Estate of Davis v. Watkins
| Decision Date | 05 October 1898 |
| Docket Number | 8305 |
| Citation | 76 N.W. 575,56 Neb. 288 |
| Parties | ESTATE OF O. F. DAVIS v. ALBERT WATKINS, RECEIVER |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
ERROR from the district court of Douglas county. Tried below before KEYSOR, J. Affirmed upon filing of remittitur.
AFFIRMED UPON FILING OF REMITTITUR.
Kennedy & Learned, for plaintiff in error.
Tibbets Bros., Morey & Ferris and Bradley & De Lamatre, contra.
Oscar F. Davis owned 50 shares, of $ 100 each, of the capital stock of the First National Bank of Ponca, Nebraska. The bank became insolvent. The comptroller of the currency of the United States appointed Albert Watkins receiver of said bank and levied an assessment of 100 per cent upon the stockholders of said corporation. Davis died, and the receiver filed the claim against his estate in the county (probate) court of Dixon county. From the allowance of that claim by the county (probate) court the administrator of Davis appealed to the district court of said county, where the trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the receiver, and the administrator of Davis brings that judgment here for review on error.
1. The district court awarded the receiver judgment for $ 5,000 with seven per cent interest thereon from July 12, 1893, the date on which the comptroller of the currency made an assessment upon the stockholders. The first complaint of the administrator is as to the allowance of this interest. His contention is that the estate is not liable for interest on this claim until it was allowed by the county (probate) court May 5, 1894. But the assessment made by the comptroller was payable on or before August 12, 1893, and we think that it drew interest from that date. In Casey v Galli, 94 U.S. 673, 24 L.Ed. 168, it was held that the assessment drew interest from the date it was made; and the same ruling was made in Bowden v. Johnson, 107 U.S. 251, 27 L.Ed. 386, 2 S.Ct. 246. In each of those cases it appears that the assessment was payable on the date it was made. Here the assessment was payable thirty days after it was made, and, within the principle of the cases cited, would draw interest from the time it was payable. The judgment of the district court is for $ 29.16--or one month's interest--too much.
2. The second argument is that the court erred in receiving in evidence what is known in the record as Exhibit 1, being the commission or written appointment of Watkins as receiver. The document was signed "Oliver P. Tucker, Deputy and Acting Comptroller of the Currency," and was attested by the seal of office of the comptroller. The argument is that no foundation was laid for the introduction in evidence of this commission, as there was no proof of the genuineness of Tucker's signature, and no evidence that he had any authority to execute such an instrument. Section 884, Revised Statutes United States, provides: "Every certificate assignment, and conveyance executed by the comptroller of the currency, in pursuance of law, and sealed with his seal of office, shall be received in evidence in all places and courts; and all copies of papers in his office, certified by him and authenticated by the said seal, shall in all cases be evidence equally with the originals." The exhibit referred to is not of course an assignment or a conveyance. It is not, nor does it purport to be, a copy of any paper or record in the comptroller's office. But this exhibit is the original certificate, writing, or commission issued by the comptroller of the currency appointing Watkins receiver. If this appointment or writing had been deposited in the comptroller's office, then a copy thereof, certified by him and attested by his seal, would, by reason of the statute just quoted, have been competent evidence equally with the original, and the seal would have authenticated the genuineness of the comptroller's signature; and since the exhibit in question is the original certificate, appointment, or commission, the seal thereon guaranties the...
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