Senter v. Burkhalter

232 P.2d 67, 191 Or. 603, 1951 Ore. LEXIS 226
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMay 23, 1951
StatusPublished

This text of 232 P.2d 67 (Senter v. Burkhalter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Senter v. Burkhalter, 232 P.2d 67, 191 Or. 603, 1951 Ore. LEXIS 226 (Or. 1951).

Opinion

LUSK, J.

This is an appeal by a claimant against an estate from a judgment for the defendant entered notwithstanding the verdict of the jury.

Charles H. Boydston died on July 18, 1948, and Anna Pearl Burkhalter was appointed executrix of his estate by the Circuit Court for Marion County on July 27,1948, and qualified. On September 4,1948, the claimant, Addie B. Senter, who is also the appellant, presented to the executrix an unverified statement of account reading as follows:

‘ ‘ September 4,1948
“Estate of Charles H. Boydston to Nancy E. Boydston dr in care of Addie B. Senter, 2460 Trade Street, to money loaned on house.
‘ ‘ Check No. 11 dated 2-18-47 600
‘ ‘ Check No. 18 dated 7-18-47 200
‘ ‘ Check No. 21 dated 4-20-48 80
“Total 880”

[605]*605Charles H. Boydston was the son, and Addie B. Senter the daughter, of Nancy E. Boydston.

The parties agree that the foregoing claim, if such it can be called, was never acted upon. On September 5, 1948, Nancy E. Boydston died. Sometime in April, 1949, Addie B. Senter presented to the executrix of the estate of Charles H. Boydston, deceased, a claim verified under date of March 31,1949, and which, omitting the verification, reads as follows:

“PROOF OF CLAIM AGAINST THE ESTATE OF CHARLES H. BOYDSTON, DECEASED
“I, Addie B. Senter, being first duly sworn, depose and say that I loaned to Charles H. Boydston during his lifetime the sum of $880, which moneys he agreed to pay. That said loans are evidenced by bank checks on the Ladd and Bush, Salem Branch of the U. S. National Bank, endorsed by Charles H. Boydston. That said checks consist of a cheek in the amount of $600 dated February 18,1947, a check in the sum of $200 dated July 18,1947, and a check in the sum of $80 dated April 20, 1948, which cheeks will be produced upon demand, and I hereby verify that the amount claimed, to wit: the sum of $880 is justly due; that no payments have been made thereon; and that there is no just counterclaim to the same to the knowledge of the affiant.”

The claim having been rejected by the executrix, a summary hearing was had and the claim was similarly rejected by the court on March 8, 1950. The claimant thereupon demanded a plenary hearing in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Ch. 477, Oregon Laws, 1949. See Brown v. Irwin, 187 Or. 462, 212 P. 2d 729. In the meantime, on March 4,1950, Addie B. Senter had been appointed administratrix of her deceased mother’s estate by the Circuit Court for Marion County and letters of administration had been issued to her. The [606]*606case was again tried to a jury on July 18,1950. At the conclusion of the testimony the defendant executrix moved for a directed verdict on the ground that Addie B. Senter was not a proper party and that the money, “loaned or given, whatever the case may be,, was thé money of Nancy E. Boydston, not Addie B. Senter.” The court, reserving decision on the motion, submitted the case to the jury, and, after a verdict had been returned in favor of the claimant, on motion entered judgment for the executrix notwithstanding the verdict.

On the trial the evidence of the claimant showed, that in 1947 and 1948 her mother, Nancy E. Boydston, who was then upwards of 90 years of age, had turned her money over to the claimant to be kept in the latter’s bank account. The only testimony regarding this arrangement was that of the claimant, who said that since her mother “couldn’t see to handle it or write checks it was just placed in my account in the bank só I could write the checks as she directed.” Pursuant to this arrangement the claimant, at the direction of her mother, drew checks in favor of Charles H. Boydston, her brother, for the respective amounts set forth in the claim. There was a dispute in the evidence as to whether the moneys thus received by Boydston were intended to be a gift to him, or a loan as the claimant contends. That dispute was settled by - the verdict of the jury and we are not concerned with it here.

The question for our consideration is whether the verdict should have been permitted to stand in view of the complete departure in the evidence from the averments of the claim. Addie B. Senter alleged that she had loaned money to Charles H. Boydston, deceased. She testified that her mother loaned the money and that she acted merely as her mother’s agent in disburs[607]*607ing the funds and that the debt, if any, is owing to her mother’s estate, not to her. The doctrine of our decisions-is that the claimant must recover, if at all, upon the claim as presented, for upon that the executrix acted when she disallowed the claim. Wilkes v. Cornelius, 21 Or. 348, 352, 28 P. 135. See, also, In re McKinney’s Estate, 175 Or. 28, 38, 149 P. 2d 980, 151 P. 2d 459; In re Estate of Banzer, 106 Or. 654, 659, 213 P. 406.

Counsel for the claimant contends, first, that she was trustee of an express trust and as such could sue in her own name under the provisions of § 1-303, O.C.L.A., which reads as follows:

“An executor or administrator, or trustee of an express trust, or a person expressly authorized by statute, may sue without joining with him the person for whose benefit the action is prosecuted. A person with whom, or in whose name a contract is made for the benefit of another, is a trustee of an express trust within the meaning of this section.”

But the claimant, in writing the checks and delivered them to her brother, was no more than an agent for her mother. The contract was between her mother and Charles H. Boydston, and Addie B. Senter had no personal interest in the subject matter and could not, therefore, maintain an action as principal. Simon v. Trummer, 57 Or. 153, 158, 110 P. 786. See Annotation, 112 A.L.R. 1514. And if the contract sued on was made for the benefit of the mother, that fact should have been stated in the claim. Holladay v. Davis, 5 Or. 40, 43.

The principal contention of the claimant is that the judgment when satisfied will fully protect the executrix of the estate of Charles H. Boydston, deceased, against litigation on the same Claim, for the reason [608]*608that the claimant is the administratrix of the estate of Nancy E. Boydston, deceased. The difficulties with that position are, first, that the claimant is not the administratrix of that estate but is the individual, Addie B. Senter; and, second, that the claim does not state a cause of action in favor of that estate nor contain the slightest suggestion that the moneys loaned to Charles H. Boydston, deceased, were the moneys of his mother or were loaned by her to him, or that he ever was indebted to her. The verdict of the jury could not and did not determine that issue. All that it could adjudicate was the issue of whether or not the estate of Charles H. Boydston, deceased, was indebted for money lent by Addie B. Senter.

When the claim was presented no administrator of the estate of Nancy E. Boydston, deceased, had been appointed, and there was no one in existence who was qualified to file a claim on behalf of her estate. If. however, at that time Addie B.

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Bluebook (online)
232 P.2d 67, 191 Or. 603, 1951 Ore. LEXIS 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/senter-v-burkhalter-or-1951.