Morgan v. American Surety Co.
Morgan v. American Surety Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff commenced this action in 1904 to recover the amount of a guardian’s bond that had been given in 1895 to secure the faithful, discharge of duty by Henry Morgan, who had, in 1887, been appointed guardian of the property of the plaintiff, then a minor. The action was tried by the court without a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff appeals. He charges that the court committed error in the admission of evidence, and argues that judgment should have been rendered for the plaintiff instead of for the defendant.
The annual and other reports of the guardian, together with the orders of the probate court thereon, were admitted in evidence. The plaintiff contends that this was error. Sec
Complaint is made of the admission of evidence to show that the plaintiff had sold, for large sums, real property received by him as a part of his estate. Evidence of the amounts realized by the plaintiff from the sale of property turned over to him by his guardian was immaterial, but judgments are' not necessarily reversed because of the admission of immaterial evidence, where the trial is by the court without a jury; it must also appear that the evidence was prejudicial. The presumption is that the immaterial evidence was disregarded.
In a “Memorandum of Decision” the trial court named several amounts which the plaintiff had received for real property sold by him after reaching his majority. That real property had been received by him -as a part of his estate. In that memorandum the court said:
“In the absence of any positive evidence the question arises whether the court should presume that Morgan was guilty of any breach of trust or misappropriation of the money received during the period of his trusteeship. I am of the opinion that the court should come to no such conclusion in the absence of direct and convincing testimony that Morgan was guilty of intentional violation of his trust or of gross mismanagement. Fraud is never to be presumed.”
The memorandum does not show that the trial court, to reduce the liability of the defendant, charged the plaintiff with .the amounts that were received by him through the sale of the real property. It, therefore, does not appear that any prejudicial érror was committed in the admission of that-evidence.
The plaintiff complains of the judgment that was ren
“Upon the whole it must he held that the plaintiff has failed to make out a cause of action and judgment must be for the defendant for costs.”
• If the memorandum is ignored, the plaintiff has no foundation for his argument, for the reason that a general finding was made in favor of the defendant. The burden was on the plaintiff to establish defalcations on the part of the guardian. On the evidence, the court said that no defalcations had been proved, and this court/, cannot say that the evidence compelled the trial court to find otherwise.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Robert Morgan v. The American Surety Company of New York
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Guardian and Ward — Guardian’s Accounts Filed and Approved— Presumptive Evidence of Their Truth — Not Conclusive. The reports and accounts of a guardian of the property of a minor and the orders of the probate court approving them are. evidence of the truth of the statements contained therein, although those statements are not conclusive and may be rebutted in an action on the guardian’s bond. ■2. Same. Trial to Court — Admission of Immaterial Evidence. A judgment will not necessarily be reversed for the admission of immaterial evidence; it must also appear that the error was prejudicial. 3. Same — Judgment Not Erroneous. Under the findings of the court, whether general or special, the judgment rendered was not erroneous.