In re Deely

80 Ohio Law. Abs. 243
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 28, 1958
DocketNo. 5859
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 243 (In re Deely) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Deely, 80 Ohio Law. Abs. 243 (Ohio Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

OPINION

By BRYANT, J.

The matters here under consideration had their origin in the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio. In that court Ralph Shapiro, appellee herein, was successor administrator of the estate of George H. Deely, deceased.

The principal, if not the only asset of the estate, appears to be one 1955 Elcar house trailer which had been appraised at $1,500. The City Loan & Savings Company, appellant herein, had a lien duly noted on the certificate of title on the said house trailer for $1,702.50 representing the unpaid balance due to said loan company.

The said administrator filed a petition with the Probate Court to sell said personal property, referred to the facts as herein above set [244]*244forth, stated the property had not been specifically devised and said that the sale is needed in order to pay the cost of administration to pay debts. The petition then alleged that the said loan company had challenged the administrator’s right to sell the house trailer at any amount less than the balance due. The answer of the said City Loan and Savings Company consisted of a general denial and a cross-petition alleging the creation of the lien upon the house trailer on October 14, 1955 when the decedent and one Bonnie Osborne, in connection with the purchase of the said vehicle, signed a note for $1,858.50 in' favor of Modern Trailer Sales, which note was sold to said City Loan and Savings Company. It was further alleged in the cross-petition that at the same time the note was signed, and to secure payment thereon, a chattel mortgage was executed and delivered to Modern Trailer Sales and for valuable consideration sold and delivered to said City Loan and Savings Company. It was claimed that the lien of the mortgage was noted by the clerk issuing the certificate of title and still remains ■ unpaid and uncancelled and on which the balance due was $1,702.50. The said City Loan and Savings Company asked the court to protect its rights and if the property be sold that its claim be declared ahead of all others.

By a decision dated September 5, 1956 said Probate Court, while not approving the petition to sell at a private sale, did authorize public sale of the said property. This decision was journalized by an entry filed October 3, 1956 while on December 3, 1956 a further journal entry was filed approving and confirming the sale and ordering a certificate of title be issued to the purchaser free of any liens whatsoever.

On December 13, 1956 said administrator made application for an order of distribution of the funds reciting that he had received $1,400 for the said trailer and had collected a small additional amount for rent thereon. Said application listed various items of expense including auctioneer’s fee and advertising costs incident to the sale, probate court costs, fees for storing said trailer, cost of administration including administrator’s fee and attorney fees, fiduciary bond and appraiser’s fee together with funeral expenses and other debts including the lien of said City Loan and Savings Company and a debt on a used refrigerator. Said application was set for hearing and an agreed statement of facts was filed.

On October 29, 1957 the Probate Court handed down its decision ordering distribution of the funds and giving an order of priority as follows:

“1. Costs of sale of trailer, including auctioneer’s fee and advertising costs;
“2. Probate Court costs;
“3. Storage and custodial care of trailer, when approved as to amount;
“4. Costs of administration, including administrator’s, attorney’s and appraisers’ fees, and surety bond premium;
“5. Balance due to City Loan & Savings Company;
“6. Funeral expense not in excess of $350.00;
“7. Other debts.”

The said decision was spread upon the journal of the Probate Court [245]*245by an entry filed November 12, 1957. This entry directed the administrator to take further steps to obtain the allowance of fees of the administrator and his attorney and storage charges for the trailer.

On November 22, 1957, the City Loan and Savings Company filed the following notice of appeal:

“Appellate, The City Loan and Savings Company, hereby gives notice of its appeal to the Court of Appeals of Franklin County, Ohio, on questions of law and fact from the judgment, decree and final order herein rendered on the 9th day of November, 1957.” (Emphasis added.)

Thereafter the administrator filed a motion to dismiss the appeal as an appeal on questions of law and fact and this court in an opinion rendered on February 11, 1958 sustained said motion, which decision was journalized by entry filed April 1, 1958. The decision and judgment held that the judgment appealed from was not one of those falling under the provisions of §2501.02 R. C., and therefore could not be retained as an appeal on questions of law and fact but was retained as an appeal on questions of law. Appellant was given thirty days to refile his assignment of errors and brief.

The original assignment of errors was filed apparently January 8, 1958 but was not refiled and we must assume that it has been abandoned. Instead, appellant on March 27, 1958 filed an assignment of errors which reads as follows:

“The City Loan and Savings Company, Appellant, for its Assignment of Error herein says that the judgment entered by the Probate Court of Franklin County, Ohio in the above entitled cause is erroneous and against the just rights of the Appellant in the following respects:
“1. In ordering sale of house-trailer over objections of Appellant when it was evident there was no equity in trailer.
“2. The Court erred in determining priority of payment of proceeds from sale of said trailer.
“3. The judgment is contrary to law.”

But it makes little difference whether one assignment of error or the other be considered for the reason that we are unable to find any order whatsoever fitting into the language set forth in the notice of appeal which in part is as follows:

“* * * the judgment, decree and final order herein rendered on the 9th day of November, 1957.”

If it be said the appellant seeks to review questions ■ relating to the sale of the personal property in question, we note that the journal entry authorizing such sale was filed October 3, 1956 and the time has long since run for an appeal on questions relating thereto. It would seem to be the position of appellant that the administrator never obtained title to the said house trailer, that the title thereto in legal contemplation was in the City Loan and Savings Company by virtue of the note, mortgage, and notation of the lien upon the certificate of title. If appellant’s contentions with respect thereto are correct, and on this we express no opinion whatsoever, the final order from which an appeal should have been taken was the October 3, 1956 entry, which authorized the sale.

It may be that the judgment entry of November 12, 1957 relating [246]*246to the order of distribution is the order with which the appellant is dissatisfied. If so, the answer to that is simply that no appeal was taken from that order.

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Related

In Re Estate of Deely
158 N.E.2d 532 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
80 Ohio Law. Abs. 243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-deely-ohioctapp-1958.