DeWitt v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Co.
| Decision Date | 10 July 1902 |
| Docket Number | 49-1902 |
| Citation | 21 Pa.Super. 10 |
| Parties | DeWitt, Appellant, v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Argued January 13, 1902 [Syllabus Matter]
Appeal by plaintiff, from judgment of C.P. Wyoming Co.-1901, No. 11 on case stated in suit of Celestia DeWitt et al. v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.
Case stated to determine ownership of a fund paid into court.
The facts appear by the opinion of the Superior Court.
The court in an opinion by Dunham, P. J., made the following order:
This fund belongs to Celestia DeWitt during her life, or Celestia DeWitt is entitled to the use of the same during her life. She can either receive the interest upon the same, or, if she prefers to take the fund, upon filing a bond for $ 616, with surety approved by court, conditioned to pay the same to the persons entitled thereto upon the death of Celestia DeWitt she can take the fund.
Upon the death of Celestia DeWitt two thirds of the fund goes to the children of Frank W. DeWitt, or $ 205.33 -- one third to each child, or $ 68.44 1/3 to Melissa DeWitt, $ 68.44 1/3 to Clinton DeWitt and $ 68.44 1/3 to Decker DeWitt; upon the other third, or $ 102.67, Ettie M. DeWitt is to receive the interest during her life, and upon her death it goes to the three heirs, above named, of Frank W. DeWitt, equally.
Distributed as above set forth, October 19, 1901.
Error assigned was the order of the court.
Reversed.
C. O. Dersheimer and James W. Piatt, for appellants. -- At the death of F. W. DeWitt his property fell into the lap of the law for distribution, and so it must remain: Nice's App., 54 Pa. 200.
At the death of F. W. DeWitt his lands, (this dwelling house part of his farm), became assets by operation of law for the payment of the liens against them, and vested in the heirs, defeasible in behalf of creditors: Horner v. Hasbrouck, 41 Pa. 169; Milliken v. Kendig, 2 P. & H. 477; Luce v. Snively, 4 Watts, 396; Swar's App., 1 Pa. 93; Jones's App., 99 Pa. 124; Nichols's App., 128 Pa. 428; Shannon v. Newton, 132 Pa. 375; Smith v. Seaton, 117 Pa. 382; McCoy v. Scott, 2 Rawle, 222; Watt's Estate, 168 Pa. 431; Brough's Estate, 71 Pa. 460; Miller's App., 35 Pa. 481.
Where incumbered land is taken by right of eminent domain, the lien of the incumbrance is shifted to the money, and distribution made to the creditors: Phila. & Reading R. R. Co. v. Penna. Schuylkill Valley R. R. Co., 151 Pa. 569; Schuylkill Navigation Co. v. Thoburn, 7 S. & R. 411, 419; Reese v. Addams, 16 S. & R. 40; Phila. v. Dyer, 41 Pa. 470.
Though the lien creditor has no right of action, the owner is the trustee for all who are interested, whose rights the court will protect in distribution by ordering the money in court: Reese v. Addams, 16 S. & R. 40; Knoll v. New York, etc., Ry. Co., 121 Pa. 467; Workman v. Mifflin, 30 Pa. 362; Powell v. Whitaker, 88 Pa. 445.
Damages occasioned to a tract of land owned by several parties may be assessed in gross, and the jury may apportion the same among the several claimants: Getz v. Philadelphia & Reading R. R. Co., 105 Pa. 547; Pittsburg & Steubenville R. R. Co. v. Hall, 25 Pa. 336.
Celestia DeWitt, or the children of F. W. DeWitt would not have been permitted to remove the building, nor do any lasting injury to the land. Had any of them removed the building an action would lie against them for so doing: Christian v. Mills, 16 W.N.C. 393; Roberts v. Dauphin Deposit Bank, 19 Pa. 71; Weed v. Hall, 101 Pa. 592; Witmer's Appeal, 45 Pa. 455; Glass v. Glass, 6 Pa. C.C. 408; Irwin v. Covode, 24 Pa. 162.
James E. Frear, for appellee. -- A judgment being a general and not a specific lien, the creditor has no interest in the fund derived from loss by fire: Grevemeyer v. Southern Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 62 Pa. 340; Light v. Countrymen's Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 169 Pa. 310.
The heir is entitled absolutely to damages for trespass as against the creditor of the ancestor: McCoy v. Scott, 2 Rawle, 222.
The proceeds of sale become assets in the hands of administrator to pay debts: Watt's Est., 168 Pa. 432.
While real estate of decedent may be taken to pay his debts, yet, until it is actually taken for this purpose, it belongs to the heirs: Kreider v. Kreider, 1 Miles, 220; Price v. Johnston, 4 Yeates, 526; McCoy v. Scott, 2 Rawle, 222; Watt's Est., 168 Pa. 431.
Before Rice, P. J., Beaver, Orlady, W. W. Porter and W. D. Porter, JJ. Rice, P. J., and W. W. Porter, J., dissent.
The defendant having paid into court the sum declared for by the plaintiffs in this action, for the purpose of distribution among the parties entitled thereto, the plaintiffs agreed upon the case stated and submitted to the court the question of distribution upon the following facts: Celestia DeWitt was seized of an estate during her own life in a farm upon which there was a dwelling house; the remainder in fee was in Frank W. DeWitt: upon the latter estate judgments held by Perry S. Billings were liens; Frank W. DeWitt died on June 12, 1899, intestate and insolvent, leaving to survive him a widow and three minor children, who have for their guardian, W. U. Shaw; letters of administration upon the estate of Frank W. DeWitt were issued to A. M. DeWitt. In March, 1900, sparks from an engine of the Lehigh Valley Railroad set fire to the dwelling house on the farm, resulting in the total destruction of the building, which was not insured, and the railroad company paid this fund into court in settlement of the damages for the loss of the house. Perry S. Billings died in June, 1900, and letters of administration on his estate were granted to W. P. Billings. The farm was sold at orphans' court sale, on October 6, 1900, and the estate of Perry S. Billings became the purchaser. All the above named parties in interest have joined as parties in the case stated. The court below awarded the interest of the fund to Celestia DeWitt during her life, and decreed that after her death two thirds of the principal should be paid to the children of Frank W. DeWitt, and that the interest on the remaining one third should be paid to Melissa DeWitt, widow of Frank W. DeWitt, during her life, and upon her death the principal to the children of Frank W. DeWitt. A. M. DeWitt, administrator of Frank W. DeWitt, deceased, and W. P. Billings, administrator of Perry S. Billings, deceased, have appealed from this decree.
There is no question as to the right of Celestia DeWitt to receive the interest from the fund during her natural life; her right is superior to that of either the creditors or widow and heirs of Frank W. DeWitt, and that part of the decree which awards to her the use of the fund during her life must stand. The issue arises between the widow and heirs of Frank W DeWitt, deceased, upon the one side and the creditors of said decedent's estate upon the other. The learned judge of the court below was of opinion that the only question arising under the case stated was, " Who were the owners of the property at the time it was destroyed, or who could have maintained an action against the company to recover damages for its destruction?" There can be no question that the legal title to the estate in remainder was in the heirs of the deceased, subject to the right of his widow, and that the right of action was in them, but that alone does not, in our opinion, determine the rights of these parties. The estate of a decedent in Pennsylvania is cast upon the heirs at law directly the ancestor dies, subject, however, to the jurisdiction of the orphans' court to administer the same, both real and personal, first of all for the benefit of creditors and next for legatees, devisees and heirs. " We usually define the heir to be one upon whom the law casts the estate at the death of the ancestor, but with us the estate is cast subject to the jurisdiction of the orphans' court. Heirs are thus postponed to creditors. If it be said, as for some purposes it is...
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