Waldrop v. Nolan

192 Ga. 234
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMay 17, 1941
DocketNo. 13734
StatusPublished

This text of 192 Ga. 234 (Waldrop v. Nolan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waldrop v. Nolan, 192 Ga. 234 (Ga. 1941).

Opinion

Grice, Justice.

The suit was filed in Spalding superior court. It is a proceeding in equity. The only defendants residing in Spalding County are certain persons who are alleged to be the heirs at law of Mrs. Emma B. Maddox, and W. E. Waldrop, who is alleged to be administrator of her estate. No affirmative relief is prayed against the heirs. In First National Bank of Atlanta v. Holderness, 189 Ga. 819 (7 S. E. 2d, 682), we ruled that a creditor asserting a claim against the estate of a deceased person whose executor is a resident of Eulton County could not bring the suit in Carroll County by merely alleging that certain of the heirs and legatees resided in the latter county, when there was no allegation and no positive prayer which sought any material equitable relief against them. Complainants did not give the superior court of Spalding County jurisdiction by joining as defendants the heirs of the deceased residing in that county, without praying for some affirmative equitable relief against them.

Nor did the superior court of Spalding County acquire jurisdiction because of the residence in said county of W. E. Waldrop, alleged in one paragraph of the petition to be the duly appointed and qualified administrator of the estate of Mrs. Maddox, but it affirmatively appearing in another part of the petition that as a result of a proceeding brought in the court of ordinary of Butts County, the county of his appointment, he was by the order of the ordinary of Butts County removed as said administrator, and J. L. Bailey was appointed administrator de bonis non in the place of W. E. Waldropi There is nothing in the face of the petition in the present case to indicate any invalidity in such act of removal, or even irregularity. The court of ordinary being for such purpose a court of general jurisdiction, every presumption will be indulged in favor of the validity of its orders and judgments. Elsewhere it is alleged that on October 30, 1939, J. L. Bailey did in the court of ordinary of Butts County make the usual oath and gave bond as required of administrators. He is a resident of Butts •County, and is joined as a defendant in the present suit. The only [243]*243relief prayed against W, E. W(aldrop is against him in his capacity as administrator. Prayers (c) and (e) are as follows: “(c) That said W. E. Waldrop, administrator of said estate, and the said J. L. Bailey, a resident of Butts County, be restrained and enjoined from further acts of administration on the estate of the said Mrs. Emma B. Maddox, deceased, (e) That said administrator, W. E. Waldrop, be directed to surrender, deliver and turn over to said receiver all of said assets and property belonging to said estate, and that said administrator be required to make a report to this court of all of the property and assets received by him belonging to said estate, and all disbursements of all funds on the account of said-estate.” It has been held that when in the same suit liability is asserted against two persons residing in different counties, and no case is established as against the one residing in the county where the suit is brought, the court can grant no relief as to the nonresident defendant, because of the lack of jurisdiction. Rounsaville v. McGinnis, 93 Ga. 579 (21 S. E. 123); Hamilton v. Dupree, 111 Ga. 819 (35 S. E. 684); Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Brown, 113 Ga. 414 (38 S. E. 989, 84 Am. St. R. 250); Warren v. Rushing, 144 Ga. 612 (87 S. E. 775). The mere fact of praying for an injunction against a defendant does not in all events confer the right to file the. equitable petition in the county of his residence, and to draw to that county residents of other counties. Railroad Commission v. Palmer Hardware Co., 124 Ga. 633, 640 (53 S. E. 193), and cit. It has also been held that where the petition in an equity case does not set forth a cause of action against the only defendant residing in the county in which the suit is brought, the court is without jurisdiction to grant the substantial relief prayed against a defendant residing in another county. Glenn v. Cauthen, 150 Ga. 784 (105 S. E. 365); McClellan v. American Tie & Timber Co., 135 Ga. 370 (69 S. E. 486). So here it must be held, on demurrer, that the superior court of Spalding County has no jurisdiction, since the facts as pleaded by complainants do not show them to have a cause of action which can be enforced against W. E. Waldrop as administrator, he having been removed, and therefore no suit can lie against him in his representative capacity. No relief is sought against the other Spalding County defendants.

The suit was not maintainable, for another reason. Complainants set forth no facts to show that they have an enforceable [244]*244claim against the estate of Mrs. Maddox. No time is set forth at which the alleged personal services were rendered, or the nature thereof, except in the most general terms, or the agreement, if any, under which they were rendered; nor is a bill-of particulars set forth. No attempt is made to state with definiteness and particularity the basis of the claims, but merely that they were for nurse .services and housework performed for the deceased during the last years of her life. It is true that it is alleged suits were filed .against the administrator “for the aforesaid services,” and that the .suits went to verdict and judgment, but it is also alleged that these verdicts were rendered on October 2, 1939, and elsewhere in the petition it is asserted that Waldrop was removed as administrator on October 4, 1938. A verdict and judgment against an administrator in his representative capacity, based on a claim against the estate, rendered after he had been removed from office, can not bind the estate, and so far as the estate is concerned they are mere nullity. Groce v. Field, 13 Ga. 24. See Glisson v. Carter, 28 Ga. 516; Weddington v. Huey, 80 Ga. 651 (6 S. E. 281); and compare Tedlie v. Dill, 3 Ga. 104; Irwin v. Shuford, 144 Ga. 532 (87 S. E. 674), and cit. As shown on the face of the petition, the judgments in favor of complainants were entered against Waldrop .in his representative capacity after his removal, but before the qualification of an administrator de bonis non, and while sufficient assets remained in his hands to satisfy the judgments. It is the insistence of counsel for defendants in error that these judgments .are binding upon the assets of the estate remaining in the hands of the former administrator. The argument in support of this contention is that the laws of Georgia in regard to the administration ■of estates are derived from the common law, subject to certain statutory changes; that at common law an administrator could be removed and an administrator de bonis non appointed, but the two were entirely independent of each other. The removed administrator was accountable to heirs and creditors only, and not to the ..administrator de bonis non. The administrator de bonis non could not be made a party to a pending suit against the removed administrator. A creditor could institute suit against a removed administrator, or prosecute a suit already filed against the removed administrator, to subject assets remaining in his hands. That was ■.the only way such assets could be subjected. As supporting this [245]*245contention, counsel cite Skinner v. Frierson, 8 Ala. 915; Wilson v. Auld, 8 Ala. 842; Graves v. Flowers, 51 Ala.

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Related

First National Bank v. Holderness
7 S.E.2d 682 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1940)
Thomas v. Hardwick
1 Ga. 78 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1846)
Broach v. Walker
2 Ga. 428 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1847)
Tedlie v. Dill
3 Ga. 104 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1847)
Paschal v. Davis
3 Ga. 256 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1847)
Oglesby v. Gilmore
5 Ga. 56 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1848)
Hardwick v. Thomas
10 Ga. 266 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1851)
Gilbert v. Hardwick
11 Ga. 599 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1852)
Shorter v. Hargroves
11 Ga. 658 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1852)
Groce v. Field
13 Ga. 24 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1853)
Finch v. Finch
14 Ga. 362 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1853)
Knight v. Lasseter
16 Ga. 151 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1854)
Gaither v. Gaither
23 Ga. 521 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1857)
Glisson v. Carter
28 Ga. 516 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1859)
Bowers v. Grimes
45 Ga. 616 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1872)
Evans v. Arnold
52 Ga. 169 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1874)
Giles v. Brown
60 Ga. 658 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1878)
Weddington v. Huey
6 S.E. 281 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1888)
Rounsaville & Bros. v. McGinnis
21 S.E. 123 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1894)
Hamilton v. DuPre
35 S.E. 684 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1900)

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Bluebook (online)
192 Ga. 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waldrop-v-nolan-ga-1941.