Orphant v. Orphan

622 S.W.2d 1, 1981 Mo. App. LEXIS 3040
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 9, 1981
DocketNo. 43027
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 622 S.W.2d 1 (Orphant v. Orphan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orphant v. Orphan, 622 S.W.2d 1, 1981 Mo. App. LEXIS 3040 (Mo. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

SNYDER, Judge.

Homer Orphan, administrator of the estate of Arist C. Orphant, appeals from summary judgment against him and in favor of Virginia P. Orphant. Three parties were involved in the action below.

Tower Grove Bank was the holder of a promissory note signed by Arist C. Orphant and Virginia P. Orphant. After Arist Orphant’s death, Tower Grove Bank and Trust Company (Tower Grove) sued to collect the note from Virginia Orphant in a separate magistrate court action.

Virginia Orphant then brought this action in circuit court, relying upon the written promise of Arist Orphant to indemnify her. The promise was made in the property settlement agreement incident to their divorce.

Tower Grove Bank, named as defendant in Virginia Orphant’s suit for indemnity, counterclaimed against her for the amount of the note and moved for summary judgment on the counterclaim. Virginia Orphant filed objections to that motion and moved for summary judgment against the estate which filed no objections. Both Tower Grove’s and Virginia Orphant’s [2]*2motions for summary judgment were granted by the trial court May 16,1980.

The administrator appeals, alleging that the trial court erred in not finding Virginia Orphant’s claim barred by § 473.360.1,1 RSMo 19782 because she did not file the claim within six months after the first published notice of letters of administration. Appellant also alleges that the trial court erroneously determined that the indemnity agreement was a contingent claim based on a warranty made in connection with the sale of real estate within the meaning of the exception to the six month limitation in § 473.360.1.

No appeal was taken from the judgment in favor of Tower Grove Bank against Virginia Orphant and it is final. But because Virginia Orphant was not shown by unassailable proof to be entitled to judgment as a matter of law and there were unresolved issues of fact, the summary judgment in favor of Virginia Orphant and against the estate is reversed.

In 1973, during their marriage, respondent Virginia Orphant and decedent Arist Orphant, executed a note to Tower Grove Bank for a home improvement loan in the amount of $6,237.00. When the parties’ marriage was dissolved in 1976, Virginia Orphant released her claim to all real property held by the parties, except one parcel, under an agreement which contained a clause indemnifying her from liability for obligations against property awarded to Arist Orphant.3 Arist Or-phant was killed in an automobile accident in December 1976. Tower Grove Bank did not timely file against his estate for the amount of the note but proceeded against respondent for it in the Magistrate Court of the City of St. Louis, June 29, 1978.

Respondent then filed this action for indemnity in circuit court, naming the estate of Arist C. Orphant and Tower Grove Bank as defendants. Tower Grove Bank counterclaimed for the amount of the note and moved for summary judgment on the counterclaim. The estate moved to dismiss the action as barred by failure to file within six months of first publication of letters testamentary. § 473.360.1. That motion was initially granted, the trial judge holding: “A general indemnification agreement does not constitute a ‘warranty’ even though made in connection with the conveyance of real estate among other matters.” But after a rehearing the trial judge denied the motion and granted summary judgment for respondent against the administrator for the amount of the loan, and summary judgment for Tower Grove Bank against respondent for the same amount.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Virginia Orphant against appellant, in his capacity as administrator, based on the indemnity clause because the action was not commenced within [3]*3six months after the first published notice of letters testamentary as appellant alleges is required by Missouri’s nonclaim statute, § 473.360.

The purpose of the nonclaim statute is to terminate all claims and promote prompt settlement of estates, a matter of public interest. In re Estate of Bierman, 410 S.W.2d 342, 346[3] (Mo.App.1966). The statute enacted in 1955 (patterned in part after the Model Probate Code § 135) was considerably more far-reaching than former nonclaim statutes. Clarke v. Organ, 329 S.W.2d 670, 673[1] (Mo. banc 1959). It required notice of contingent as well as absolute claims, omitted the saving provision for infants, prisoners and persons of unsound mind, and defined a mandatory, nonwaiva-ble procedure for the orderly processing of all claims against an estate.4 North v. Hawkinson, 324 S.W.2d 733, 744-745[9, 10] (Mo.1959) (separate opinion of Storckman, P.J.); Clarke v. Organ, supra.

Effective August 29,1959, a new nonclaim statute was enacted, as far-reaching as the prior §§ 473.360 et seq., but different in its approach to the limitation of claims filed out of time. It provides “no recovery may be had in any such action on any judgment therein against the executor or administrator....” § 473.360.2. This language “shows the intention of the legislature was to permit a judgment but not to permit recovery on it out of assets being administered upon.” Vanderbeck v. Watkins, 421 S.W.2d 274, 275[2] (Mo. banc 1967).

Thus the nonclaim statute does not prevent respondent from getting a judgment, only from recovering from the assets of the estate based upon it. Vanderbeek v. Watkins, supra; Dane v. Cozean, 584 S.W.2d 120, 122[4, 5] (Mo.App.1979); Nicholls v. Lowther, 491 S.W.2d 3, 5-6[5] (Mo.App.1973). Appellant’s first point fails.

Appellant next argues that the trial court erroneously found respondent’s claim to be based upon a warranty in connection with the conveyance of real estate, a finding which would have saved the claim under an express exception to the six month limitation. § 473.360.1. No such finding appears in the record but the record also fails to support the summary judgment in any other respect.

The trial judge specifically found that the indemnity agreement was not a warranty made in connection with the conveyance of real estate when he initially granted appellant’s motion to dismiss. The subsequent denial of that motion after rehearing was not inconsistent with the finding that the indemnity agreement was not a warranty. Nor did the granting of summary judgment in favor of respondent invalidate the finding of no warranty because it is the availability of recovery from estate assets rather than availability of judgment that is affected by § 473.360.2.5 Dane v. Cozean, supra.

The trial judge correctly ascertained that the indemnity was not a “warranty” within the meaning of § 473.360. The obvious purpose of the “warranty” exception is to prevent the nonclaim statute from cutting off the rights of grantees after the death of a grantor who warranted title or made other affirmative covenants at the time of the conveyance.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Universal Underwriters Insurance Co. v. Dean Johnson Ford, Inc.
905 S.W.2d 529 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1995)
In re Wisely
763 S.W.2d 691 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1988)
State Ex Rel. Department of Social Services v. Bowling
743 S.W.2d 74 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
622 S.W.2d 1, 1981 Mo. App. LEXIS 3040, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orphant-v-orphan-moctapp-1981.