Commonwealth Trust Co. v. Szabo
| Decision Date | 22 November 1957 |
| Docket Number | 179,2862 |
| Citation | 138 A.2d 85,391 Pa. 272 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH TRUST COMPANY, Administrator D.B.N.C.T.A. Of v. Stephen SZABO, Irene Hayek, William Szabo and Mellon Appeal of Stephen SZABO and Irene Hayek. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued October 2, 1957
Appeal, No. 179, March T., 1957, from decree of Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Oct. T., 1954, No. 953, in case of Commonwealth Trust Company v. Stephen Szabo et al. Decree affirmed; reargument refused February 3, 1958.
Equity. Before MARSHALL, J.
Adjudication filed finding for plaintiff; exceptions to adjudication dismissed and final decree entered. Defendants appealed.
The decree of the court below is affirmed. The costs of this proceeding are to be borne equally by Stephen Szabo and Irene Hayek.
Sidney Baker, with him Daniel Krause and Krause & Boreman, for appellants.
Francis Taptich, for appellee.
Before JONES, C.J., BELL, CHIDSEY, MUSMANNO, ARNOLD, JONES and COHEN, JJ.
This appeal presents a dispute between a decedent's estate and decedent's three children concerning the ownership of certain money. [1]
Stephen Szabo, a resident of Allegheny County, died, testate, on February 5, 1953, survived by his wife, Marie Szabo, and three children, Stephen Szabo, Irene Hayek and William Szabo. By his will decedent left his entire estate to his wife. Letters of administration c.t.a. were originally granted to Marie Szabo; after her removal as administratrix, letters of administration d.b.n.c.t.a. were granted to the Commonwealth Trust Company.
During her tenure as administratrix c.t.a. Marie Szabo instituted an equity action [2] against the three children and the Mellon National Bank and Trust Company (herein called Mellon Bank). The basis of this equity action [3] is that decedent had $10,000 in cash in his room prior to his removal to the hospital - approximately two weeks before his death; Stephen Szabo, without decedent's knowledge or consent, removed this money; upon discovery that the money was missing, William Szabo and Irene Hayek, the two other children, demanded a return of the money whereupon Stephen Szabo turned over to them $7000; on January 22, 1953, William Szabo and Irene Hayek rented a safe deposit box in the Mellon Bank (Braddock Branch) wherein they placed $7000; despite the fact that the safe deposit rental contract provided only for joint access, the Mellon Bank permitted Irene Hayek alone to enter the box on January 8th and January 11th, 1954, without William Szabo's knowledge or consent; the box was changed from the names of Irene Hayek and William Szabo to Irene Hayek and Carl Hayek, her husband, and now contains $6000 the return of which to the estate has been refused. The relief requested in this action was three-fold: (1) that Stephan Szabo be declared trustee of $3000 and directed to return it to the estate, (2) that Irene Hayek and William Szabo be declared trustees of $7000 and directed to return it to the estate and (3) that the Mellon Bank be restrained from permitting access by anyone to the safe deposit box.
With the exception of William Szabo, all the defendants filed answers. The Mellon Bank's answer, in substance, admitted the impropriety of allowing Irene Hayek to enter the safe deposit box, disavowed interest in the money in the box averred that it was in the position of a stakeholder and requested that the money be paid into court to await the determination of the controversy. The answers of Irene Hayek and Stephen Szabo, although separate, were substantially the same: that Stephen Szabo did not take any money without decedent's authority; that decedent, prior to his hospitalization and in his own room, delivered to Stephen Szabo an undetermined sum of money, wrapped in a package, with instructions that he hold the package for decedent until his return from the hospital, or, in the event of his death, "to divide it as he, Stephen Szabo, saw fit"; shortly after receiving this package Stephen Szabo informed his brother and sister that he was holding this money and the three children agreed that it should be kept in a safe deposit box in the names of William Szabo and Irene Hayek and for that purpose a safe deposit box was rented at the Mellon Bank and the money placed therein; almost a year later Irene Hayek had the box transferred into the names of her husband and herself and the money, now amounting to $6000, is in that box; they categorically deny plaintiff's right to this money, alleging that decedent made a gift causa mortis of this money to Stephen Szabo.
After a hearing, the chancellor found that decedent had not made a gift causa mortis to Stephen Szabo of this money amounting to $6000 but had delivered it to him as a bailee for safekeeping and concluded that the money belonged to decedent's estate, that defendants', William Szabo and Irene Hayek, possession of the money was in trust for the estate and he directed the Mellon Bank to deliver the money to the estate. These findings and conclusions were approved by the court en banc and from its decree this appeal was taken.
In passing upon the questions raised on this appeal we must adhere to the well-established rule that a chancellor's findings of fact, approved by a court en banc, have all the force and effect of a jury's verdict if they are supported by adequate evidence and ordinarily will not be disturbed on appeal: Gagnon v. Speback, 389 Pa. 17, 20, 131 A.2d 619; Mann v. Mann, 387 Pa. 230, 233, 127 A.2d 666; Eways v. Reading Parking Authority, 385 Pa. 592, 601, 124 A.2d 92; Brightbill v. Boeshore, 385 Pa. 69, 79, 122 A.2d 38. However, the chancellor's "conclusions, whether of law or ultimate fact are no more than his reasoning from the underlying facts and are reviewable", especially "where the underlying facts themselves are not in esse but are matter of inference and deduction": Kelly v. Philadelphia, 382 Pa. 459, 465, 115 A.2d 238; Eways v. Reading Parking Authority, supra, p. 601; Peters v. Machikas, 378 Pa. 52, 56, 105 A.2d 708. Furthermore, a chancellor's findings of fact, even though approved by a court en banc, need not be accepted as conclusive if there is no evidence to support them or if they are based on an inference erroneously taken (Essick et al. v. Shillam et al., 347 Pa. 373, 32 A.2d 416; Potter et al. v. Brown et al., 328 Pa. 554, 563, 195 A. 901), or where the evidence, in order to prevail, must be clear, precise and indubitable or must meet some other prescribed standard (Stafford v. Reed, 363 Pa. 405, 407, 70 A.2d 345).
Bearing in mind these legal principles, we must carefully examine the instant record to determine whether the chancellor's findings and conclusions were supported by adequate evidence and based on inferences properly taken. Certain facts are undisputed: (1) decedent, two weeks prior to his death, had in his home a certain amount of money; (2) this money, in some manner or other, came into the possession of Stephen Szabo; (3) this money, at least in part, came into the possession, first, of Irene Hayek and William Szabo, and, then, of Irene Hayek and Carl Hayek, her husband; (4) the amount now in the safe deposit box - $6000 - represents part, if not the whole, of the money. In dispute are the following issues: (1) how much money passed from decedent's possession to that of Stephen Szabo? (2) in what manner did possession pass? (3) does the amount in the box represent all or only a part of the original money, and, if only a part, what happened to the rest? Appellants contend that $6000 passed from the decedent to Stephen Szabo, that decedent made a gift causa mortis of that money to Stephen Szabo, and that the amount in the box represents all the money that was transferred. Appellee contends that $10,000 passed from the decedent to Stephen Szabo, that it was taken by him from the decedent's possession without the latter's knowledge and consent, and that $3000 was kept by Stephen Szabo and $7000, originally, by Irene Hayek and William Szabo but, now, by Irene Hayek. The chancellor found that $6000 passed from decedent to Stephen Szabo, that it was given by the decedent to Stephen Szabo for safekeeping and that the money now in the safe deposit box represents all the money which belonged to the decedent.
The evidence consists of certain portions of the pleadings received in evidence together with the testimony of the three individual defendants. The admissions which arise from the pleadings in evidence are: the date of decedent's death, that under decedent's will the widow was the sole beneficiary, that while decedent was in the hospital, Stephen Szabo informed his brother and sister that he was holding certain money given him by decedent, that this money was placed in a safe deposit box in the names of the brother and sister and the safe deposit box now contains $6000.
Plaintiff's only oral testimony came from William Szabo, a defendant called as of cross-examination. While objection was made in the court below to this witness' competency, [4] the plaintiff, by calling him as of cross-examination, and, by examining him as to matters which occurred during the decedent's lifetime, rendered him a competent witness on all relevant matters and removed his prima facie disqualification. [5] This witness testified as follows: on the night decedent was taken to the hospital Stephen Szabo told him that he had the money, that "he was to take care of the money" and the money had been turned over to Irene Hayek; on February 2, 1953 - three days prior to his father's death - in company with Irene, he opened the safe deposit box, counted the money amounting to $7000 and then visited the decedent...
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