Southern Furniture Company v. Morgan.

214 S.W.2d 905, 214 Ark. 182, 1948 Ark. LEXIS 483
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 22, 1948
Docket4-8621
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 214 S.W.2d 905 (Southern Furniture Company v. Morgan.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Furniture Company v. Morgan., 214 S.W.2d 905, 214 Ark. 182, 1948 Ark. LEXIS 483 (Ark. 1948).

Opinion

Ed. F. MoFaddin, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the Probate Court of Union county made on October 29, 1947, which vacated a previous judgment of March 12,1947, in which the claim of the appellant had been allowed against the estate of D. E. Morgan, deceased.

On March 12, 1947, in the estate of D. E. Morgan, deceased, pending in the Probate Court of Union county, Arkansas, eight claims were allowed by the court. All eight were listed and allowed in the one order which recited filing, presentation, etc. It is unnecessary to list the first seven of these claims, as this appeal concerns only the eighth claim, which was allowed by the Probate Court in this language:

‘ ‘ 8. That the claim of the Southern Furniture Company, in the sum of $1,508.65, being presented to the court and, after having heard evidence thereon, said claim is allowed in the said sum of $1,5-08.65, with interest thereon at the rate of 10% per annum from the 2d day of December, 1924, until paid, and classified as a Fourth Class claim. To which order of allowance the administrators at the time saved their exceptions. ’ ’

On August 1, 1947, there was filed in the Union Probate Court a duly verified motion to vacate the allowance of the said claim of the Southern Furniture Company. The motion alleged: (a) that the claim had been disallowed by the administrators, and ten days’ notice of the presentation to the' Probate Court had not been given as required by § 110, Pope’s Digest 1 ; (b) that the claim was not presented to the administrators within the time fixed by law and was barred by the non-claim statute (§ 97, Pope’s Digest 2 ; and (c) that the claimant knew all of the foregoing when the claim was presented to the probate court, and “ . . . that should it be permitted to stand as allowed by the court, it would work as a fraud upon the court and as an outlawed claim ag’ainst the assets of the estate.”

The Motion to Vacate had this prayer: “Wherefore, premises considered, your petitioners respectifully ask that the court again re-examine the claim and the evidence with reference to the date of its filing, and upon such re-examination or hearing, that the claim be disallowed. ’ ’

The Southern Furniture Company filed its general denial to the said motion. There was a hearing, and on October 29, 1947, the court made an order finding that the claim was presented to the administrator after the expiration of the time allowed by law, “ . . . and is barred by the statute of non-claim, further, that an order allowing the claim by the court on the 12th day of March, 1947, was made through inadvertence and mistake in that the date of the filing of the claim was not presented to the court at the time the order approving the same was entered or at any time prior thereto.”

From the said order of October 29, 1947, setting aside the judgment of allowance of March 12, 1947, the Southern Furniture Company brings this appeal; which presents the issues now to be discussed.

I. Terms of the Union Probate Court. By Act 268 of 1945 3 it is provided that the various terms of the probate courts “shall be the same as now provided by law for the various chancery courts of the state.” There are two divisions of the chancery court in Union county, Arkansas, being the First Division and the Second Division. The terms of these courts are fixed by § 9 of Act 5 of 1939. 4 The terms of the First Division of the Union Chancery Court are the “first Monday in March, July and November.” The terms of the Second Division are the “first Monday in January, May and the third Monday in September. ’ ’ The original allowance of the claim here involved, as well as the order here appealed from, were in the Probate Court of Union county presided over by the Chancellor of the Second Division of the Union Chancery Court. Therefore, insofar as concerns this case, the terms of the Union Probate Court are those as fixed for the terms of the Second Division of the Union Chancery Court. 5 Those terms are the “first Monday in January, May and the third Monday in September.” The judgment of March 12, 1947, allowing the claim of the Southern Furniture Company was in the January term of the Second Division, which term necessarily expired on the convening of the Court- on the first Monday in May. 5

II. Filing of the Motion to Vacate. The verified motion to vacate the judgment of March 12, 1947, was filed on August 1, 1947, which was' a day in the May term of the court. The order here appealed from was made on October 29, 1947, which was in the September term of the court. So neither the motion to vacate nor the vacating order was at the same term of the court as the judgment allowing the claim.

III. Effect of the Order of Allowance. The order of the Probate Court of March 12, 1947, allowing and classifying the claim, was a judgment, and could be set aside after the term only by making the same showing as required for vacating the judgment of any other court. This statement runs like a refrain through our opinions, to-wit: “The allowance and classification of a claim by the probate court has the force and effect of a judgment. ’ ’ See Dooley v. Watkins, 5 Ark. 705; Crossit v. Biscoe, 12 Ark. 96; Carter v. Engles, 35 Ark. 205; James v. Gibson, 73 Ark. 440, 84 S. W. 485; Hoshall v. Brown, 102 Ark. 114, 143 S. W. 1081; Rhodes v. Driver, 108 Ark. 80, 157 S. W. 147, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 258; Shofner v. Jones, 201 Ark. 540, 145 S. W. 2d 350; and Bright v. Johnson, 202 Ark. 751, 152 S. W. 2d 540.

Our statutes (being § 8246, et seq., Pope’s Digest 6 ) prescribe the grounds, procedure and prerequisites for setting aside a judgment after the lapse of the term; and those provisions are applicable to judgments allowing claims in the probate court. Carter v. Engles, supra; Davis v. Rhea, 90 Ark. 261, 119 S. W. 271; Hoshall v. Brown, supra; and Bright v. Johnson, supra.

IY. The Allegations and Evidence in the Case at Bar. As previously stated, the motion to set aside the judgment alleged: (a) that the claim was disallowed by the administrators, and the ten-day notice was not given as provided by § 110, Pope’s Digest 7 ; (b) that the claim was barred by the non-claim statute; 8 and (c) that it would be a fraud to allow; the claim to stand. -

As to (a) — i. e., failure to give the 10-day notice under § 110, Pope’s Digest, 7 — there was no proof offered to support such allegation, so that issue passes out of the case. The fact, that eight claims were adjudicated in the one judgment of March 12, 1947, and that only this one is challenged by motion to vacate, is highly persuasive that the parties were before the court on March 12, 1947. The order allowing this claim shows the saving of exceptions to the allowance of the claim, and snch would certainly be participation in the proceedings.

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214 S.W.2d 905, 214 Ark. 182, 1948 Ark. LEXIS 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-furniture-company-v-morgan-ark-1948.