Ray v. Leader Federal Savings & Loan Association

292 S.W.2d 458, 40 Tenn. App. 625, 60 A.L.R. 2d 564, 1953 Tenn. App. LEXIS 129
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 8, 1953
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 292 S.W.2d 458 (Ray v. Leader Federal Savings & Loan Association) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ray v. Leader Federal Savings & Loan Association, 292 S.W.2d 458, 40 Tenn. App. 625, 60 A.L.R. 2d 564, 1953 Tenn. App. LEXIS 129 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

AYERY, J.

This suit originated by Bill of Inter-pleader of the Leader Federal Savings and Loan Association of Memphis, filed June 20, 1952 in the Chancery Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, against Pamela Mathis Ray, administratrix of the estate of J. T. Mathis, deceased, and Lavera McCoy Smith.

The above named administratrix, in such capacity, claimed the savings account of her decedent on investment deposit with the .Interpleader, Leader Federal Savings and Loan Association of Memphis, as a part of his estate to be administered by her, and Lavera McCoy Smith claimed said account as a gift from said J. T. Mathis. These claims having been made to the Inter-pleader prior to the filing of the original bill.

Each defendant filed an answer setting out the specific reasons, together with explanations, why claim was made *628 to said account. Practically all the proof was by stipulations. Only one witness testified. He was the Secretary of the Interpleader. His testimony is in narrative form and only relates to the method of withdrawing and transferring investment accounts by the owner thereof on deposit with the Interpleader.

The stipulated facts appear in two separate stipulations, but are not very long. The alleged gift was made by an assignment written in the pass book evidencing .tbe investment account and was transmitted by letter to the alleged donee. The letter is short. The purported assignment is short. The original of each of these two together with the envelope by which they were mailed showing the postage, the address and the return address were filed with the record in this Court, and we consider it proper that same be copied in this opinion. This is perhaps a first impression case, upon similar fact in either Mississippi or Tennessee, and many other states in the Union, in as far as the effect of suicide of the donor prior to physical delivery of the gift to the donee may affect the legality of the gift is concerned. And the facts should be very clearly set out so that the opinion will not be misunderstood in its application in the future.

The stipulated facts are as follows:

Filed October 2, 1952
R. Ps. 28-31
“As to certain facts of this case to be submitted to, and considered by, the Court on the trial of this cause on the merits, it is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between Pamela Mathis Ray, adminis-tratrix of the estate of J. T. Mathis, deceased and *629 Lavera -McCoy Smith and their respective solicitors of record as follows:
“1. ' That J. T. Mathis, about 75 years of age, lived with his daughter, Pamela Mathis Ray, in DeSbto County, Mississippi, just South of the Tennessee line and on R. F. D. No. 9, out of the Post Office at Memphis, Tennessee. He was a widower, his wife, Mattie, having died some years prior to his death which occurred on July 17, 1951.
“2; That the said Lavera McCoy Smith on and before said date lived at Ripley, Tippah County, Mississippi; that prior to' the moving of' the said J. T. Mathis to DeSoto County about six years ago he had always lived in Tippah County, Mississippi, and in the Community where said Lavera McCoy Smith was reared and lived and that the relationship between the said Mathis and the said Mrs. < Smith, she being his deceased wife’s niece-was always pleasant and cordial and agreeable. ■-,.■■■
“3. That the said Mathis up to the timé of'his death lived at the home of his daughter, the said Mrs. Ray and on the morning of July 17, 1951 the said Mrs. Ray and her husband left, their home early to go to their work and from that time until the death of the sa.id Mathis he was at home alone and that,he deposited or caused to he deposited in the mail box of said home an envelope postage prepaid- addressed to said Mrs. Smith at Ripley, Mississippi.,
“4. That the said envelope so addressed contained the following: .
“(a) A letter'from the said Mathis in .his hand writing to the said Mrs. Smith and a copy of that *630 letter is made an exhibit to her answer to the bill of Interpleader herein, (b) Seventy Dollars in United States currency and (c) the pass .book of the Leader Federal Savings and Loan Association which is the pass book mentioned in the pleadings herein and said book and in the hand of the said Mathis and duly signed by him the benefits of the said pass book were assigned to the said Mrs. Smith.
"5. That the said mail route was serviced only once a day and on the said date the mail carrier serviced said box some time between 10:15 and 10:45 a. m. and in so going picked up the said letter and went on his way in completing his rounds on his route and depositing his mail in a post office in Memphis.
“6. That the said envelope was post marked at DeSoto Station in Memphis, Tennessee, at 7 o’clock p. m., on the 17th day of July, 1951; and in due and regular course of mail the said envelope with its contents were delivered to the said Mrs. Smith at approximately 9:30 a. m. on July 18, 1951 at Ripley, Mississippi.
“7. That at about 11:30 o’clock p. m. on July 17, 1951 after said carrier had picked up the mail from said box and gone on his way the said Mathis with the intention of committing suicide shot himself in the head with a pistol and the result thereof was that he never regained consciousness and shortly after 12 o’clock noon on that day he died.
“8. That the said Mathis died intestate leaving as his sole heirs and distributees at law three adult children, the said Pamela Ray, Willie Mathis, and *631 Mrs. Howard Wilbanks; and the said Mrs. Pamela Mathis Ray is now the dnly and legally qualified administratrix of the estate of the said Mathis in the appropriate court in Shelby County, Tennessee.
‘ ‘ 9. That on and prior to the 17th day of July 1951 there was in full force and effect a United States Postal Regulation with respect to ‘Withdrawal and Recall of Mail and Withdrawal Before Dispatch’ in these figures and words: ‘After mail matter has been deposited in a post office it may be withdrawn only by the sender, or, in case of a minor, by the parent or guardian duly authorized to control the correspondence of the writer. Mail deposited by a person adjudicated of unsound mind may be withdrawn by the duly appointed guardian. Application for withdrawal shall be made on form 1509. When request is made for withdrawal of any mail, the applicant shall be required, if necessary, to exhibit a written address in the same hand writing as that upon the matter sought to be withdrawn, and such description of the matter or other evidence as will identify the same and satisfy the Post Master that the applicant is entitled to withdraw.
“ ‘When matter withdrawn from the mails before dispatch is again presented for mailing, the stamps originally affixed thereto shall be accepted in payment of postage.’

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Bluebook (online)
292 S.W.2d 458, 40 Tenn. App. 625, 60 A.L.R. 2d 564, 1953 Tenn. App. LEXIS 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ray-v-leader-federal-savings-loan-association-tennctapp-1953.