Bagnall v. Roach
Bagnall v. Roach
Opinion of the Court
Julia King died in the city and county of San Francisco on the 8th of April, 1883. The defendant Roach, public administrator, obtained letters of administration on her estate.
The deceased left some money deposited in the Hibernia Savings Bank in her own name; the amount does not appear.
The plaintiff claims that at least a thousand dollars of this money belongs to him. On the 18th of May, 1883, he presented his claim in due form, and duly verified, to the defendant, as administrator, for allowance; but the defendant refused to allow the same, or any part thereof.
At the trial plaintiff expected to be a witness, and was called by his counsel to testify to the material facts going to establish his claim. Under the provision of section 1880 of the Code of Civil Procedure, his proposed testimony was rejected. This ruling of the court is not assigned in the statement as error, and cannot be considered.
Appellant now claims that, “having relied on his right to testify in the cause, he made no provision to sustain his case by other evidence. The fault, he claims, was that of his attorney, in not advising, him of the statute prohibiting him from testifying; and he did not know of this prohibition till too late to find other testimony. The attorney believed that in such a cause of action he could testify. Having been denied this privilege, he was thrown, as it were, hors de combat, and the newly discovered evidence entitled the plaintiff to a new trial.”
The discovery which plaintiff and his counsel made seems to have been one of law rather than one of fact or evidence.
It is sufficient to say, furthermore, that there is nothing in the record to identify any affidavits used on motion for a new trial.
The findings of the court attacked by the appellant are fully warranted by the evidence. Assuming it
Judgment and order affirmed.
Searls, C. J., and McKinstry, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- JOSEPH BAGNALL v. PHILIP A. ROACH, Administrator etc. of Julia King
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- New Trial—Newly Discovered Evidence — Action against Estate.— The plaintiff in an action against the administrator of the estate of a decedent, on a claim against the estate, is not entitled to a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, when the only reason assigned for not producing the evidence on the trial is, that he supposed he had a right to testify personally on the trial, and for that reason made no effort to produce other evidence in support of his claim. Id.—Affidavits must be Identified—Appeal.—Affidavits purporting to be in support of a motion for new trial will not be considered on appeal unless identified as having been used on the motion. Id. —Rejection of Evidence—Specification of Error—Statement.— Where the statement on motion for a new trial fails to specify as error a ruling of the trial court rejecting certain offered evidence, the ruling will not be reviewed on appeal. Id. — Commingling of Funds—Deposit in Bank—Presumption of Ownership. — The fact that a decedent, at a considerable time before her death, mingled the money of the plaintiff with her own, and deposited the same in a bank in her own name, raises no presumption that the money on deposit in her name, or any part of it, at the time of her death, is the money of the plaintiff.