In re Estate of Griffith
In re Estate of Griffith
Dissenting Opinion
The following is the decision above referred to, rendered in Department on the 31st of March, 1890: —
Iíayne, C.—This was an application by James Stanley, public administrator of Alameda County, to the Superior Court of San Joaquin County, for the revocation of the appointment of John Gambetta, the public administrator of San Joaquin County, as administrator of the estate of Richard Griffith, deceased. The amended petition showed substantially the following facts: —
Richard Griffith died intestate in San Joaquin County, leaving estate therein and also in Alameda County, and being at the time of his death a resident of Alameda
Gambetta filed a demurrer to the petition for revocation and also certain affidavits. The court sustained the demurrer, and afterward made an order denying the petition, and Stanley appeals.
The petition for revocation does not allege that the notice required by law was not given. It alleges merely that Stanley received no notice and had no knowledge of the proceeding. But the law does not require that he should receive notice, or that any should be sent to him. It requires merely that a certain notice should be posted. (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1373.) That was all the notice that was necessary. And as the petition does not allege that it was not posted, it must be presumed that it was. Nor does the petition for revocation allege that Gambetta’s petition for administration was in any way defective, and, therefore, it must be presumed that such petition for administration set forth all the facts necessary to give jurisdiction, among which was the fact of residence in San Joaquin County. And the order made upon such petition was an adjudication that such fact
The appointment of Gambetta being valid until set aside, it follows that the subsequent appointment of Stanley—upon a petition filed after Gambetta’s—was void; for there cannot he two valid administrations at the same time in this state. (Compare Estate of Hamilton, 34 Cal. 468.) And in a case like this the court which first gets jurisdiction by proper proceedings has the authority to act. The proceedings of the Alameda court,, therefore, do not aid the petitioner. This is conceded by the counsel for the appellant. But as they proceed to remark, he “is in no worse position by virtue of a void appointment than if the latter had never been made.” And the question arises whether the first appointment (which, as we have seen, is not void) can be set aside in this proceeding.
In this regard it is to be observed that there is no provision in the part of the code relating to probate practice which authorizes the proceeding. There is a provision which authorizes certain specified persons to file a petition for the revocation of letters of administration granted to other persons. (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1383.) But the appellant is not one of the persons therein specified. And his counsel concede that the provision does not apply to the case.
If, therefore, relief is to be had under any provision of statute, it must be by virtue of some general provision
In order to avoid this, the counsel for the appellant treat the petition as a pleading whose allegations are admitted by demurrer. They refer to the affidavits as “ seemingly being filed to give moral support to the application,” and say, “the affidavits never should have had a place in the case, and both by reason of the action of the court and upon principles of law, they must pass out of consideration. The demurrer, however, admits the facts as charged to be true, and it is upon this showing that the appellate court must pass.”
Now, since there is no provision in the probate pm
Then, does the petition set forth facts upon which a suit to set aside a judgment could be maintained? We do not think that it does.
It is entirely clear that a separate suit cannot, be maintained by reason of mere errors of law or fact in a matter which was examined in the first suit. (Collins v. Butler, 14 Cal. 226.) The petition, however, attempts to show more than this. Aside from want of jurisdiction, which we have already considered, it seems to proceed upon the ground of fraud. But the only circumstances which can possibly be claimed to constitute fraud are two. In the first place, it is alleged that before Gambetta applied for letters he offered to divide his commissions with a nephew of the deceased if such nephew “ would allow said Gambetta to procure administration upon said estate in San Joaquin County.” But if it be assumed that such an arrangement, if carried into effect, would constitute fraud against the petitioner, it is not alleged that it was carried into effect or that it was agreed to be. The petition is silent as to whether the proposal was accepted, or rejected.
In the second place, it is alleged that Gambetta knew that the deceased was not a resident of San Joaquin County, and knew that his name appeared on the great register of Alameda County, and did not disclose the same to the court. But the failure of a party to intro-
In the case before us the question as to the residence of the deceased was alleged in the petition and passed upon by the court; and the decision in the Throckmorton case applies.
It makes no difference that the petitioner did not know of the proceeding in the San Joaquin court. If the notice required by the statute was given, the judgments of probate courts bind everybody, whether they had actual knowledge or not, except where it is otherwise expressly provided. And, as we have seen, it must be held upon the allegations of the petition that the notice required by the statute was given.
We therefore advise that the order appealed from be affirmed.
The Court.—For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the order appealed from is affirmed.
Rehearing denied.
Opinion of the Court
Upon the argument of this case in Bank we are satisfied with the decision heretofore rendered in Department as correct, and the same will stand as the decision of the court.
Order affirmed.
So ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- In the Matter of the Estate of RICHARD GRIFFITH, JAMES STANLEY
- Cited By
- 63 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Probate Practice — Petition for Revocation of Letters of Administration— Presumption as to Existence of Jurisdictional Facts — Notice—• Residence.—If a petition for the revocation of letters of administration does not show that the jurisdictional facts did not exist, it will be presumed for the purposes of the application that they did exist. So held as to the facts of notice and residence. Id. — Order Appointing Administrator — Adjudication of Jurisdictional Facts. — An order appointing an administrator, made upon a petition setting forth the jurisdictional facts, amounts to an adjudication of the existence of such facts. Id.—Notice of Application for Letters of Administration — Instance. — No other notice of an application for letters of administration than that prescribed by statute is required. Where the public administrator of one county applies for letters, it is not necessary to send notices to the public administrator of any other county. Id. — Jurisdictional Facts —Residence—Collateral Attack. —The residence of the deceased in the county where the application is made is one of the jurisdictional facts which the court must determine from the evidence before it. Such determination, although it may be erroneous, is valid until set aside in some appropriate proceeding. It cannot be attacked collaterally. Public Administrator — Application for Revocation of Letters — Who may Make. — Section 1383 of the Code of Civil Procedure does not authorize an application by the public administrator of one county for the revocation of letters issued to the public administrator of another county. Relief against Default — Application under Section 473—Separate Suit for Relief. —■ An application under section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure must be by proceeding in the cause wherein the default was taken, and not by separate suit for relief against the judgment.. Relief in Equity against a Judgment — Errors in Law or Fact — Fraud — Failure of Party to Introduce Evidence Known by Him to Exist. — A separate suit to set aside a judgment cannot be maintained on account of mere errors of law or fact in the first suit. Nor can it be maintained on account of fraud in a matter examined in the first suit, and upon which the judgment therein was based. The frauds for which equity grants relief against judgments are those which are extrinsic, or collateral to the matter tried in the first suit. The mere failure of a party to introduce evidence known by him to exist does not amount to such fraud.