Orem v. Farmers National Bank in Brenham

325 S.W.2d 149, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2475
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 28, 1959
DocketNo. 3631
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 325 S.W.2d 149 (Orem v. Farmers National Bank in Brenham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orem v. Farmers National Bank in Brenham, 325 S.W.2d 149, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2475 (Tex. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This suit (nonjury) involves the rights of a stakeholder. In the judgment we find substantially the following recitals: that the bank had on deposit at the time of the filing of this suit to the credit of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Martin the sum of $3,004.10, and accrued dividends on five shares of the capital stock of the bank in the amount of $90, and that these shares were of the value of $1,000, making a total sum involved in the suit in the amount of $4,094.10; that the bank had duly deposited this sum in the registry of the Court, and the bank prayed that the money be paid over to whomsoever the Court might determine to be entitled to receive the same, and that a receiver be appointed to endorse and transfer the five shares of stock in the bank to the person entitled to receive the same; that such bank occupied the position of a stakeholder, and that it was entitled to be discharged and recover its costs, including a reasonable attorney’s fee of $614.11. The Court further found that five shares of the stock in such bank, and the funds on deposit in the original bank account were the property of the community estate of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Martin, both deceased; that Mrs. Martin died testate and devised her estate to her husband, C. C. Martin, and that thereafter, C. C. Martin died testate and devised the five shares of the stock in the bank to Mrs. [150]*150Annie Mercer, one of the plaintiffs in this cause, and the residue of the estate, which included the funds on deposit in the bank, to plaintiff, Mrs. R. L. Orem, and Mrs. R. L. Graham, and found that Mrs. Mercer is entitled to receive the dividends on the five shares of stock, and the Court decreed accordingly. The decree further appointed the District Clerk of Washington County as Receiver to endorse the five certificates of stock in the bank so that such shares could be set over to Mrs. Mercer, and directed the Clerk to pay the $90 accrued dividends on the five shares to Mrs. Mercer. He further ordered the remainder of the funds on deposit in the registry of the Court in the total amount of $3,004.10 to be paid proportionately to Mrs. Orem and Mrs. Graham after payment of the costs and attorney’s fees provided for in the decree. Plaintiffs duly excepted to the decree and gave notice of appeal to the First Supreme Judicial District of Texas, and the case is here on transfer. The decree is assailed on what appellants designate as three points; such points raise substantially one question, and, that is, that the Court erred in finding that the bank occupied the position of a stakeholder and consequently erred in holding that it is entitled to recover its costs and its attorney’s fees.

Much has been written in causes involving the rights of an alleged stakeholder. In Employers’ Casualty Co. v. Rockwall County, Tex.Com.App., 120 Tex. 441, 35 S.W.2d 690, 693, opinion adopted, made this pronouncement: “The county was entitled to maintain an interpleader suit if there existed a reasonable doubt, either of fact or law, as to which of the conflicting claimants was entitled to receive payment of the funds held by it.” Citing many cases. Justice Alexander, in McCormick v. Southwestern Life Ins. Co., Tex.Civ.App., 35 S.W.2d 502, 503 (N.W.H.), made this statement of the Rule: “In order to justify such a suit, the circumstances must be such as to place, the stakeholder in some real doubt or hazard in passing and acting upon the conflicting claims.” In Rio Grande National Life Ins. Co. v. Schmidt, Tex.Civ.App., 292 S.W.2d 864, 868 (N.W.H.), we find this statement by Justice Young of the Dallas Court:

“* * * To invoke the provisions of Rule 43, the stakeholder must be faced with close or doubtful questions of fact or of law; * * * ‘A mere assertion of claim by another, without alleging anything whatever on which to base it, is not enough to sustain an in-terpleader. There must be a reasonable ground of uncertainty as to which claimant is entitled to the fund, and a bona fide controversy between rival claimants. Where the petitioner may be discharged from all liability by paying the money to one of the claimants, an interpleader will not be sustained. Where it appears that the claim of the third person is frivolous or invalid, an application for an order to interplead should be denied.’ ” 48 C.J.S. Inter-pleader § 14, p. 52.

Section 180 of our new Probate Code, V.A.T.S., provides: “When application is filed for letters of administration and the court finds that there exists no necessity for administration of the estate, the court shall recite in its order refusing the application that no necessity for administration exists. An order of the court containing such recital shall constitute sufficient legal authority to all persons owing any money, having custody of any property, or acting as registrar or transfer agent of any evidence of interest, indebtedness, property, or right belonging to the estate, and to persons purchasing or otherwise dealing with the estate, for payment or transfer to the dis-tributees of the decedent, and such distrib-utees shall be entitled to enforce their right to such payment or transfer by suit.”

Our view of the record here is that the-controlling facts of this case are without dispute. The record shows and the judgment of the court found that Mrs. C. C.. Martin died testate prior to her husband; that she left her estate to her husband, C. [151]*151C. Martin, and that, thereafter, C. C. Martin died testate and devised the five shares in the bank to Mrs. Mercer, and that he gave the residue of his estate, which included funds on deposit in the bank, to Mrs. Orem and Mrs. Graham. The record further shows that on the 26th day of July, 1957, the County Court of Burleson County entered an order under the provisions of Section 180 of the Probate Code, which order provides in effect: “ * * * it having been proven to the satisfaction of the Court that the bequest made in the will of C. C. Martin, deceased, has been paid in full, as is evidenced by receipt from the said Annie Mercer filed herein, that all •debts of the Deceased have been paid, and there is no evidence of any necessity for an administration on the estate of the Deceased, and that this estate should be closed and dropped from the docket of the Court; and, That ‘Mrs. R. L. Oren’ named in the will of the said C. C. Martin, Deceased, is one and the same person as Barbara Jane Orem, wife of R. L. Orem: It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that Mrs. R. L. Orem and Mrs. R. L. Graham are hereby found to be the sole and only persons entitled to receive the undistributed portion of the estate of C. C. Martin, Deceased, and that this Estate be closed and dropped from the docket of this Court.”

After the foregoing order was entered, plaintiffs, through their attorneys, advised the above bank to the effect that the estate of C. C. Martin had been closed, and that one year had elapsed since the probate of his will, and that the time had arrived when such estate could be closed, and distributed to the parties named in the will. The most of this information was contained in a copy of a letter that plaintiffs’ attorney had written to the Honorable Clint Lewis, County Judge of Burleson County. It appears that such letter, and a copy of the letter to Judge Lewis, together with the bank’s file on this matter, was given to the bank’s attorney.

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Bluebook (online)
325 S.W.2d 149, 1959 Tex. App. LEXIS 2475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orem-v-farmers-national-bank-in-brenham-texapp-1959.