Himel v. Connely

197 So. 424, 195 La. 769, 1940 La. LEXIS 1117
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 28, 1940
DocketNo. 35618.
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 197 So. 424 (Himel v. Connely) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Himel v. Connely, 197 So. 424, 195 La. 769, 1940 La. LEXIS 1117 (La. 1940).

Opinion

O’NIELL, Chief Justice.

Page Mason Himel is suing Mrs. Clara Himel Connely for a third of $8,000, on a written instrument dated June 11, 1918, signed by Mrs. Connely and declaring that she received on that day from her mother, Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himel, the sum of $8,000 as an advance on her portion as an heir, and subject to collation. The plaintiff is a grandson and is one of the three forced heirs of Mrs. Himel.

The defendant filed a plea of res judicata and a plea of prescription of five years. The pleas were argued and submitted without the offering of any evidence except the judgment on which the plea of res judicata was founded, and the petition on which the judgment was rendered. The judge maintained the plea of res judicata and dismissed the plaintiff’s suit. He is appealing from the decision.

The outlines of the case are given in the pleadings and briefs, and are not disputed. Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himel died on December 14, 1922, leaving three forced heirs, namely, (1) Page Mason Himel, a grandson, who is the plaintiff in this suit, (2) Mrs. Clara Himel Connely, a daughter, who is the defendant, and (3) Mrs. Marguerite Dowdoin Colmore, a granddaughter, who is not a party to the suit. Page Mason Himel was the only child of Clairville Himel, who was the only son of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himel, and who died in March, 1918. Page Mason Himel therefore inherited a third of the estate of his grandmother by representation. Mrs. Marguerite Dowdoin Col-more also inherited a third of the estate by representation. She was the only child of Mrs. Flora Himel Dowdoin, who was a daughter of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himel, and who died before her mother died.

*774 At the time of the death of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himei she owned three mortgage notes amounting to $15,625, signed by her son, Clairville Himei, and representing a part of the price for which she had sold her plantation to him. The notes were in the possession of Mrs. Olive Dodd Himei, widow of Clairville Himei, and natural tutrix of her child, Page Mason Himei. He was six years old when his father died, and less than eleven when his grandmother died. The dative-testamentary executor of the estate of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himei sued Mrs. Olive Dodd Himei, as tutrix of Page Mason Himei, for possession of the three mortgage notes. She pleaded that the notes were paid, and, in the alternative, that the debt, if not paid, was prescribed. The court decided that the notes were not paid, and, without deciding whether the debt was prescribed, ordered that the notes should be delivered to the executor. On appeal the judgment was affirmed. Sigur Martin, Executor, v. Mrs. Olive Dodd Himei, Tutrix, 174 La. 281, 140 So. 478. The decision was rendered on February 29, 1932. On December 10, 1931, Page Mason Himei, being then nineteen years and nearly nine months old, was emancipated by a judicial decree. On October 27, 1932, a petition signed by Sigur Martin, Executor, and Mrs. Marguerite Dowdoin Colmore, and Page Mason Himei and Mrs¡ Clara Himei Connely, was filed in the Succession of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himei,. in the district court in St. James Parish, in which petition the executor and the three heirs of the deceased averred: (1) That there was no necessity for further administration by the executor, (2) that the only assets of the estate were the three mortgage notes amounting to $15,625, “the ownership of which notes has [had] been in litigation between the executor and one of the heirs since the appointment of the dative testamentary executor”, (3) that a compromise agreement among the heirs has [had] been effected “whereby an end has [had] been put to the said litigation to the complete satisfaction of all heirs”, and (4) that the executor, having no assets to administer upon, and having had no funds in his hands, had no accounting to make. The prayer of the petition was simply this: “that 'the said Sigur Martin be dismissed from his trust as dative testamentary executor of this estate, and that his bond as such be cancelled.” There was also the stereotyped prayer “for all necessary orders and for all general and equitable relief.”

In response to that petition the judge rendered a decree in which he did nothing more than he was asked to do; that is, to - discharge the executor and order his bond cancelled. To show how ■ limited in its scope was the consent judgment .that was rendered we publish a complete copy of it here viz.:

“This cause came before the court upon the petition of the dative testamentary executor, joined by all the heirs of this estate, that the administration of this estate be closed, the executor discharged and his bond cancelled, and it having been shown to the court that the executor has never, had possession of any funds or property belonging to the estate, and that all the heirs are satisfied that the executor, be discharged and his bond cancelled. -. .

*776 “It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that Sigur Martin, dative testamentary executor of this estate, be and he is hereby discharged and relieved of his trust as such executor, and that his bond as such be and it is hereby discharged and can-celled.”

A judgment obtained by the consent of all of the parties to a suit gets its binding force and effect from the consent which the parties give, rather than from the doctrine of res judicata. Girod’s Legatees v. Pargoud, 11 La.Ann. 329; Greenwood v. City of New Orleans, 12 La.Ann. 426, cited with approval in Dunn v. Pipes, 20 La.Ann. 276.

As far as the evidence in this case goes, all that was compromised or settled among the heirs of Mrs. Lavinia Barton Himel, in the suit in which they asked for and obtained the judgment which is relied upon now to support the plea of res judicata, was the litigation over the three mortgage notes amounting to $15,625. It was so alleged in the petition of the executor and the three heirs, asking for the discharge of the executor, thus:

“That the only assets of this estate were three mortgage notes for the sum of $5,208.33% each, the ownership of which notes has been in litigation between the executor and one of the heirs since the appointment of the dative testamentary executor.

“That a compromise has been effected among the heirs whereby an end has been put to the said litigation to the complete satisfaction of all heirs.

“That said executor, having had no assets to administer upon, and having had no funds in his hands, has no accounting to make.”

. The declaration in the second paragraph which we have quoted, that a compromise was effected by which the heirs put an end “to the said litigation”, has reference to the litigation over the ownership of the three mortgage notes, referred to in the first paragraph which we have quoted. It was not alleged that any other compromise or settlement was made, such as might estop Page Mason Himel from bringing this suit.

It is alleged by the plaintiff in this case that the debt of $8,000 which Mrs. Connely owed to the succession of her mother appeared on the executor’s account and was acknowledged by Mrs. Connely; but no reference was made to that debt in the judgment which is relied upon in this case to support the plea of res judicata, or in the petition on which the judgment was rendered. The judgment therefore cannot serve as a basis for the plea of res judicata in bar of this suit to collect the plaintiff’s share of the alleged debt of $8,000.

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Bluebook (online)
197 So. 424, 195 La. 769, 1940 La. LEXIS 1117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/himel-v-connely-la-1940.