Pickens v. . Miller

83 N.C. 543
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedJune 5, 1880
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 83 N.C. 543 (Pickens v. . Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pickens v. . Miller, 83 N.C. 543 (N.C. 1880).

Opinion

Ashe, J.

This is a civil action brought by the plaintiff (relator) against the defendants as sureties upon the admin* islration bond of John D. Hyman, as administrator of W> F. Taylor, deceased.

The complaint substantially alleges that W. P. Taylor died intestate in the county of Henderson; that on the 10th day of September,. 1873, the said Hyman was duly qualified as his administrator, and together with the defendants executed and delivered to the probate judge of said county his bond in the penal sum of five thousand dollars conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties as administrator j that as said administrator lie collected a large sum of money belonging to the estate of the intestate, viz; seventeen hum dred and sixty-five dollars, which he has not applied as the law directs, except the sum of six hundred and sixty dollars ; that the said Flyman died on the-day of —--, 1876, and afterwards, viz: on the 13th day of September, 1876; the plaintiff was duly appointed administrator de bonis non of the estate of the said W-. P. Taylor; and that the sum of about eleven hundred dollars is due by the said defendants to the plaintiff as administrator aforesaid by reason *545 of their suretyship on said bond, no part of which has been paid.

The defendants in their answer deny that Hyman is dead, that he was appointed administrator of Taylor, and that they executed the bond. They deny that the plaintiff was appointed administrator de bonis non, or that any such sum of money as that alleged in the complaint, or any other sum, came to the hands of Hyman as administrator, and if it did, that it has been applied as the law directs, and they insist that no demand was made upon them for a settlement before the commencement of the action.

The action was continued until fall term, 1878, when the following order was made by Avery, the judge presiding, with the consent of the counsel of both parties, viz: “ In this cause, by consent of parties, it is referred to C. M. Pace, and W. W. Jones, 'Esqrs., with power to choose an umpire, in case they cannot agree, to determine and settle all the matters of controversy between the parties arising in this cause, and their award, or that of a majority of them, to be a rule of court.”

At spring term, 1880, of said court, the arbitrators returned their award, in substance as follows: That J. D. Hyman qualified as administrator of W. F. Taylor on the 25th day of February, 1869, and executed his bond in the sum of five thousand dollars for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, with T. W. Taylor and G. W. Mc-Minn as sureties, and on the 10th day of September, 1873, in compliance with an order of the probate court of said county, he renewed said bond in a like sura, with the defendants W, D. Miller and P. F. Patton as sureties; that said Hyman, as such administrator, received in the course of his administration, the sum of three thousand, four hundred and twenty-five dollars and fifty-seven cents, and disbursed the sum of two thousand and forty-four dollars and ninety- *546 one cents, leaving a balance in favor of his intestate’s estate of one thousand three hundred and eighty dollars and sixty-six cents on the 5th of April, 1875; that Hyman, as administrator, never rendered any final account of his administration.

They further find that J. D. Hyman died on the day of 1876, and that the plaintiff, S. V. Pickens, qualified as administrator de bonis non, on his estate, on the 13th day of September, 1876; that they allowed J. I). Hyman as administrator two and a-half per cent, commissions upon all receipts and disbursements which are shown in an exhibit marked “A” accompanying the report; and as conclusions of law that the first and second bonds herein mentioned are cumulative, and that the defendants are responsible for the balance herein reported 'as a devastavit of said estate. Exhibit “A” referred to in the report, is an account stated by ’the arbitrators showing the receipts and disbursements of :said Hyman as administrator, running from July the 1st, 1869, to April the 5th, 1875, with interest on both sides of the account, leaving on that day a balance unadministered of thirteen hundred and eighty dollars and sixty-six cents.

The defendants except to the report or award of the arbitrators :

First. Because the arbitrators held as matter of law that the two bonds given by Hyman in 1869 and 1873 were •cumulative, contending that they were only liable for the breaches committed after they became sureties in 1873.

Secondly. Because the arbitrators have charged them with interest on each item of money received by their principal, from the time it was received, whereas they could only be held liable for such interest after demand made.

Thirdly. Because the said arbitrators have charged interest •on the balance due April the 5th, 1875, without assigning •any reason for so doing.

Fourthly. Because the arbitrators have failed to report the *547 evidence upon which they base their findings, sp that the court might see whether the conclusions reached by them were warranted by the evidence upon which they acted.

Fifthly. Because they have failed to find whether any demand was made by the plaintiff upon the defendant before action brought, or to report any evidence as to such demand.

Sixthly. Because the award is otherwise defective, insufficient, vague, indefinite and erroneous..

At the special June terra, 1880, of the said court, all of the exceptions to the award were overruled; the award was in all things confirmed and judgment rendered thereon in behalf of the plaintiff, and with an allowance of twenty-five dollars to each of the arbitrators, to be taxed in the bill of costs. From which judgment the defendants appealed to this court.

We will consider the several exceptions to the award seria- •tim in the order in which they were taken.

The first exception to the legal conclusion of the arbitrators, that the two bonds given by Hyman, as administrator, were cumulative, cannot be sustained. It is well settled that where successive bonds are given for the faithful discharge of a trust, all the bonds given during the continuance of the office are cumulative,’ and the sureties on each bond stand in the relation of co-sureties to the sureties on all the other bonds. The second bond is an additional and cumulative security for the faithful discharge of the duties of the administrator, and is retrospective as to pre-existing and continuous breaches. Bell v. Jasper, 2 Ired. Eq., 597; Oates v. Bryan, 3 Dev., 451; Jones v. Hayes, 3 Ired. Eq., 50 2; Jones v. Blanton, 6 Ired. Eq., 415 Moore v. Boudinot, 64 N. C., 190; Hughes v. Boone, 81 N. C., 204.

The second exception is untenable. An administrator should not be charged with interest on moneys bona fide

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Bluebook (online)
83 N.C. 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pickens-v-miller-nc-1880.