Josephson v. Strom

292 N.W. 595, 138 Neb. 193, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 113
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 1940
DocketNo. 30831
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 292 N.W. 595 (Josephson v. Strom) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Josephson v. Strom, 292 N.W. 595, 138 Neb. 193, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 113 (Neb. 1940).

Opinion

Paine, J.

This was an action in equity, commenced in the county court, to set aside an order approving the final account and discharging an administrator on the ground of fraud alleged to have been practiced by the said administrator and his attorneys. The action was dismissed by the county judge and upon appeal and trial in the district court it was likewise there dismissed, and the heirs appeal to this court.

Joseph Josephson died intestate in Omaha, Nebraska, August 8, 1930, leaving seven children, who were all adults, and none of whom lived in Douglas county. Two of them lived at Holdrege, Nebraska, others lived in Colorado, California, and Montana.

Gust Strom, the brother of the deceased (although bearing a different name), lived in Omaha, and followed the trade of a carpenter, and he was agreed upon after the funeral, which was held at Holdrege, as the one to handle the estate, and thereafter was appointed administrator, and [194]*194took charge of the two pieces of residence property and a small farm of 44.36 acres in Sarpy county, as well as the personal property, among which were two mortgages. No inventory was filed for several years after the administrator was appointed, but the administrator collected the rents and kept the property in repair, and finally filed a final report, which was approved, and a final decree was entered December 1, 1936, and the administrator was discharged on December 15, 1936.

The final report, covering the period from September 13, 1930, to July 31, 1936, set out that he had collected rents from the

Duplex at 2590 and 2592 Ellison avenue of $3,281.15

Rents from 4421 California' street of 1,047.25

Rent from Sarpy county farm of 715.00

Compromised a $500 mortgage for 170.00

Received from foreclosure sale of the other mortgage, 300.00

Cash on hand September 13, 1930, •66.00

Miscellaneous collections, 31.90

Total receipts, $5,611.30

Then there are listed three pages of over 80 items of itemized expenditures of all kinds to keep up the property, and miscellaneous expenses, amounting to a total sum of 5,384.22

Balance on hand, $ 227.08

In the case at bar, the seven heirs filed the amended petition in equity in the county court on June 24, 1938, setting up that they are the sole heirs at law of Joseph Josephson, deceased; that they had confidence in the integrity and ability of their uncle, Gust Strom, and being nonresidents of Douglas county they believed that the estate would be honestly administered by him; that Mamie Valine, one of the seven heirs, retained Dora Nelson, an attorney of Holdrege, Nebraska, to investigate the affairs of said estate, to attend the hearing upon final account of said administrator, to file objections, and require a proper accounting as the facts might warrant; that when the hearing was held on [195]*195December 1, 1936, said Dora Nelson attended the hearing, made no objections to the final report, and consented to the approval thereof, whereupon the administrator was discharged.

The seven heirs further represent to the court that said administrator and said Dora Nelson and the attorneys for the administrator perpetrated a fraud upon the court and the heirs in that said report was false in many particulars, and that said administrator had failed to account for all of the property coming into his hands; that he made a false report of the rents collected upon the property at 2592 Ellison avenue, and also upon the property located at 4421 California street, in Omaha, Nebraska, and failed to report balance of $992.75; that the estate owned a mortgage upon certain real estate, being two lots in Walnut Hill in the city of Omaha, said mortgage being for $800, and that said mortgage was foreclosed, and bid in by H. C. Schoening, who was a relative of Henry J. Beal, attorney for the administrator, for the sum of $300, although the property was worth approximately $2,000; that said Schoening obtained a sheriffs deed for the property on October 26, 1934, and that on December 28, 1934, said Schoening gave a quitclaim deed to said property to Thyra H. Strom, daughter of administrator Gust Strom, and who resides in his home, and that she now holds legal title thereto; that Gust Strom made application to the Omaha Loan & Building Association for a loan of $1,000 on the real estate, representing that said property was of the value of $2,100, there having been improvements made thereon, and on February 27, 1936, said association made a loan to Thyra H. Strom in the sum of $1,000, all of which is a fraud upon the heirs, who did not become aware of the true situation until after the administrator had been discharged and the statutory time to appeal from the decree on final account had expired, and that they have no adequate remedy at law unless the final decree is vacated and set aside by reason of said fraud, false representation, and wrongful conduct of the administrator and the said attorneys.

[196]*196To this amended petition, an answer was filed by the administrator, setting up that the same plaintiffs filed a petition on the same alleged cause of action, and that a demurrer filed thereto on October 20, 1937, was sustained, and subsequently plaintiffs appealed that decision to the district court for Douglas county, Nebraska, arid thereafter a motion to strike said petition was filed by the administrator, and subsequently the plaintiffs on their own motion dismissed said appeal, and that the said plaintiffs subsequently filed another action in the district court for Douglas county, Nebraska, presenting the same issues, and that demurrer was filed to said last named petition and sustained by the district court, wherefore the answering administrator prays that petition be dismissed for the reason that the matters presented for adjudication are res judicatahaving already been adjudicated by the county court on October 20, 1937, and having already been adjudicated by the district court, and the administrator prays that the action be dismissed. The reply was a general denial.

On February 20, 1939, trial was had in the county court, the administrator appearing by his attorneys, Henry J. Beal, Raymond E. McGrath and Peter E. Marchetti, and Dora Nelson, attorney for petitioners during the administration, appearing in person, the petitioners appearing by G. H. Seig and M. L. McBride, their attorneys. After the trial Bryce Crawford, county judge, entered an order of dismissal on February 23, 1939, finding' that Dora Nelson was retained as attorney for the petitioners; that she appeared upon the final hearing, and that Daye Josephson, one of the petitioners, also appeared on said final hearing and approved the same; that there was no fraud practiced by Gust Strom, administrator, nor by his attorneys, nor by Dora Nelson, attorney for the petitioners, and that there was no evidence before the court that Gust Strom as administrator had purchased the two lots in Walnut Hill at the foreclosure sale; that there is no evidence that said property did not bring a fair price on said sale; that there is no evidence that the purchaser or subsequent owner realized a profit [197]*197therefrom. The court further found that there are no grounds shown by the evidence introduced upon which to vacate or set aside the decree on final account entered, nor the discharge of the administrator, and that the amended petition in equity should be dismissed without prejudice.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 N.W. 595, 138 Neb. 193, 1940 Neb. LEXIS 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/josephson-v-strom-neb-1940.