Thornton-Thomas Mercantile Co. v. Bretherton

80 P. 10, 32 Mont. 80, 1905 Mont. LEXIS 164
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 23, 1905
DocketNo. 2,029
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 80 P. 10 (Thornton-Thomas Mercantile Co. v. Bretherton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thornton-Thomas Mercantile Co. v. Bretherton, 80 P. 10, 32 Mont. 80, 1905 Mont. LEXIS 164 (Mo. 1905).

Opinion

ME. OOMMISSIONEE BLAKE

prepared the opinion for the court:

This action was commenced to recover damages in the sum of $22,050 for the wrongful acts of defendant Bretherton' and one John D. Thomas in his lifetime in procuring in a certain suit in the district court of the county of Silver Bow the appointment of a receiver of the business and property of the Thornton-Thomas Mercantile Company (hereafter referred to as the “company”), and causing the loss of its accounts and merchandise.

The plaintiff was organized as a corporation in 1890 under the laws of this state for the purpose of carrying on a general mercantile and grocery business in Butte, and was engaged therein until the receiver assumed possession of its business and property. On or about October 6, 1897, said John D. Thomas and Bretherton commenced an action in said district court against the company, and asked for the appointment of a receiver to take possession of its business and property, and [88]*88obtained an order from said court appointing E. H. Hubbard. This order was dated October 6, 1897, and authorized and directed said Hubbard, as receiver, to enter into the possession and take and hold all -the property, real, personal and mixed, of the company, and take and receive all rents, issues and profits thereof, with the right to sue and recover all sums, property, or interests due said company. The order was served October 7, 1897, upon J. A. Eraser, the president of the company, and said Hubbard as receiver immediately entered upon the discharge of his duties. The company applied to this court for a writ of certiorari, and such proceedings were had that it was adjudged that said order appointing said receiver was void, that-said district court had no jurisdiction or authority to make-such appointment, and all orders of said court made subsequent thereto were vacated. (20 Mont. 284, 50 Pac. 852.) The-company did not resume business, and never regained possession of its property, stock of goods, accounts, and bills receivable. John D. Thomas died in 1898, and left a last will and testament naming defendant Mattie A. Thomas as executrix.. In June, 1898, the will was duly admitted to probate by said district court, and letters testamentary were issued to said Mattie A. Thomas, who qualified as required by law, and -ever since has been acting as said executrix.

The issues presented in the pleadings appear in the following summary: The complaint alleges that at the time said receiver was appointed the company was carrying on a large business with profit, and was solvent; that the value of its stock of goods and property used in its business was $7,800; that its accounts and bills receivable amounted to the sum of' $15,000; that the costs and expenses incurred in and about, said writ of certiorari to protect its rights were $1,050, and that all its profits, assets, and credits were lost except the sum of $1,500. The answer denies that the company, at the times mentioned in the complaint, was solvent, or carrying on a large-business with profit, but avers that at the time of the appointment of said receiver said company was insolvent, and conducting its business at a loss; denies that said stock was of any greater value than $3,213.39; denies that its accounts and bills [89]*89receivable were good to any greater amount than $1,000, and says that the balance thereof could not be collected; and denies that said company was compelled to expend any sum in procuring the annulment of said order appointing said receiver. The answer further says that the president and manager, John A. Fraser, collected the accounts after the receiver was appointed, and that the company at this time was indebted to W. A. Clark & Brother and others in the sum of $9,056.13, and was unable to pay more than one-half thereof. There are allegations in the complaint to the effect that John D. Thomas and Bretherton maliciously and without sufficient cause commenced said action and procured said order to be made for the appointment of a receiver, and directed said Hubbard to commit the acts whereby said business of the company was destroyed, and its property, goods, accounts and bills receivable were lost. The answer denies these allegations, or that said company was injured through the acts of John D. Thomas, or Bretherton, or the receiver. It does not appear that the receiver made any report of his acts during his possession of the property and business of the plaintiff. There was a trial by the court with a jury, and a verdict was returned for plaintiff for the sum of $10,000, and judgment was entered thereon. The defendants gave notice of their intention to move for a new trial upon the following ground: “Errors in law occurring at the trial and excepted to by the defendants.” The defendants appealed from the judgment and order overruling their motion for a new trial.

It is the contention of appellants that the right of action, so far as it relates to Mattie A. Thomas as executrix, abated with the death of John D. Thomas, and that the maxim of the common law, “A personal right of action dies with the person,” has not been modified by the statute. Section 2133 of the Code of Civil Procedure is as follows: “Any person or his personal representative may maintain an action against the executor or administrator of any testator or intestate who in his lifetime has wasted, destroyed, taken or carried away, or converted to his own use, the goods or chattels of any such person, or committed any trespass on the real estate of such [90]*90person.” The courts have not been uniform in the interpretation of laws of this nature, but we have arrived at a satisfactory conclusion. The section supra was enacted in 1895, and is the same as section 1584 of the Code of Civil Procedure of California.

The case of Coleman v. Woodworth, 28 Cal. 568, was decided in 1865, and the statement of facts is as follows: “Charles Doane was sheriff of the city and county of San Francisco, and as such, an execution on a judgment in favor of N. C. Lane and against Harvey Dickinson was placed in his hands. By virtue of the execution, Doane seized personal property claimed by plaintiffs, and they brought an action against him for the wrongful taking and conversion of the same. Pending the action Doane died, and plaintiff’s attorneys suggested his death, and moved that his administrators be substituted as defendants in the action. The court granted the motion, defendants’ counsel excepting.” Chief Justice Sanderson, for the court, said: “The first point made by counsel for appellants, to the effect that the cause of action set forth in the complaint does not survive against the personal representative of the defendant’s intestate, is answered by the one hundred and ninety-seventh section of the Act to regulate the settlement of the estates of deceased persons, which provides that.” The statute quoted in the opinion is identical with the section supra. The court approves Coleman v. Woodworth, supra, in Fox v. Hale & N. S. M. Co., 108 Cal. 483, 41 Pac. 330, and says: “The right of the plaintiff to ‘maintain’ the action against the executors of Hobart is fully authorized by section 1584 of the Code of Civil Procedure.” The supreme court of Htah followed these authorities, and said, “It has been held likewise in California under a statute like ours.” (Warren v. Robinson, 21 Utah, 445, 61 Pac. 30.) We accept this construction of our statute which has so long prevailed in California, and affirm the ruling of the court below that this action can be maintained against Mattie A. Thomas as the executrix of John D. Thomas.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
80 P. 10, 32 Mont. 80, 1905 Mont. LEXIS 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornton-thomas-mercantile-co-v-bretherton-mont-1905.