK 4, 422 P.2d 432
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 6, 1967
DocketNo. 40928
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1967 OK 4 (Hesler v. Snyder) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hesler v. Snyder, 1967 OK 4, 422 P.2d 432 (Okla. 1967).

Opinion

HALLEY, Chief Justice:

This is an appeal from the order of the District Court of Woods County, Oklahoma, vacating and setting aside the appointment of Barbara Hesler, plaintiff in error here, as the administratrix of the estate of George A. Snyder, deceased. Defendants in error are the heirs of the decedent. We will refer to plaintiff in error as the appellant and the defendants in error as appel-lees.

On August 19, 1963, the County Court of Woods County, Oklahoma appointed Barbara Hesler as the administratrix of the estate of George A. Snyder, deceased. This order was appealed to the District Court of Woods County, and after a hearing thereon, and the submission of briefs, the District Court issued its order vacating the appointment. Motion for a new trial was filed and overruled and this appeal followed.

The facts from which this controversy arises can be summarized as follows: On March 8, 1961, an automobile driven by George A. Snyder was involved in an accident in Woods County, Oklahoma. A passenger in the Snyder automobile, Luella Barrow, who was also a sister of George A. Snyder, brought an action in the District Court of Woods County against her brother George Snyder, Edward Golbek and John R. Golbek. Her petition alleged that the named defendants were jointly and concurrently liable for the injuries sustained by her in the accident.

Snyder filed an answer to this petition, denying liability and raising certain affirmative defenses. At the same time, he filed a cross-petition against his two co-defendants, seeking damages from them for personal injuries, property damage to his automobile and loss of use of his automobile. The Golbeks, by their answers, denied all liability.

On March 2, 1963, during the pendency of the above suit, George A. Snyder died, intestate, a resident of Seward County, Kansas. On July 16, 1963, Luella Barrow filed a petition in the County Court of Woods County seeking the appointment of one Barbara Hesler, a resident of Woods County, as administratrix of the estate of George A. Snyder, deceased. Her petition, usual in form, recited that Snyder died intestate, a resident of Seward County, Kansas, and that he (the deceased) left an estate in Woods County, Oklahoma consisting of a “Cross-petition and cause #11357 of the District Court of Woods County, State of Oklahoma, entitled Barrow v. Golbek, et al.”

The petition also listed the names and addresses of the heirs at law of the deceased, all parties hereto, and also stated that Luella Barrow, the petitioner, was a sister of the deceased, but that she waived her right to appointment, and asked the court to appoint Barbara Hesler, a resident of Woods County, as administratrix.

After due notice, a hearing was held on this petition, and Barbara Hesler was appointed administratrix by the County Court, as aforesaid, an appeal to the District Court was taken, and the case found its way here.

From the briefs of the parties it appears that there is one main issue for us to consider. That issue, succinctly stated, is [434]*434whether or not a cross-petition, filed in a tort action, during the lifetime of the decedent, is a property right sufficient to establish venue for the appointment of an ad-ministratrix in a county court.

The statute in question, Title 58, O.S.A. 1961, § 5, provides as follows:

Sec. 5. Venue of probate acts
Wills must be proved, and letters testamentary or of administration granted:
1. In the county of which the decedent was a resident at the time of his death, in whatever place he may have died.
2. In the county in which the decedent may have died, leaving an estate therein, he not being a resident of the State.
3. In the county in which any part of the estate may be, the decedent having died out of the State, and not resident thereof at the time of his death.
4. In the county in which any part of the estate may be, the decedent not being a resident of the State, but dying within it, and not leaving estate in the county in which he died.
5. In all other cases, in the county where application for letters is first made.

Appellant, in her argument for reversal of the order of the District Court, contends that the cross-petition filed by the decedent during his lifetime is such an estate or property, under the above statute, to authorize the county court to appoint an administrator.

Citing two cases, In re Reardon’s Estate, 203 Okl. 54, 219 P.2d 998, and Rock Island Improvement Co. v. Davis, 195 Okl. 513, 159 P.2d 728, appellant asserts that the rule laid down in them is controlling here. From the Reardon case, supra, the rule is stated as follows:

“The estate necessary to establish venue for appointment of administrator does not necessarily have to consist of tangible property, but it is sufficient that there exist property rights of a substantial nature, arising and enforcible in the jurisdiction.”

The rule, as announced in the Rock Island Improvement case, supra, is as follows:

“[T]he assets relied on as furnishing a basis for local administration should be of a tangible nature, but a mere claim or right of action arising or existing and enforcible within the jurisdiction is sufficient; and a bona fide claim will support a grant of administration even though it proves invalid or unenforcible after letters are issued.”

Appellant also cites a Nevada case, Forrester v. Southern Pacific Company, 36 Nev. 247, 134 P. 753, 48 L.R.A.,N.S., 1 (1913) as being of importance in determining the answer to her first proposition. Appellant quotes therefrom as follows:

“Where the plaintiff in an action to recover damages for wrongful expulsion from a train, who was a non-resident and had no other property in the state, died while the action was pending, his right of action was property upon which letters of administration might issue in the County in which the case was pending.”
“ * * * If the decedent left any claim or right of action in the pending suit, we .see no reason why it should not be regarded as property, nor why letters of administration may not be granted upon it in the county in which this case is pending if he is a non-resident and leaves no other property in the state.”

Appellees counter the above authorities by asserting that Appellant misconceives the ruling in the Reardon and Rock Island Improvement cases, supra, and states that the Forrester case, supra, is distinguishable from the case at hand, as it was based on contractual liability, while here we are concerned with tort liability. Appellees also cite from the case of Hoge v. Hammond, 192 Okl. 145, 134 P.2d 559, as follows:

“(t)he estate necessary to establish the venue * * * may consist of any substantial property right which arises and which is enforceable in the jurisdiction.”

[435]*435Appellees assert that since Appellant placed no value on the cross-petition in her original petition for appointment of an administrator, that ergo, said cross-petition has no value, substantial or otherwise, and therefore cannot be considered as an asset, or property, for venue purposes.

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Bluebook (online)
1967 OK 4, 422 P.2d 432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hesler-v-snyder-okla-1967.