New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Bookhart

235 N.W. 74, 212 Iowa 994
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 17, 1931
DocketNo. 40555.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 235 N.W. 74 (New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Bookhart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Bookhart, 235 N.W. 74, 212 Iowa 994 (iowa 1931).

Opinion

Wagner, J.

This suit is the sequel of the litigation involved in Bookhart v. Younglove, 207 Iowa 800, where many of the pertinent facts are stated. B. K. Younglove was nominated as executor of the last will and testament of J. M. Bookhart, deceased. The will was duly admitted to probate and the nomination *996 of" Younglove, as executor, was-by the court confirmed and on February 21, 1917, he qualified as said executor by subscribing the oath prescribed by law, and by giving bond in the required amount of $25,000.00, with the plaintiff-company as surety. Said bond was approved by the clerk of the District Court of Wood-bury County and letters testamentary were issued. Four annual premiums were, .paid the plaintiff-company as compensation for its obligation as surety for the executor. On February 21", 1921, the defendants, being the widow and a portion of the other beneficiaries of the decedent, signed a bond as sureties for the executor in the same amount as the previous bond, and this bond, so signed by the aforesaid widow and devisees, was filed with and approved by the clerk of the District Court of Woodbury County. On the date of the filing of this latter bond, the court ordered that the bond signed by the surety-company, be released and that the said company be discharged, and that in lieu thereof, the latter bond be substituted therefor. On March 7", 1922, the former order of court, bearing date February 21", 1921, releasing the surety-company and substituting the latter bond, was set aside and Young-love 'was removed as executor and G. G. Bookhart was appointed administrator, with the will annexed, of said estate, and he duly qualified as such officer. The order of removal of Younglove as executor provides:

“ It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the said B. K. Younglove is hereby removed from the office of executor of said estate, without discharge however of his liability upon any bond or bonds heretofore filed.”

Younglove failed to account for the funds which came into his hands as executor of said estate. The administrator, with the will annexed, brought an action against the former executor and the surety company for the amoiint for which said executor should account. Plaintiff-company contested its liability in said action, but the trial court held that said company was liable for the amount, and upon appeal to this court, the action of the trial court, with a slight modification, was affirmed. See Bookhart v. Younglove, 207 Iowa 800. On April 10", 1929, the plaintiff surety company paid the amount of the judgment and interest thereon which; exclusive of costs, amounted at that time to $16,276.74, and brought this action in which they ask that the de *997 fendants, sureties on the second bond, be required to contribute to it- one half of the amount so paid, and judgment against all of said defendants for said amount. The trial court held, with the plaintiff and rendered judgment against the defendants-for $8138.37, with interest thereon at 6% from the date of payment. From this judgment, the defendants have appealed.

In Bookhart v. Younglove, the surety-company, a defendant therein (the plaintiff in the instant case), sought to implead the parties made defendants in the instant case. We therein' held that the refusal of the court to grant the right to implead'the sureties on the second bond (the defendants herein) was without prejudice to the rights of the surety-company, holding that whatever rights the surety-company might have as against the sureties on the second bond, were left open for future litigation among them. Thus, it will be seen that the instant case is for the determination of the rights as between the surety-company and the sureties on the second bond, which, by our pronouncement in Bookhart v. Younglove, 207 Iowa 800, were left open for future determination. . ’

Is the plaintiff, the surety on the first bond, entitled to contribution from the defendants, the sureties on the second bond, as held by the trial court? It is a well recognized rule that, as among cosureties for the same principal and for the same obligation, although the cosureties may have signed different instruments, the right of contribution exists in favor of the cosurety or cosureties who may pay the obligation as against the others. See Leach v. Commercial Savings Bank, 205 Iowa 975; Andrew v. Commercial Savings Bank, 205 Iowa 878; Flickinger v. Price, 165 Iowa 570. As among cosureties, the duty or obligation to make contribution is an implication of the law looking to the equitable apportionment of the burden assumed by all of them. Flickinger v. Price, 165 Iowa 570; Leach v. Commercial Savings Bank, 205 Iowa 975.

In the instant case, both bonds are for the same principal, for the same amount and the conditions in both bonds are identical. In Bookhart v. Younglove, 207 Iowa 800, the surety-company sought to avoid liability, because of the order of court of February 21" 1921, which purported to release it as surety, and ordered that the second bond be substituted therefor and because the order of March' 7", 1922, setting aside .the order of February *998 21", 1921, was without notice to it. We there held that the statutory law for the release of a surety, Section 1177-b, Supplement to the Code, 1913, had not been strictly followed, inasmuch as there was nothing of record to show the election of the surety-company to be relieved from liability, and no notice served, and that the court was without jurisdiction to enter the order of discharge of the surety-company on February 21", 1921, and that the liability of said company for any acts of commission or omission by the executor, whether prior to or subsequent to said date, still continued. We there said:

‘‘ In the numerous authorities from other jurisdictions hereinbefore cited, it is held that, where there is an attempt to procure the release of the sureties upon the first bond, without following statutory procedure, or without the consent of the interested parties, a second bond, voluntarily given under said conditions, is only additional security. That the sureties on the second bond are liable for any defalcation or devastavit occurring prior to the time of the execution of the second bond, see Brooke v. American Sav. Bank., 207 Iowa 668, and authorities therein cited."

In Brooke v. American Savings Bank, 207 Iowa 668, the guardian had given a bond with Moore and Kingsbury as sureties, and on October 13", 1923, the guardian executed another bond with the Federal Surety-Company as surety, which bond was approved and an order of court granted releasing Moore and Kingsbury as sureties. This order of court was without jurisdiction, because the sureties did not petition for their release in accordance with the statutory law. It was conceded in that case, that the devastavit occurred before the date of the latter bond. We there held that the liability of the surety on the latter bond is only cumulative or additional security, saying:

“Inasmuch as there was no valid release of Moore and Kingsbury from their liability as sureties on the former bond, the law fixes the status of the appellant to be that of additional surety."

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235 N.W. 74, 212 Iowa 994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-amsterdam-casualty-co-v-bookhart-iowa-1931.