American Bonding Co. v. Logan

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Hawkins
• Citation: American Bonding Co. v. Logan, 166 S.W. 1132, 106 Tex. 306 (Tex. 1914)
• Decision Date: 06 May 1914
• Docket Number: (No. 2361.)
• Parties: AMERICAN BONDING CO. OF BALTIMORE v. LOGAN.

166 S.W. 1132

AMERICAN BONDING CO. OF BALTIMORE v. LOGAN.

(No. 2361.)

Supreme Court of Texas.

May 6, 1914.

Certified Questions from Court of Civil Appeals of Fifth Supreme Judicial District.

Action by Jessie Logan against the American Bonding Company of Baltimore. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals, and it certified a question to the Supreme Court. Question answered in the negative.

Meador, Davis & Senter, of Dallas, for appellant. Wood & Wood, of Dallas, for appellee.

HAWKINS, J.

The following statement and certified question are from the Court of Civil Appeals for the Fifth Supreme Judicial District, at Dallas:

"This suit was instituted by Jessie Logan, a feme sole, on June 3, 1910, against the American Bonding Company of Baltimore, to recover the sum of $1,000.00, with interest and costs of suit. The basis of the suit is that the said company was surety on the bond of W. J. Logan, as guardian of the plaintiff, Jesse Logan; that after the execution of said bond the said guardian, as such, collected the sum of $1,000 belonging to his ward, Jessie Logan, and died May 3, 1908, without having turned over said sum to her, and without having accounted to her in any way for the same or any part thereof; that by reason of the premises the said surety, the American Bonding Company, became liable to plaintiff for said sum of money, with interest. The defendant pleaded a general denial, and specially that W. J. Logan, plaintiff's father and guardian, owned and occupied certain real estate situated in the city of Dallas as a homestead; that after his death, and under and by agreement of his surviving widow and children, said property was sold, and from the sale of the same the plaintiff, Jessie Logan, received December 1, 1909, sums of money aggregating $2,124.50; that, defendant being surety on the bond of W. J. Logan, as guardian of Jessie Logan, and W. J. Logan being dead, it was entitled to an offset against its liability on said bond to the extent of the amount received by Jessie Logan from the estate of her guardian. The prayer of the answer was that in the event the court should conclude plaintiff was entitled to judgment against defendant for any amount, that such amount be credited with whatever amount plaintiff received from the estate of her said father and guardian. The case was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury on the following agreed statement of facts: `W. J. Logan was, during the year 1900, and for many years prior thereto, a married man, and resided in Dallas county, Tex., and in the city of Dallas. Said W. J. Logan died in the city of Dallas on May 3, A. D. 1908. He was married twice. His first wife died during the first part of the year 1900 in the city of Dallas. He had two children only by his first wife, to wit: Jessie Logan, the plaintiff in this suit, and John Logan, a male. At the time the wife died, Jessie, a girl, was about 15 years old, and John was about 13 years old. At the time of the death of the said mother of Jessie and John Logan, she left to her two said children two insurance policies on her life, each for the sum of $1,000. Each of these policies was payable jointly to the said children. After the death of the mother of Jessie and John, their father, W. J. Logan, was shortly thereafter, and during the year 1900, on his application, appointed guardian of the estate of said two children by the county probate court of Dallas county, Tex., and on the 13th day of November, A. D. 1900, took the requisite guardian's oath, and entered into bond, as required by law, with the defendant, the American Bonding Company of Baltimore, a corporation, as surety; said bond was made payable to the county judge of Dallas county, was in the sum of $4,000, and was conditioned as required by law in such cases, and duly and legally approved by the then acting county judge of Dallas county, and filed with the clerk of said probate court. The said W. J. Logan continued as the guardian of the estate of Jessie and John until the death of said W. J. Logan, which was on May 3, 1908. On the 12th day of December, A. D. 1900, W. J. Logan, as guardian of said children, collected one of the said insurance policies, which was $1,000. On the 7th of February, A. D. 1901, said W. J. Logan collected the other policy, which was $1,000. One-half of the $2,000 collected on the policies belonged to Jessie Logan. The said W. J. Logan never at any time accounted to the probate court, or to Jessie Logan, for said $1,000 belonging to her or any part thereof. The guardianship was pending and unsettled at the time of the death of said W. J. Logan on May 3, A. D. 1908. The said W. J. Logan, by the exercise of the proper care, could have loaned said $1,000 and kept it loaned at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum from January 1, A. D. 1902, until his death. The said Jessie Logan arrived at the age of 21 years during the latter part of the year 1906. She has never been married. The said Jessie Logan never received said $1,000 or any part thereof from her father, unless it be as hereinafter stated. The said W. J. Logan married the second time during the year 1905; his second wife, Mrs. Jennie Logan, is still living. The said W. J. Logan and his said second wife, during their marriage, adopted, according to the statutes of Texas, as a legal heir, one Dorothy Logan, a girl who was a minor at the time she was so adopted, and who is now a minor. At the time of the death of said W. J. Logan, his family consisted of himself, his said wife, Jennie, his daughter, Jessie, an unmarried daughter, John Logan, a boy, and Dorothy Logan, the adopted daughter. Soon after the death of W. J. Logan, and during the year 1908, R. H. Lee was by the county probate court of Dallas county, Tex., appointed administrator of the estate of said W. J. Logan, and he thereafter, within due time, qualified and gave bond as such administrator. The said W. J. Logan owed debts at the time of his death, and his estate was insolvent, and so adjudged by the probate court, and so recognized throughout the administration proceedings, but the value of the homestead exceeded the debts of the said W. J. Logan. The said W. J. Logan never after the said Jessie Logan arrived at the age of 21 years filed any account for final settlement of the guardianship matter, nor was the guardianship ever closed or settled during the lifetime of said W. J. Logan. No part of the $1,000 collected by the said W. J. Logan for plaintiff ever came into the possession of the said R. H. Lee, as administrator of the estate of W. J. Logan. The only property that came into the possession of R. H. Lee, as administrator of the estate of W. J. Logan, was the homestead of W. J. Logan and his family, and which was occupied by said W. J. Logan and his said family at the time of his death, and which has been occupied by his said family since the time of the death of the said W. J. Logan up to the time it was sold. The same is situated in the city of Dallas, and consists of adjoining lots, and was the resident homestead of said W. J. Logan and family at the time of his death. It was recognized by said administrator and by said probate court as the homestead of the family of W. J. Logan, and exempt from the payment of the debts of said W. J. Logan, because of its homestead character, except as to taxes; but it is not agreed that the interest that plaintiff, Jessie Logan, had in said homestead by inheritance from her father, W. J. Logan, or the proceeds that she received from a sale of said homestead cannot be set off against the claim sued on in this case; that is a question of law we refer to the court for settlement. The said homestead was sold in December, 1909, for the sum of $10,500, and it was, in fact, worth that sum when sold, and was worth about $8,000 when W. J. Logan died; the administrator, Mrs. Jennie Logan, Mrs. Jennie Logan, as guardian for Dorothy Logan, a minor, John Logan, and Jessie Logan, joining in the deed of conveyance. The said Jessie Logan received about $2,100 in December, 1909, of the purchase money. Upon this state of facts the court concluded that the plaintiff, Jessie Logan, was entitled to recover of the defendant the sum of $1,000, with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum from the 1st day of January, A. D. 1902, until the 3d day of May, 1908, and 6 per cent. per annum from May 3, 1908; that plaintiff received out of the proceeds of the sale of the homestead in December, 1909, $2,100, but that the same was not a lawful offset against the amount plaintiff was entitled to recover, because the estate of W. J. Logan at the time of his death was insolvent, and plaintiff, being an unmarried daughter and constituent member of the family, residing on said homestead, up to the date of the sale of the same, took the amount received by her free from the debts of her father.'

"At a former day of the present term a majority of this court held that there was no error in the conclusions and judgment of the lower court; that the defendant, under the facts stated, was not entitled to offset its liability on the guardian's bond with any portion of the amount received by the plaintiff from her father's estate. To these conclusions Mr. Justice Bookhout dissented, and held to the view that under the facts stated, that appellant, The American Bonding Company of Baltimore, as surety on the bond of W. J. Logan, deceased, as guardian of the appellee, Jessie Logan, was entitled to set off the amount of the judgment obtained by the said Jessie Logan against it by the $2,100 received by her from the estate of her father, and that appellant's first assignment of error should be sustained. The case is now pending before us on appellant's motion for a rehearing and a motion to certify the point of dissent, in the event a rehearing is denied, is also pending. We therefore deem it advisable to certify the...