Mathews v. Barstow

252 N.W. 210, 125 Neb. 737, 1933 Neb. LEXIS 288
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 29, 1933
DocketNos. 28714, 28972
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 252 N.W. 210 (Mathews v. Barstow) 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
Mathews v. Barstow, 252 N.W. 210, 125 Neb. 737, 1933 Neb. LEXIS 288 (Neb. 1933).

Opinion

Eberly, J.

At the argument in this tribunal two cases were submitted together by agreement of the parties. The cases have identical titles; the first one bears number 28714, the second 28972, and by these numbers they will be referred to in this opinion.

The facts from which these controversies arise, as disclosed by the record in number 28714, may be epitomized as follows: Charles D. Mathews, a resident of Lancaster county, Nebraska, died in 1922 testate. His last will was admitted to probate in' the county court of Lancaster [739]*739county on October 18, 1922, and letters testamentary were duly issued to Glen W. Mathews as executor named in the will on November 15, 1922, who thereupon qualified as provided by law. Without enumerating or considering the successive steps of the administration of this estate, it may be said that the “final report” and the “supplemental final report” of Glen W. Mathews, executor of the estate, together with objections thereto on the part of W. T. Barstow and the City National Bank, both creditors of the estate, were finally submitted to the county court of Lancaster county. On June 29, 1932, after a trial, these objections of creditors were in effect sustained and the account of Glen W. Mathews as executor was, by the order of the county court, “surcharged on account of devastavits and waste committed by him with respect to assets of the estate which have come into his possession as executor and with respect to the collection of assets and sums due the estate converted to his own use or transferred without consideration to others, or which he has failed and refused to account for.” These aggregate the sum of $52,855.19, and are itemized in this order, which also contained the following: “Without affecting the finality in other respects of this decree and order, the court finds that determination should be reserved and made at a later date, or at the time the matter of distribution is before the court, of the following matters: (a) Whether the applicant, the City National Bank, has mow a valid or enforceable claim against this estate or is entitled to receive dividends as a creditor, (b) Whether the executor should be charged in his accounts on account of the sale of the shares of the capital stock of the Continental Mortgage & Land Company owned by this estate, (c) Whether the executor should be further charged in his accounts because of the payment to Mrs. T. C. Sime on December 8, 1923, of $2,123.05. Wherefore, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the executor’s application for the approval of his report and for his discharge and the release of his surety should be and [740]*740hereby is denied. It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the accounts of Glen W. Mathews as executor of the estate of Charles D. Mathews, deceased, should be and they hereby are charged and surcharged with the total sum of $52,855.19, which amount the court finds the executor is accountable for as the property of this estate.”

The executor’s motion for a new trial was overruled, and on July 11, 1932, Glen W. Mathews filed notice of appeal from the order of June 29, 1932. On July 28, 1932, the county court, by order duly entered, fixed the amount of the appeal bond at $300, to be in form as provided by statute, which was given and approved both as to form and sufficiency by the county court on July 28, 1932. On this same date a correct transcript of this proceeding was filed in the district court for Lancaster county, Nebraska. Thereafter in October, 1932, the district court sustained generally motions for dismissal, which had been duly filed in the cause in August, 1932, and which were each based on two grounds, viz.: (1) That the order appealed from was “not a final order but interlocutory and not appealable;” and (2) “no sufficient appeal bond has been given.” From the orders of dismissal Glen W. Mathews, the executor, appeals to this court.

The record in case number 28972, so far as essential to the consideration of the present appeal, may be summarized as follows: On January 18, 1933, upon hearing on the matters reserved in the order of June 29, 1932, an order was entered in the county court of Lancaster county which surcharged the' executor’s account with an additional amount of $2,123.05, making the total surcharge, $54,978.24 with interest, which total sum this order or decree determined “is now due and owing from Glen W. Mathews as executor.” This order also removed Glen W. Mathews as executor, and appointed Homer L. Kyle as administrator with the will annexed of this estate. Notice of appeal from this order of January 18, 1933, was duly [741]*741filed in the county court, and by that court an order was entered on February 10, 1933, whereby the amount of the appeal bond “is fixed at the sum of $200 to be in form as provided by statute.” On the day last named the appeal bond in this amount was filed and approved by the county court. Transcript on appeal, containing the order of January 18, 1933, was filed in the district court for Lancaster county on February 16, 1933, and Mathews’ petition on appeal was filed in the district court for Lancaster county on March 8, 1933. Thereafter the district court sustained motion of appellees to require the appellant, Glen W. Mathews, to furnish a $60,000 appeal bond by June 10, 1933. Appellant’s motions for new trial were overruled, and appellant failing to comply with this order, on June 24, 1933, his appeal for this reason was dismissed.

The controlling question in the second case, number 28972, is the right of the district court to require the appellant, Glen W. Mathews, to furnish an additional appeal bond in the sum of $60,000, and, upon his failure to comply with this order, to dismiss his appeal. This, in substance, is also the controlling question presented by the record in the first - case, number 28714. For, in this case last referred to, the order of dismissal entered in the district court was silent as to which of the two grounds set forth in the motion to dismiss that court’s action was predicated upon. If it clearly appears that this dismissal now attacked on review was proper and may be sustained upon either of the grounds set forth in the motion, this tribunal will inquire no further.

The right to appeal to the district court from the final probate orders, judgments, or decrees of the county court is provided for by the statutes of this state. Comp. St. 1929, sec. 30-1601. The applicable provisions thereof must be substantially complied with. In the instant cases the appeals were not taken in the appellant’s representative capacity as executor. They are taken solely in furtherance of his individual interests. Therefore he is [742]*742required to give bond as other suitors. In re Williams, 97 Neb. 726; In re Langdon, 102 Neb. 432; In re Estate of Craig, 101 Neb. 439; In re Estate of Nelson, 108 Neb. 296.

Among the statutory provisions regulating the exercise of this right of appeal is the requirement that “every party so appealing shall give bond in such sum as the court shall direct, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, to be approved by the court, conditioned that the appellant will prosecute such appeal to effect without unnecessary delay, and pay all debts, damages and costs that may be adjudged against him.” Comp. St. 1929, sec. 30-1603.

Further, section 30-1606, Comp. St.

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Bluebook (online)
252 N.W. 210, 125 Neb. 737, 1933 Neb. LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathews-v-barstow-neb-1933.