Yontz v. Yontz

42 Pa. D. & C. 182, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 123
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedFebruary 26, 1941
StatusPublished

This text of 42 Pa. D. & C. 182 (Yontz v. Yontz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yontz v. Yontz, 42 Pa. D. & C. 182, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 123 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1941).

Opinion

Rice, P. J.,

forty-first judicial district, specially presiding, February 26, 1941. — This is an action of trespass brought by William Yontz against John H. Yontz, his brother, to recover damages alleged to result from certain alleged acts and omissions of defendant. The case came to trial at the October term, 1940, before the undersigned, specially presiding, and a jury. At the [183]*183close of plaintiff’s case, and before defendant offered any evidence, defendant made a motion for a compulsory nonsuit on the ground that “plaintiff has produced no such evidence as in law is sufficient to maintain his action”, and the court granted the motion and directed a nonsuit. Plaintiff duly moved to take off the nonsuit, averring that the court erred: (1) In entering the nonsuit; (2) in refusing to admit in evidence certain exhibits offered in evidence; and (3) in holding that plaintiff was without right to recover in this action. Plaintiff’s motion was argued on January 8,1941, before the court in banc, including the trial judge.

The first and third reasons in support of the motion now before the court are substantially the same, as the granting of the nonsuit was tantamount to saying that plaintiff, on the evidence produced, had no cause of action, and they will be considered together. The second reason will be considered later.

The first and second paragraphs of the statement of claim merely state the names and the places of residence of the parties; the third avers that plaintiff is the residuary legatee in the will of Isabella Yontz, deceased, and defendant is the executor thereof and that a copy of the said will is attached to the statement; the fourth avers the date of death of Isabella Yontz; and the fifth avers that the said will was duly probated in Dauphin County and states the place of record thereof.

The sixth paragraph of the statement is as follows: “That on the 7th day of January, 1934, the original of the said last will and testament, immediately following the funeral of the said Isabella Yontz, was delivered to defendant and executor therein, for the purpose of probate and administration of the estate of the said Isabella Yontz.” The only evidence respecting the delivery of the will to defendant was given by plaintiff and defendant, the latter of whom was called for cross-examination. Plaintiff testified he delivered the will to defendant the night of January 5, 1934, and defendant [184]*184testified that he received it the day before the funeral. As the testimony shows that Isabella Yontz died January 5, 1934, there is a slight discrepancy between the testimony of these two, unless decedent was buried the next day after she died, but the exact date is not material. Neither plaintiff nor defendant testified to any conversation between them as to the purpose of the delivery of the will to defendant. If the purpose of plaintiff was that defendant should proceed to have the will probated and take out letters testamentary, there is no testimony that he said anything to defendant to indicate that purpose. It may be that executors generally do go ahead and have wills probated in which they are appointed, but in the absence of any understanding or agreement executors are not required to do anything more than what the law obliges them to do, and the question is, what was the legal duty of defendant when he received the will.

The seventh paragraph of the statement of claim is as follows:

“That the said defendant, for a period of eighteen months and upwards, after said will was delivered to him, the said defendant, as the executor of the estate of the said Isabella Yontz, failed to offer said last will and testament for probate in the office of the Register of Wills of Dauphin County, although the subscribing witnesses thereto were at all times available for the purpose of probating said last will and testament, and although frequently requested by the plaintiff, through his counsel, to probate same according to law.”

The testimony shows that Isabella Yontz, the mother of the parties hereto, died January 5, 1934, having made: (1) A last will and testament, in which she expressed a desire that her real and personal property be sold and, after the payment of her funeral expenses, bequeathed $5 to each of seven of her children, naming them and including defendant, and the residue of the estate to plaintiff; and (2) a codicil thereto, in which [185]*185she appointed defendant as the executor of her said will. Both writings were executed by her by her marks in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and were duly probated in the office of the Register of Wills of Dauphin County on June 4,1936. The testimony does not show the date when the will was deposited in the office of the register of wills, but it does show that it was deposited between December 24, 1934, when the petition for a citation was filed, and March 13, 1935, when the citation was discharged because, in the meantime, the will had been lodged. For the purpose of this motion, we will assume that the subscribing witnesses were available. There is no testimony that either plaintiff or his counsel requested defendant to have the will probated.

Counsel for plaintiff contends that plaintiff has a common-law remedy, an action of trespass, to recover damages resulting to plaintiff from the failure of defendant to probate the will of their mother, for the reason that for every wrong there is a remedy. The action of trespass is a common-law remedy in origin, and it lies to recover damages for the breach of a purely statutory duty, unless the statute creating the duty also provides the remedy for the breach thereof. But the form of the remedy and the right of action are two different legal concepts. The first is the procedure in some court by which the second is attempted to be enforced. It is necessary to show, first, that defendant committed a tort and, second, that an action of trespass lies to enforce the liability for such tort, if there be one, and if there be any injury from such tort.

“The test to determine whether there is liability in an action of tort is in answer to the question whether the defendant by an act or omission injured another by disregarding a duty imposed by law in respect to that other”: Ebbert et al. v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 330 Pa. 257, 269.

“Tort liability must be founded upon some blameworthy conduct, or lack of due care resulting in the [186]*186violation of a duty owing to others”: Summit Hotel Co. v. National Broadcasting Co., 336 Pa. 182, 187.

In any action based on negligence, there must be evidence to show that defendant failed to perform some legal duty: McCauley et al. v. Logan, 152 Pa. 202; Bardis v. Philadelphia & Reading Ry., 267 Pa. 352; Fitzpatrick v. Penfield, 267 Pa. 564; Bisson v. John B. Kelly, Inc., 314 Pa. 99; Zayc, Admr., v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company of Boston, 338 Pa. 426.

If plaintiff has a cause of action by reason of the failure of defendant to probate the will of their mother, the delivery of the will to defendant must have created a legal duty on the part of defendant to probate it. If there was any agreement or understanding, express or implied, between the parties for the probate of the will, then the duty was a contractual duty, and the remedy of plaintiff would be an action of assumpsit, not an action of trespass. To maintain the latter the duty would have to be a duty created by the law.

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Bluebook (online)
42 Pa. D. & C. 182, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yontz-v-yontz-pactcompldauphi-1941.