Crespin v. Wilcox
Crespin v. Wilcox
Opinion of the Court
The sufficiency of the petition to state a cause of action is the question presented by the record in this case.
Plaintiff, Felipa Herrera Crespin, sued George W. Pratt, Newell R. Wilcox, J. G. Bushnell and Standard Accident
General demurrers to the petition were sustained. Plaintiff stood upon her petition and the action was dismissed. Plaintiff appealed.
It may be inferred from the petition that Pratt was attorney for plaintiff when the alleged conspiracy was formed; that the county court of Douglas county appointed Wilcox guardian of plaintiff’s property; that the insurance company bonded Wilcox as guardian. The record does not show that Bushnell was summoned or that he entered his appearance.
Plaintiff alleged in her petition that, prior to March 20, 1929, the government of the United States gave her, as widow of a soldier of the World War, a check for $7,200; that she indorsed the check to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd; that, to procure her money from them, Pratt was employed as her attorney and collected from them for her approximately $7,200; that on March 20, 1929, he prepared and filed with the county court of Douglas county the following application which plaintiff signed and verified:
“Comes now Felipa Herrera Crespin, and shows to the court: That she has recently come into possession of a quantity of money; that she is not accustomed to the handling of money, and knows very little of the value of the same; that she desires to have the protection of the court in the handling of her funds, and believes, that a guardian appointed for the purpose of looking after her money or property, of whatever nature it may be, would be of great assistance to her, and for these reasons, she
It was further alleged in general terms by plaintiff that the county court, without jurisdiction, entered void orders respecting her property; that money of plaintiff in the sum of $7,200 was turned over to defendants; that no valid order for disbursement thereof has ever been made; that plaintiff does not know where all her funds have gone or how much each defendant received; that a portion of her money has been invested in real estate in the name of Pratt and other portions have been invested in real estate in the names of the other defendants.
It may be inferred from general language of the petition that the acts and judicial orders through which the money of plaintiff passed out of her hands into the hands of defendants were results of the alleged conspiracy. The substance of the conspiracy is that defendants agreed among themselves to procure plaintiff’s money for their own use without consideration.
The petition as a whole seems to be fatally defective. The county court is a court of record and of original jurisdiction in matters relating to the appointing and directing of guardians. In the exercise of power to appoint a guardian the county court’s judgment is not open to collateral attack merely because it does not recite on its face the jurisdictional facts. The same is true of orders directing distribution of a ward’s property. The petition shows further that the county court made orders respecting the identical property which plaintiff now seeks to recover. What those orders were is not stated. The legitimate inference is they were made for her benefit. For anything shown by the petition, those orders may have directed payment of her own money to her or for her own support pursuant to her own applications and
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.