Succession of Woods
Succession of Woods
Opinion on the Merits
On the Merits.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The opposition of Chubbuck is not in the record, although opportunity to perfect it in this and other respects has been afforded.. As, however, the substance and nature of it is set forth by the counsel on both sides, and the record affords the means of passing upon it intelligently, we will proceed to do so. It appears that decedent was bookkeeper and cashier of the Loan and Pledge Association, and by virtue of the latter office a director, also. One Mahan was a stockholder, who, it is alleged, desired several years ago to transfer his stock, and was: prevented or not allowed to do so by the president and by the deceased, who, as a director or other officer, also joined in a call of ten per cent on all outstanding stock, whereby it is alleged the stock was greatly depreciated, and heavy loss resulted to the said Mahan, whose stock was> afterward bought up by the association or its president, Benton, at greatly reduced price. Subsequently, in 1874, the opponent purchased at sheriff’s sale for the price of twelve dollars all the rights and claim, of F. C. Mahan, of whatever nature, against said Loan and Pledge-Association or Accommodation Bank (as it was sometimes called), and against any and all of the directors thereof, in either their official or
The Loan and Pledge Association would seem from the evidence to be a corporation of very questionable vitality, and affording its president and chief manager an opportunity to ply his avocation of manufacturer at Baton Rouge, away from its domicile and place of business In New Orleans, if, indeed, it has any at all. This opposition is based upon an attempt to alter the entries in and boobs of the company, as kept by the deceased, subsequent to his death, and with his widow and ■administratrix necessarily at great disadvantage. To do this reliance is had upon parol evidence of a very loose and unsatisfactory character, which, taken even for all its worth, leaves both facts and amounts in great uncertainty. The chief witness is Benton, the president of the association, who swears in general terms that the deceased must have
The same witness also swears that the deceased was entitled to only $100 per month salary as bookkeeper, and that the credits on the books of larger amounts or at higher rates in his favor should be disallowed, or rather disregarded, and his succession made to account for these sums, also. It appears that $100 per month was the 'salary due deceased as bookkeeper only. He was subsequently made cashier, also, and it is elsewhere shown by the same witness that the former cashier received $2000 per annum, or, perhaps, $1800. No resolution or action of the directory, nor any contract or understanding -with the deceased that he should perform the duties of cashier for less than his predecessor, is shown. It was unreasonable to expect him to perform the additional duties of another office, and one so important, without additional compensation, also. It does not appear that the items in question were overcharges under the circumstances. As to the ability of the deceased to make the loans to the company upon the want of which, and not upon any knoioleclge to the contrary, the witness relies, it appears from his own testimony that the deceased owned a house which had cost him several thousand dollars, and which, as was not uncommon at that time, he may have used as a basis of credit to make the capital so invested active and interest-producing instead of dead or inactive, and that the witness himself bought from him stock to the amount of over $2800, although he says that was raised to liquidate the indebtedness of deceased — to whom or for what purpose is not shown. The entries on the books charging the company with the loan correspond in date and amount with this transaction, and it is at least singular that they should have been made by the deceased with so much boldness, if in fact, as charged, he was a defaulter; or, at all events, that he should have
The judgment below rejected the oppositions both of Chubbuek and of the Loan and Pledge Association. It was correct, and is affirmed.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court on the motion to dismiss and on the application for a rehearing was delivered by Manning, C. J., and on the merits. by Egan, J.
Hornor & Benedict, acknowledged, creditors on the-account of the representative of this succession, move to dismiss this* appeal for the absence from the record of certain papers which they allege constitute a part of the record, and that they were not parties to the agreement between the attorneys of the succession and of the-opponents specifying what papers should constitute the record.
The papers specified as necessary to make a proper and intelligible-record have been supplied since by a writ of certiorari. The agreement to select such papers out of the mass as would be necessary to present the issue between the opponents and the-suecession was evidently made-to save costs, and to save this court the useless labor of reading numerous documents and proceedings, irrelevant to the issue, and not necessary to a comprehension of the matters for decision. We should be sorry to thwart or discourage so laudable a purpose by inflicting a punishment upon those who conceived it.
The representative of the succession, who had judgment below, does not move the dismissal, and the grounds upon which it is asked' by the movers are insufficient.
The motion to dismiss can not prevail.
070rehearing
On Application por Rehearing.
Rule IS of this Court requires that printed statements of the points and authorities, upon which the applicant for rehearing relies, shall be filed in support of his written or printed petition for a rehearing.
This rule has not been complied with, and therefore
The rehearing is refused.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Succession of R. H. Woods. On Opposition of Chubbuck
- Status
- Published