Klatt v. Keuthan
Klatt v. Keuthan
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit by Amanda EL Klatt, cestui que trust, for an accounting against Fred E. Keuthan and William H. Koehring, trustees under the will of Anna E. Peterson.
By the terms of the will of Anna B. Peterson, certain funds were left to Fred E. Keuthan and William II. Koehring, trustees, in trust for her son Julius Peterson for life, with remainder over to his children. Plaintiff, Amanda E. Klatt, is the sole surviving child of Julius Peterson, and prosecutes this suit for an accounting. The controversy relates Jo the' loss of the sum of $5265.34 entailed upon the estate through the misconduct of the trustee Fred E. Keuthan and the alleged negligence of his cotrustee, William H. Koehring. It is conceded that the two trustees, acting jointly, received the sum of $5265.34, in funds belonging to the trust estate, and executed their joint receipt therefor. The evidence is, that the trustee William H. Koehring paid no attention whatever to the responsibility imposed by the trust, but permitted his cotrustee, Fred E. Keuthan, to take possession of and invest the funds as he saw fit. Some time thereafter, Keuthan invested this money in a deed of trust, which he kept for about a year and then sold. Upon realizing the money on the sale of the deed of trust, Keuthan used it for Ms own benefit and finally went into bankruptcy.
It is argued on the part of defendant Koehring that he may not- be held to account for the default of Ms cotrustee, Keuthan, because it is said he was «in
In such circumstances, no one can doubt that responsibility is entailed upon the cotrustee, who was thus remiss and negligent about performing the duties enjoined upon him by the trust. Touching a similar question, Mr. Perry, in his work on Trusts, Vol. 1 (6 Ed.), section 418, says: “But if a trustee receive any portion of the funds from a transaction, he must personally see to the application of them; he cannot pass them over to his cotrustee for investment or distribution ; and -if he do so, he will be personally responsible for the acts and defaults of such cotrustee.” [See, also, Deaderick v. Cantrell, 10 Yerg. (Tenn.), 263; Clark’s Appeal, 18 Pa. St. 175; Sterrett’s Appeal, 2 Pa. 419; Edmonds v. Crenshaw, 14 Peters 166, 39 U. S. 166.]
The version of the trustee Keuthan, given in evidence, is to the effect that he and Koehring’ received the money from the Peterson estate, and that Koeh-'
The judgment is affirmed. It is so ordered.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.