In re Estate of Shartle

36 N.E.2d 534, 34 Ohio Law. Abs. 203
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 5, 1940
DocketNo 1609
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 36 N.E.2d 534 (In re Estate of Shartle) 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 Estate of Shartle, 36 N.E.2d 534, 34 Ohio Law. Abs. 203 (Ohio Ct. App. 1940).

Opinions

OPINION

By HORNBECK, PJ.

The appeal in this case has been presented as on questions of law, and the notice of appeal is directed to a judgment of October 3, 1939 and October 10, 1939, respectively. The judgment of October 3, 1939, is a dismissal of the petition of the administrators of the estate of Gustav Kaffenberger, deceased, seeking reinstatement or authority to present a claim against the estate of Charles W. Shartle, deceased. The entry of October 10, 1939, was a denial to the petitioners of the right to offer certain exhibits as evidence in the case in their behalf and to open the matter of the petition.

At the outset, we can not support a finding of prejudicial error in the action of the court in refusing to reopen the case and to permit introduction of further evidence, inasmuch as the entry recites that the contents of all the exhibits was known to counsel for the petitioners at the time of original presentation and hearing and therefore did not constitute newly discovered evidence. The right to grant to the petitioners the privilege of offering additional testimony was entirely within the discretion of the trial judge, which was not abused and with which we can not interfere.

[204]*204The petition sought authority to file a claim 'With the executor of the estate of Charles W. Shartle, deceased, which had not been presented within the time prescribed by law under §10509-134 GC.

The petition- in substance averred:

(1) That the administrators of Kaffenberger, deceased, had on December 31, 1936, recovered a judgment against the Shartle Brothers Machine Company, a corporation in the sum of $35,-984.49, with interest, in the Common Pleas Court, Butler County, Ohio, case No 37067, which case upon appeal had been affirmed by the Court of Appeals of Butler County, Ohio, in May, 1937, and that the judgment was subsisting and unsatisfied.

(2) That prior to the rendition of said judgment the Shartle Brothers Machine Company sold, assigned, transferred and conveyed all of its assets and property and received in consideration therefor the sum of $1,522,614.25, which sum had been distributed to the stockholders of said company leaving no money or assets to satisfy the judgment claim of plaintiffs.

(3) That Charles W. Shartle as the owner of 1825 shares of the stock of said corporation received and kept the sum of $1,096,645.33, which was 73% of the total amount received by the shareholders of said corporation for their interests therein; that by reason thereof plaintiffs have a good and valid claim against the estate of Charles W. Shartle, deceased, in the sum of $26,268.68, with interest and ratable share of costs incurred in securing the aforesaid judgment.

(4) That petitioners’ claim against decedent upon which the judgment was rendered was unsatisfied, valid and subsisting not only at the time of distribution to the shareholders, but for a long time prior to the sale and liquidation of said corporation’s assets, and while Charles W. Shartle appeared of record as a shareholder, president and director of said Machine Company and at a time when he knew or should have known of the claim of Kaffenberger, deceased, and that said sum so received by Shartle was during his lifetime and is now held by his estate subject to the payment of petitioners’ judgment.

(5) Avers the death of Shartle, the appointment and qualification of his executor and that he is still so acting, and that the case No. 37067 upon which judgment was taken in the Common Pleas Court of Butler County, Ohio, was pending during the lifetime of said Charles W. Shartle, deceased, but that judgment therein did not become finai until May, 1937, and that by reason thereof it was impossible for petitioners to present the claim set forth, to the executor of the Shartle estate within the time prescribed by law.

An examination of the bill of exceptions on this appeal discloses that the petition from which we have liberally quoted was offered in evidence. It was admitted in the answer of the executor of Shartle that a judgment had been taken against the Shartle Brothers Machine Company in the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County, Ohio, as averred. On behalf of the estate of Shartle certain evidence was offered. The trial judge in holding against the petitioners set forth his reasons in a written opinion which is before us, and also in the judgment entry, on this finding. The reasons assigned were that the claim which petitioners sought authority to present was identical with the claim set up in case No. 40202, Butler County Common Pleas Court, and, therefore, should not be permitted to be presented a second time, and further that petitioners had not submitted sufficient evidence to satisfy the Court that in justice and equity it should permit the instant claim to be presented for allowance.

We have held in In Re Christopher, 11 OO 256 that an application to reinstate a claim under §10509-134 GC presents two questions for determination, (1) Does justice and equity require that the ciaimant be permitted to present the claim to the executor? (2) Is the applicant chargeable with culpable neglect?

In this case the trial judge did not hold, nor could he have held, that the [205]*205petitioners were chargeable with culpable neglect for the obvious reason that the claim, which they seek to present was not in existence within the time limit prescribed for presenting claims under §10509-112.

We are not in agreement with the conclusion that the claim sought to be presented in this case is, within contemplation of §10509-134 GC, the same as set up in the petition in case No. .40202 Butler County Common Pleas .Court. It is true, as the trial judge 'stated in his opinon, that a recovery in any one of the three actions in Butler County would be a bar to the proceedings in the other actions. But the fact that the two prior actions, or either of them, were instituted does not of necessity constitute an election which would preclude the institution of the last suit, No. 48015, Butler County Comty Common Pleas Court. The action against the Shartle Brothers Machine Company was in tort for the conversion of the stock of Kaffenberger by the officers of the company acting in its behalf. The action against directors of the Shartle Brothers Machine Company, joining Shartle, instituted in his lifetime, was for tort against the directors as individuals in converting the stock of Kaffenberger. There was no inconsistency in instituting these separate actions because the proof may have established one or the other of the claims as set forth in the petitions to have been true. There can be but one ultimate recovery but this does not preclude the plaintiffs invoking any appropriate remedies not inconsistent With each other. Finally, the right upon which the plaintiffs predicate their cause of action in the last case in which the executor of Shartle is joined grows out of and did not arise until after judgment in the action against the Shartle Brothers Machine Company and after the plaintiffs had exhausted the process of the court by way of execution to make the judgment claim out of the assets of the company. The remedy invoked in the last case in Butler County is in the nature of a creditor’s bill and though probably inconsistent with the cause of action set up in case No. 40202 should not be denied to the plaintiffs if it can be established.

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Bluebook (online)
36 N.E.2d 534, 34 Ohio Law. Abs. 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-shartle-ohioctapp-1940.