State ex rel. Portland Trust Bank v. Howell
State ex rel. Portland Trust Bank v. Howell
Opinion of the Court
This is an original proceeding in mandamus instituted by the state of Oregon ex rel. Portland Trust Bank, a corporation, conservator of the estate of Harold F. Thornton, incompetent, as plaintiff, against the circuit court for Multnomah county, Franklin C. Howell, circuit judge pro tempore; Ashby C. Dickson, circuit judge of the probate department; and Terry D. Schrunk, sheriff of Multnomah county, as defendants. The action involves a conflict between the jurisdictions of the probate department of the circuit court and the circuit court sitting in equity.
On this day we have handed down an opinion in the case of Henry B. Taylor and Elizabeth A. Taylor, as plaintiffs, against Jasper Grant, Harold F. Thornton and Portland Trust Bank, a corporation, conservator of the estates of Jasper Grant and Harold F. Thornton, incompetents, as defendants. (Taylor v. Grant, 204 Or —, 279 P2d 479.) A complete statement of the facts and circumstances out of which the instant proceeding arose is to be found in that opinion.
The appointment of Portland Trust Bank as conservator of the estates of Jasper Grant and Harold F. Thornton, Indians and incompetents, was in every way regular and proper and strictly pursuant to the statutes of this state in such cases made and provided. The probate department of the circuit court had jurisdiction over the subject matter; in fact, it had exclusive jurisdiction.
The Taylors instituted such suit in the circuit court for Multnomah county, and it is that suit which we have finally determined by our opinion of today. Taylor v. Grant, supra.
During the course of the conservatorship proceedings, the probate court made orders directing payment of compensation as fixed by the court to the Bank, as conservator, and to its attorneys for their services performed on behalf of the estates. When the Taylors instituted their suit, these sums so awarded had not been paid in full; in fact, the greater portion thereof remained unpaid.
In the suit instituted by the Taylors the circuit court
Paced with this conflict between the two courts, the Bank instituted this proceeding in mandamus. All action in both the probate court and the circuit court sitting in equity, respecting the matters now being discussed, was suspended pending final determination by this court of this action. The questions at issue were discussed in written briefs filed by the parties in July, 1954, and the matter was argued orally and finally submitted to us on October 1, 1954. Designedly, we withheld action in this matter pending our ultimate decision in the principal case.
In the light of our decision in the principal case, where we have fully settled all the real issues between the parties, it is unnecessary for us to decide the questions raised in the mandamus proceeding. They have become moot. We do not pass upon the jurisdictional questions raised nor the propriety of the use of the writ of mandamus in situations such as this, leaving those issues' open until we are presented with a case when a decision thereon is necessary.
The writ is quashed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE ex rel. PORTLAND TRUST BANK v. HOWELL
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published