Dillman v. Hastings

• Decision Date: 28 March 1892
• Citation: 36 L.Ed. 378,12 S.Ct. 662,144 U.S. 136
• Parties: DILLMAN v. HASTINGS et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

144 U.S. 136

12 S.Ct. 662

36 L.Ed. 378

DILLMAN v. HASTINGS et al.

March 28, 1892.

A. S. Worthington, for appellant.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER delivered the opinion of the court.

This was a bill filed by Jared W. Dillman, November 8, 1886, against the administrators of Joseph Hastings, deceased, in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Ohio, which set forth that from and including the month of March, 1875, to and including the month of May, 1881, complainant sent to Hastings from time to time various sums of money to be lent by him for complainant at interest, Hastings being instructed and agreeing to reinvest the interest in the same way. The money was first invested at 10 per cent. annual interest, but early in 1881 Hastings informed Dillman that the rate of interest was reduced to 8 per cent. Hastings died on February 12, 1886.

The administrators answered, alleging ignorance of the transactions or agreements between Hastings and Dillman, except that they admitted that, at the time of his death, Hastings had of Dillman's money the sum of $1,875. They also averred that an agreement to account for interest at 10 per cent, was illegal and void; and set up the statute of limitations as to that part of the account which accrued prior to December 25, 1879.

Replication was duly filed, and depositions taken, and on January 10, 1888, by agreement of parties, the cause was referred to the clerk of the court, 'because of his skill in matters of accounting,' as a special master, 'to hear, and from the testimony determine and report to the court, what, if anything, is due complainant herein from the defendants herein on account of the matters set forth in complainant's bill filed herein, and what relief be granted to said complainant; and for the purposes of this reference the said special master is hereby vested with all the power and authority conferred upon masters in chancery by the equity rules of the supreme court, and by the practice of this court. He is authorized to hear testimony, and he will report his findings of law and fact, together with the evidence taken, and also state an account, based upon such facts, between said parties, at the earliest practicable day.'

On April 28, 1888, the master filed his report, finding due to the complainant the sum of $14,394.50, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent. from February 12, 1886. This total was arrived at by charging Hastings with the cash received by him, with interest on each item at 10 per cent., with annual rests, to April 1, 1881, and at 8 per cent. thereafter, making anaggregate of $15,694.50, and deducting therfrom a credit by cash paid on February 2, 1886, of $700, and also the sum of $600 for compensation allowed Hastings, leaving a balance of $14,394.50.

Complainant's counsel filed three exceptions to the master's report, of which the first and second alone were relied on, which were: (1) That the master allowed interest at the rate of only 6 per cent. from the time of the death of Joseph Hastings, whereas he should have allowed 8 per cent (2) that the master allowed a compensation of $600 for services of Hastings, whereas no compensation should have been a warded. The defendants filed 10 exceptions, but they have not appealed, and therefore these need not be considered, except so far as they were sustained by the court.

The case, having come on to be heard on the report and the exceptions on both sides, was argued by counsel, and the court disallowed complainant's exceptions and also defendants' exceptions, except that the court found 'that the master erred in the method of computing interest on the amounts in his report set forth; that the taxes set out in the evidence in the case should have been allowed the respondents; and that the respondents should have been allowed the sum of one thousand and eighty dollars for compensation for services in the agency.' And the court, except as above specified, confirmed and approved the report, and, after making the allowances indicated, found that there was due complainant from the administrators of the estate the sum of $12,172.59, with interest from June 5, 1888, the first day of the term, and decreed accordingly. The case was thereupon appealed to this court by the complainant.

In the account stated by the master, interest was included up to April 1, 1881, at the rate of 10 per cent., and at 8 per cent. thereafter, with annual rests. This was upon the view that Hastings had invested complainant's remittances at these rates, and received and rein vested the interest in the same way, as shown by the correspondence between the parties. We concur with the master that this is a fair deduction from the evidence, which leaves no reasonable...