Branch v. Bank

• Decision Date: 10 October 1896
• Docket Number: 8784
• Citation: 57 Kan. 282,46 P. 305
• Parties: W. T. BRANCH, as Assignee etc., v. THE AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK et al
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

46 P. 305

57 Kan. 282

W. T. BRANCH, as Assignee etc., v. THE AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK et al

No. 8784

Supreme Court of Kansas

October 10, 1896

Decided July, 1896.

Error from Mitchell District Court Hon. Cyrus Heren, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

D. M Thorp, A. W. Hicks, Waters & Waters, and V. H. Branch for plaintiff in error.

Caldwell & Ellis, Clark A. Smith, and Geo. V. McConahey, for defendants in error.

JOHNSTON J. All the Justices concurring.

OPINION

JOHNSTON, J.

This proceeding was brought to review the rulings of the District Court in the allowance made for services of an assignee and two others who assisted in the settlement of an assigned estate. In February, 1891, the Security Investment Company of Cawker City, Kansas, made an assignment for the benefit of creditors, and W. T. Branch was duly appointed assignee. On March 9, 1892, the assignee filed his first annual report and undertook to give an account of his trust up to and including February 8, 1892. When the report came on for hearing, the Court determined that an additional notice should be given in the official paper of the County, and the hearing was continued for that purpose. A number of the creditors appeared and objected to certain items of the report, alleging that some of the claims were extravagant and the expenses unnecessary and wasteful. Upon motion of the creditors the assignee was required to make his report more definite and certain in respect to certain items in the expense account, one of which was for salaries and attorney's fees, $ 11,560.64. When the claim for salaries and attorneys' fees was itemized, it developed that it was made up in part of the salary of the assignee for one year at $ 250 per month -- $ 3,000; to V. H. Branch, who was called general assistant, one year at $ 175 per month -- $ 2,100; and the charge in favor of D. M. Thorp for attorney's fees and expenses was $ 4,689.02. An extended inquiry was made, and, after much testimony and argument were submitted, the Court found that $ 200 per month was reasonable compensation for the assignee, and a reduction of $ 600 from the charge made in his accounts for the year was ordered. It was found that $ 125 per month was fair compensation for the services of V. H. Branch, and a reduction of $ 600 in the charges made in the accounts in his behalf was ordered. It was further found that reasonable and fair compensation for the services performed by D. M. Thorp, attorney on behalf of the estate, for the year, was from $ 2,000 to $ 2,500, and that a reasonable allowance, including expenses and hotel bills, was $ 2,689, making a reduction in the bill of Thorp in the sum of $ 2,000. An item of $ 6.25 for proxies was found to have been erroneously charged to the estate, but all other items charged in the accounts of the assignee were approved. As a conclusion of law it was found that the amount charged in the accounts of the assignee should be allowed as reported, less the sum of $ 3,206.25.

Several objections are made to the rulings and the final decision of the Court. It was the duty of ...