McDougal v. Kersey

1924 OK 379, 236 P. 7, 108 Okla. 231, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 708
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 1, 1924
Docket12756
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1924 OK 379 (McDougal v. Kersey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDougal v. Kersey, 1924 OK 379, 236 P. 7, 108 Okla. 231, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 708 (Okla. 1924).

Opinion

HARRISON, J.

This is an appeal by both parties to the action from a judgment of the district court, modifying the judgment of the county court on the final report of a minor’s guardian. D. A. McDougal was guardian and Robert Pitman, Jr., a minor, was the ward, and E. Kersey was administratór.

The minor died before attaining majority, and before the approval of the final report -of D. A. McDougal, as guardian, and E. Kersey had been appointed administrator of the estate of the deceased minor.

.At the hearing of the final report of the guardian to the county court, the administrator, Kersey, appeared and objected and protested against the confirmation of the guardian’s final report and appealed from •the order and judgment of the county court, upon said guardian’s final report, to the -district court, in which a hearing was had, and under section 1424, Comp. Stat. 1921, •a trial de novo, upon both questions of law «and fact, and judgment in such de novo trial rendered by the district court upon the final report of the guardian, McDougal, and upon all previous and intermediate reports made by him to the county court.

From such judgment of the district court both the guardian, McDougal, and the administrator, Kersey, have prosecuted an appeal to this court, and the two appeals have been consolidated, and are presented in one case; McDougal, the guardian, contending that the district court erred in not either affirming the judgment of the county court or rendering like judgment, and the administrator, Kersey, contending that both the district and county court erred in not surcharging the guardian, McDougal, with certain items with which both the county court and district court refused to surcharge him.

The foundation ground of Kersey’s, ithe administrator’s, contention is that the county judge, whose name was N. J. Gubser, was disqualified to act as county judge in such ma-tter for the reason that he was indebted to the estate of the minor and therefore all orders made and judgments rendered by said county judge in matters pertaining to said guardianship were null and void. A great portion of the administrator’s brief is devoted to a discussion of this question, and a great many authorities cited in support of the contention that all orders made by a judge disqualified because of an interest in the controversy are void.

Though this court accede to the authorities cited on the question and adhere to the high moral philosophy which permeates some of the authorities cited, and though we concede as well taken the contention of the administrator that a judge who has a pecuniary interest in a controversy should not sit in judgment of same, that a judge should not sit in judgment in a trial of his own case, yet this doctrine is not decisive of the case at bar.

There is no denial that the county judge, N. J. Gubser, was in every way qualified to act in this guardianship at the time McDou-gal was appointed as guardian; the county judge was n«t indebted to the minor’s estate at the time McDougal was appointed, and did not become so until some time after McDougal’s appointment as guardian, therefore the appointment of McDougal, so far as the record shows, was legal and valid in all respects: in fact, if appears from the record that McDougal \ as nominated for such guardianship by the father of the minor and was acceptable to him; that upon such nomination by the father of the minor, the county judge appointed McDougal as guardian;' no objection nor protest being filed against such appointment nor appeal taken from same, the appointment thereby became valid and binding. McDougal remained as such guardian aft^r such appointment from November 30. 1909, until Novem- *233 her 10, 1014, at which time he was removed as such guardian.

Some time between the time of his appointment and the date of his removal, the guardian purchased a note, which had been given by the county judge to a third party, with funds of the minor, thereby rendering the county judge indebted to the minor’s estate, and thereby, as Kersey, the administrator, qonstends, rendering suc)h county judge disqualified to act in any matters pertaining to such guardianship.

Conceding for argument’s salce that the county judge was disqualified after he became indebted to the estate, the district court was qualified; at least, there is no contention made ns to his disqualification; and having acquired jurisdiction of the entire subject-matter by appeal upon both questions' of law and fact, and having tried all questions of law and fact involved in the controversy as though it had been originally brought in the district court as provided in chapter 6, art. 13. Comp. Stat. 1921, it is immaterial to this court, and immaterial whether the county court was disqualified or not, so far as the guardian’s acts are involved — the guardian having\,been legally appointed in the first x>lace, and having authority under chapter 5, art. 13, supra, to do every act complained of herein, without obtaining authority to do so by order of the county court — .there were no acts of the guardian complained of in the trial court, nor are there any complained of here, but which the guardian had authority to do without an order from the county court, and none but which the district court had jurisdiction to try and determine, and this being an appeal from the judgment of .the district court, it is immaterial to this court whether or not the county court had jurisdiction to authorize the guardian to do the things comDlained of by the administrator. To illustrate further, this appeal from the county court to the district court being on both questions of law and fact, had the only question of law involved in the case been the disqualification of the county judge because of interest in the estate, and had the district court held specifically that the county court had no jurisdiction and that his orders were void for lack of jurisdiction, yet under section 1424, Comp. Stat. 1921, the district court had authority and it was bis duty to consider and decide every phase of the guardianship involved in the case from beginning to end, from the issuance of letters of guardianship to the final report. This was done in the case at bar and both appeals herein are from the judgment of the district court, not from the judgment of the county court. Therefore the judgment of the county court is eliminated from this case and our investigation shall be to determine whether the district court has committed reversible error in its judgment.

As heretofore suggested, there is no act of the guardian complained of or definitely pointed out to this court but what he would have had authority to do without an order of the county court.

Under section 1455, Comp. Stat. 1921, the guardian is given authority to manage the estate of his ward and charged with the duty of frugally managing same without waste.

Under sections 1468 and 1469, Id., the-guardian is authorized to put out at interest any surplus income of the ward over and. above his necessary keeping and to invest same according to his best judgment. And in Yawitz v. Hopkins, 70 Okla. 158, 174 Pac. 257, it was held by this court in the body of the opinion:

“Under this section (6556, Rev. Laws,-1910, which is 1469, Comp. Stat. 1921) of the statute it would not be necessary for the guardian to procure an order of the court directing him .to invest the funds of his ward.* * *”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1924 OK 379, 236 P. 7, 108 Okla. 231, 1924 Okla. LEXIS 708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdougal-v-kersey-okla-1924.