Stead v. Curtis

191 F. 529, 112 C.C.A. 463, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4960
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 2, 1911
DocketNo. 1,899
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 191 F. 529 (Stead v. Curtis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stead v. Curtis, 191 F. 529, 112 C.C.A. 463, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4960 (9th Cir. 1911).

Opinion

WOLVERTON, District Judge.

The foregoing synopsis of the bill of complaint contains in a brief way all that is deemed material to the cause of suit. Many things are pleaded that seem to us to be wholly immaterial and irrelevant, not to speak of much that is scandalous and impertinent. But, waiving any objection to the bill on these grounds, we are to determine whether it states a cause of suit entitling the complainants to relief in equity in a federal court. Counsel for appellants have filed an exhaustive brief, consisting of 665 pages, in which every legal phase of the controversy, with a multitude and perhaps all of its collateral and incidental branches, is discussed. This we have carefully examined, but are convinced that the real questions involved are confined to narrow limits. The first pertains to a federal court entertaining jurisdiction in equity to set aside and annul the proceedings in the probate of the will of Jacob Z. Davis, deceased, on the ground that such probate was procured by perjury and false swearing, and by the willful suppression oí pertinent and material testimony, and this after the estate has been wholly and entirely settled and the property fully distributed under the orders and final decree of the court admitting the will to probate. All the heirs and next of kin of the decedent are not seeking relief in this suit. The heirs of Jacob D. Wilson are not made parties in any capacity.

[1] It is settled doctrine of the Supreme Court that as between the same parties the court will not set aside a decree or judgment because it was founded upon a fraudulent instrument or perjured evidence, or for any matter actually presented and considered in the decree or judgment assailed. It is only for fraud, extrinsic or collateral to the matter tried, that a court of equity will interpose its jurisdiction to disturb the proceedings, as, for instance, where the testimony was accompanied by acts which prevented the complaining party from prosecuting to the court the merits of the case, or by which the jurisdiction of the court was imposed upon. United States v. Throckmorton, 98 U. S. 61, 25 L. Ed. 93; Vance v. Burbank, 101 U. S. 514, 25 L. Ed. 929; Steel v. Smelting Co., 106 U. S. 447, 1 Sup. Ct. 389, 27 L. Ed. 226. The holding is concretely stated by Mr. Justice Gray, as follows:

“The fraud which entitles a party to impeach the judgment of one of our own tribunals must, be fraud extrinsic to the matter tried in the cause, and not merely consist in false and fraudulent documents or testimony submitted to that tribunal, and the truth of which was contested before it and passed upon by it.” Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U. S. 113, 207, 16 Sup. Ct. 139, 40 L. Ed. 95.

The reason assigned for the rule, as stated by Mr. Justice Miller in United States v. Throckmorton, supra, is:

“That the mischief of retrying every case in which the judgment or decree rendered on false testimony, given by perjured witnesses, or on contracts or documents whose genuineness or validity was in issue, and which are afterwards ascertained to he forged or fraudulent, would be greater, by reason of the endless nature of the strife, than any compensation arising from doing justice in individual cases.”

If it be questioned that the proceeding in the superior court to probate the alleged will of Davis was a suit inter partes, it was manifestly [534]*534one in effect, if not in technical arrangement. The document was offered for probate. Notice was given fixing the time for hearing objections'thereto, and the parties or their predecessors now appearing as complainants appeared and contested the will on the ground, among other things, that it was a forgery, so that there was presented a direct controversy between substantially the same parties and their privies as are now litigating in the present suit. So it would seem that the doctrine of the Supreme Court should have application to bar the right of recovery here, on the ground that this is an attempt to annul the probate of Davis’ will for matters that were presented and heard in the court of probate. Conceding, but without deciding, that the rule and doctrine were applicable, the Supreme Court of the state of California in Langdon v. Blackburn, 109 Cal. 19, 41 Pac. 814, a case setting up fraud and conspiracy to prevent even the attendance of the contestants in opposition to the probate of the alleged will, held that a suit would not lie by the contestant to annul the probate.

[2] We do not rest-the case here, however. There is-yet a broader principle, the application of which prevents the complainants from maintaining the present suit. It is that as a general rule a court of equity will not interpose jurisdiction by a bill to set aside a will or the probate thereof. This rule is said to obtain in the courts of both England and America. The rule is subject to an exception in those states where by statutory authority or by custom the probate of a will may be challenged by independent suit for forgery or fraud attending its execution and probate. In such jurisdictions the federal courts will adopt the remedy obtaining by local statute and custom, and entertain a 'suit to obviate the effect of probate. But in those states where probate jurisdiction is vested in a specified court, and ample provisions are made for notice and contest, and interested parties are required to appear within a-definite time, without which appearance the probate is made final and binding, a suit in equity will not lie to vacate the probate. The grounds upon which the principle rests are that the proceeding is essentially one in rem, and not inter partes, and that all the world is concluded where the provisions of the law are substantially observed, and the judgment of probate is taken in pursuance thereof.

Where such a suit will not lie in equity, it will not lie in the federal courts to disturb the finality of probate. The principle thus stated is adequately supported by authority. See Carrau v. O’Calligan, 125 Fed. 657, 60 C. C. A. 347; Case of Broderick’s Will, 21 Wall. 503, 22 L. Ed. 599; Farrell v. O’Brien, 199 U. S. 89, 25 Sup. Ct. 727, 50 L. Ed. 101; Tilt v. Kelsey, 207 U. S. 43, 28 Sup. Ct. 1, 52 L. Ed. 95; Waterman v. Canal-Louisiana Bank Co., 215 U. S. 33, 30 Sup. Ct. 10, 54 L. Ed. 80. _

_ Mr. Justice Moody has lucidly and cogently stated the reasons for-the finality.of judgment in probate in Tilt v. Kelsey, just cited, as follows :

“When the owners of property die, that property, under the conditions- and restrictions of the law applicable, is transmitted to their successors named by their wills, or by the laws regulating, inheritance in cases of intestacy. For a suitable time it is essential that the property should remain under the [535]*535control of the state, until all just charges against it can be discovered and paid, and those entitled to it as new owners can be ascertained.

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Bluebook (online)
191 F. 529, 112 C.C.A. 463, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4960, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stead-v-curtis-ca9-1911.