Irwin v. Lloyd

11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 212
Ohio Circuit Courts·Decided July 1, 1900·Published

Opinion

Smith, J.

This action was commenced in the court of common pleas of this county September 1, 1897, to require the defendant, as trustee of the estate oi Harper, to allow, as a valid claim against said insolvent estate, a judgment which the plaintiffs had recovered against Harper at the October term of said court, 1896, for $671,860.60, in an action commenced several years after the defendant had been appointed and was acting as the trustee of Harper’s insolvent estate, but to which said Floyd, the trustee, was not a party.

The trustee filed an answer setting up various defenses to the action against him, among others pleading the statute of limitations against the claim, and on the issues made by the pleadings the court of common pleas found for the defendant, and a judgment or decree was entered in his favor. From this an appeal was taken to this court, and was heard before one of the visiting circuit courts in this county, which it is said found that the judgment so rendered against Harper did not constitute a claim against his estate; but gave the plaintiffs leave to file an amended petition, which was done, and the defendant having filed an answer to this setting up his various defenses, including the defense that the claim sued on was barred by the statute of limitation of six years, and a reply having been filed by the plaintiff, the case has been heard by us on the evidence submitted and the arguments of counsel.

The amended petition, in substance, avers that there is due to the plaintiff from the defendant, as assignee and trustee of the estate of Harper, the sum of $594,331.44, as shown by the account attached to the petition; that it was presented to such trustee for allowance, and rejected, and that subsequently thereto plaintiffs recovered the judgment against Harper, which was mentioned in the original petition, which is still due, and that there are moneys and credits in the hands of the trustee applicable to the payment of debts against Harper; that they presented their said claim to said trustee for allowance August 9, 1897, but that he then rejected the same; that Floyd was trustee before said judgment was recovered, Harper having made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors; that said estate in his hands has not been closed, and that the trustee still has in his hands assets to pay plaintiff’s dividends declared. They therefore pray that he be decreed to allow the claim as a valid one against said estate, and to pay plaintiffs the dividends due to them.

The answer of defendant admits that he is trustee, and admits that as such he has assets of said estate to pay dividend on the claim if it is a valid one; that on May 25, 1894, the plaintiffs presented said account to [214] him to be allowed as a claim against said estate which was rejected by him; and on August 10,1894, plaintiff commenced an action against him in the common pleas court to require him to allow the same, which was afterwards tried and the petition dismissed, and judgment rendered against the plaintiffs.

For a second defense, he avers, the recovery of the judgment before mentioned, which was on the same cause of action set iorth in the other action in which defendant recovered a judgment against plaintiffs, and that defendant was not a party to the action in which the judgment was rendered, and that said judgment was rendered by default against Harper individually; that the claim of this judgment was also presented to defendant for allowance, and was rejected by him August 9, 1897. In this action brought on that claim judgment was entered for defendant.

For a third defense, he says that on October 16, 1896, plaintiffs filed' their appeal in the circuit court from the judgment in the first case mentioned, and that this action in the circuit court was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs without prejudice February 25,1898, and therefore the judgment of the common pleas so appealed from remains in force and valid.

Fourth — The defendant avers that Harper made his assignment for the benefit of creditors June 21, 1897; that the only claim presented by plaintiffs to defendant for allowance before August 9,1897, was on an open account, and that said account and each item thereof and said account now attached t0 plaintiff’s petition accrued more than six years befpre the commencement of this action; and allegations in the amended petition not expressly admitted are denied. The reply denies the new matter set up in the answer.

There is no substantial controversy between the parties as to the facts in this case. It is admitted that all of the items in the account set up by the plaintiffs against Harper accrued prior, to the failure of the Fidelity bank of this city, on June 17, 1887, and that within a few days thereafter Harper made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors to Mr. Zimmerman, who declined to qualify as assignee, and thereupon Major I/loyd was appointed trustee, and qualified as such. If, therefore, the plaintiffs had any right of action against Harper on the account which they now seek to have the trustee allow against Harper’s estate, it had accrued prior to June 17, 1887, and as this action was not brought until September 1,1897, a period of more than ten years after their right of action accrued, it would seem clear that unless for some reason which appears in the pleadings or evidence, that it must be held that the six-year statute of limitations which, as a rule, applies to an action on a claim of this character, would prevent a decree in favor of plaintiffs as asked for. This, of course, is on the supposition that the judgment which wás rendered against Harper on this claim, long after his assignment and in an action to which the trustee was not a party, puts the plaintiffs in no better position in this action, as was held by the court of common pleas and the visiting court in this very case, and as we think correctly.

It is the claim, however, of the counsel for the plaintiffs that the statute of limitations of six years does not apply to a case of this kind; that the trustee having in his hands money applicable to the payment of dividends to creditors makes it a case of a continuing and subsisting trust, which, under the provisions of sec. 4974, Rev. Stat., are not gov~ [215] ■erned by our statutes of limitation. But we think it clear that this claim is not well founded, and that this is not such a trust. As held in many cases in Ohio, this provision only applies to those technical and continuing trusts which are not recognized at law, but fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of chancery, and other trusts are not exempt from the statute. See Yearly v. Long, 40 Ohio St., 27-32, Douglas v. Corry, 46 Ohio St., 349-851; Webster v. Bible Society, 50 Ohio St., 1-9, and other cases cited in Bates’ Dig., Vol. 1, 1547. Surely this claim was one on which an action at law might be brought, and when the statute began to run, as it did before the assignment of Harper, it continued to run.

It is also the claim of the plaintiffs that they did not know o the liability of Harper, as an undisclosed principal, until within the period of lour years prior to the commencement of this suit, September 1, 1897, •and that they are thus brought under the provisions of sec. 4982. Rev. •Stat., that because Harper did not make himself known (I suppi-s to the plaintiffs, though this is nowhere averred in the pleadings) that this ■was a fraud upon them, and that they have four years in which to bring their action after the discovery of the fraud.

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Irwin v. Lloyd, 11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 212 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1900).

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