Lacoste v. Splivalo

30 P. 571, 64 Cal. 35, 11 P.C.L.J. 562, 1883 Cal. LEXIS 557
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 27, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 30 P. 571 (Lacoste v. Splivalo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lacoste v. Splivalo, 30 P. 571, 64 Cal. 35, 11 P.C.L.J. 562, 1883 Cal. LEXIS 557 (Cal. 1883).

Opinion

Ross, J.

In response to this order the bond in suit was given. After the execution of the bond, and on the 12th of September, 1872, Splivalo was ordered by the Probate Court to file an account of all matters in relation to.his administration of the estate occurring subsequent to the filing of his first account, which was in March, 1871. Pursuant to this order for an accounting, Splivalo, on the 20th of September, 1872, filed his account, which was settled by the court on the 13th of November, 1872, after a contest. In settling this account the Probate Court found that the estate was in a condition to be closed, and ordered the account to stand as the final account of the administrator, Splivalo. By the account as thus settled it appeared, and was so adjudged, that there then remained in the hands of Splivalo as administrator, the sum of $36,095.53, subject, however, to the payment of the commissions of the administrators, fixed by the court at $6,421; and subject also to the necessary costs of distribution. Subsequently, to Avit, on the 22d of November, 1872, the Probate Court made and entered a decree of partial distribution, Avhereby Splivalo Avas directed to pay to the plaintiff as heir of the deceased, the sum of $20,000. This money Avas aftenvard paid, but the administration of the estate remained pending. At length, and on July 7, 1874, Splivalo rendered an account supplemental to the account Avhich had been settled by the court as his final account. On the. credit side of this supplemental account Avas included the item : “ By cash deposited Avith N. Larco, Esq., and lost by reason of said N. Larco having gone into bankruptcy—No. 88— $11,828.80.”

In the settlement of the supplemental account this item Avas disalloAved, and in disalloAving it the Probate Court said: “ In [38]*38May, 1870, Mr. Splivalo, the administrator, had a large amount of money of said estate in the hands of Belloc Freres, bankers, at San Francisco, and he claims to have loaned $10,000 thereof to N. Larco in the August following. He also claims to have loaned to N. Larco $1,828.80 more, making $11,828.80, for which last named sum lie took Larco’s note, payable to himself individually, and not as administrator, without interest, to be due sixty days from date. Hone of this money has ever been repaid. In August, 1872, H. Larco became bankrupt, and was so adjudged. Mr. Splivalo had claims presented against Larco’s estate in bankruptcy, wherein he treated the debt and transaction as his own. The money was not placed with Larco, as with a banker, in the ordinary course of business for security on deposit, but was a loan. Further, the loss accrued before the rendition of the former account of the administrator, A. D. Splivalo, wdiich was made his final account in and by the decree settling the same, dated November 13, 1872, and in that account and the settlement thereof this money, viz., said sum of $11,828.80, wras treated by said administrator, A. D. Splivalo, as cash then in his hands, and was so found and settled. For the above mentioned and other reasons, appearing sufficient to the court, the said item last above mentioned is disallowed.”

The Probate Court proceeded to settle the supplemental account of Splivalo and found that after deducting all credits to which he was entitled, there remained in his hands as administrator the sum of $9,474.08, in mouey, and entered an order to that effect. On the 28th of August following, that court made and entered a final decree of distribution by which Splivalo ivas directed to pay over to the plaintiff as heir of the deceased Lacoste the aforesaid sum of $9,474.08. This he failed and refused to do, after demand, and. hence the present suit on his bond—the bond executed pursuant to the order requiring him to give further and additional security.

The appellants are the executors of one of the sureties on this bond, since deceased, and they contend, first, that the sureties are unaffected by the decree of the Probate Court settling the accounts of the administrator, and by the decree of distribution directing him to pay over to the party entitled thereto the money found to be in his hands; and secondly, that not being bound [39]*39by these decrees, the sureties are entitled to show in the present action, and that in fact the decree of the Probate Court settling the supplemental account itself shows, that the devastavit for which they are sought to be charged occurred prior to the date of the execution of the bond on which they became sureties and on which this action is baséd, and that, this bond bound the sureties only as to the future and did not in any manner relate to any property of the estate that had previously come into and passed out of the hands of the administrator.

Involved in this last proposition is, of course, the further one, that the facts stated in respect to the loan by Splivalo to Larco themselves establish a devastavit on the part of the administrator.

Entertaining the views we do, it makes no difference which of appellants’ propositions is first considered, but, logically, it would seem proper first to inquire what was the undertaking of the sureties. To correctly determine this question, the law under which the bond was given, and the purpose for which it was required, must be taken into consideration. As has been observed, it was given pursuant to an order of the Probate Court requiring the administrator to give “ further and additional” security. Pie had long before been appointed, had given the bond first required of him, had entered upon the discharge of the duties of his trust, had received large sums of money belonging to the estate, and then he was required by the court in which the administration of the estate was pending to give “further and additional” security. By the statute in force when the bond in suit was executed the Probate Court was, and indeed yet is by the Code of Civil Procedure, authorized to require the administrator to give further security in two cases: (1) upon the petition of any one interested in the estate representing to the court, or the judge thereof, that the sureties have become, or are becoming insolvent, or that they have removed, or are about to remove, from the State or that from any other cause the bond is insufficient; and (2) when it comes to the knowledge of the probate judge that the bond of any executor or administrator is from any cause insufficient, he must, without any application, cause such executor or administrator to be cited to appear and show cause why he should not give further security. (Hittell, arts. 5776-5781; Code Civ. Proc. §§ 1397-1402.) [40]*40We think these provisions of the statute admit of but one interpretation, and that is that the “further security” authorized by them to be required is, and was intended to be, cumulative.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 P. 571, 64 Cal. 35, 11 P.C.L.J. 562, 1883 Cal. LEXIS 557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lacoste-v-splivalo-cal-1883.