Gen. Bd. Of State Hosp.S For The Insane v. Robertson

• Decision Date: 20 November 1913
• Parties: GENERAL BOARD OF STATE HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE. v. ROBERTSON.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

79 S.E. 1064

(115 Va. 527)

GENERAL BOARD OF STATE HOSPITALS FOR THE INSANE.

v.ROBERTSON.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Nov. 20, 1913.

1. Insane Persons (§ 93*)—Right of Action —Guardian.

Under Code 1904, §§ 1697, 1702, declaring that the committee of an insane person shall be entitled to his custody and control, shall take possession of and manage his estate, and may sue and be sued in respect thereto, the committee of an insane person committed to a hospital for care, maintenance, and treatment, who is a beneficiary of a trust fund held and administered by the hospital, may maintain a suit to enforce the trust and protect the property against misappropriation.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Insane Persons, Cent. Dig. § 163; Dec. Dig. § 93.*]

2. States (§ 191*)—Suits Against—Consent to be Sued.

A suit against a state hospital for the insane in its public governmental capacity is a suit against the state which cannot be maintained by an individual unless the state waives its immunity and submits itself to the jurisdiction of the courts.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see States, Cent Dig. §§ 179-184; Dec. Dig. § 191.*]

3. States (§ 191*)—Suits Against—Hospital for Insane—Enforcement of Trust.

A state hospital for the insane, which in its private capacity has accepted a testamentary trust, stands upon the same footing with respect to it as any other trustee, and is suable by a beneficiary.

LEd. Note.—For other cases, see States, Cent Dig. §§ 179-184; Dec. Dig. § 191.*]

4. States (§ 87*)—Property of State Institutions—Control by State.

As to property held by public corporations for public purposes the power of the Legislature is supreme, but, while it may prohibit such corporations from accepting property as trustee un-der a private grant, yet when the trust has once been accepted it cannot divert it to purposes other than that of the trust.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see States, Dec. Dig. § 87.*]

5. Constitutional Law.(§ 278*)—Due Process of Law—Deprivation of Beneficial Interest in Trust Property.

Where land was given to a state hospital in trust to provide extra comforts for patients therein, act of the General Assembly approved February 20, 1006 (Laws 1906, c. 48), directing its special board of directors, under supervision of the general state board, to construct on such land buildings suitable for a colony of epileptic patients, and Act March 12, 1908 (Laws 190S, c. 195), providing that if the general board shall think it proper the hospital should sell such land and purchase other land for the same purpose, were unconstitutional and void as a deprivation of property rights in the trust fund without due process of law, and would be so whether the trust was legal or not, since if unlawful the property would be in the heirs of the donor.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Constitutional Law, Cent. Dig. S§ 763, 765, 767-770, 772-777, 779-806. S0S-S10, 816-824, 907-924, 942; Dec. Dig. § 278.*]

6. Insane Persons (§ 92*)—Suit—Parties.

Where a will gave real property in trust to a hospital for specified purposes and was duly admitted to probate, and in an action by the committee of an insane patient of such hospital to protect his beneficial rights and prevent a misappropriation of the fund the validity of the will was not questioned, the heirs at law were not necessary parties.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Insane Persons, Cent. Dig. §§ 161, 162; Dec. Dig. § 92.*]

7. Costs (§ 96*)—Persons Liable — Public Officers.

The trustees of a state hospital and the general board of the state hospital for the insane, who are public officers of the state represented by the Attorney General, and having no personal interest in a suit to protect the beneficial rights, of a patient in a trust fund held by the hospital, were not liable to costs where an adverse judgment was rendered against them.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Costs, Cent. Dig. § 380; Dec. Dig. § 96.*]

Appeal from Circuit Court, Augusta County.

Action by A. Stuart Robertson, committee of Joseph S. Rowe, an insane person, against the General Board of State Hospitals for the Insane, the Western State Hospital, and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

The facts leading up to this litigation are these: The will of Sidney R. Murkland, which was duly admitted to probate in the circuit court of Amherst county, Va., after providing for the payment of funeral expenses and debts, gives "To 'Trustees State Hospital, Staunton, Va., ' where my son Sidney Price Murkland is now cared for, the entire balance of my property, real and peT-sonal, the income from which to be used by said trustees for purchase extra comforts patients said Hospital for all time."

Testator's estate consisted of a small amount of personal property and some real estate in the city of Lynchburg, and a farm containing 150 odd acres situated in Amherst county. The Western State Hospital, having accepted the trust, brought suit in the corporation court for the city of Lynchburg against the administrator with the will annexed, the other beneficiaries under the will, and creditors, to administer the estate. The Amherst county property was sold by a decree of the court to the Western State Hospital for $17,025, of which sum the hospital paid to the court's commissioner $3,500, the amount necessary to discharge the unpaid indebtedness of the estate and costs and expenses of litigation. The court in confirming the sale decreed that the balance of the purchase money "is under the will of S. R. Murkland, deceased, the property of the said Western State 'Hospital, " and therefore directed a conveyance of the land to be made to the hospital, which was accordingly done.

By an act of the General Assembly, approved February 20, 1906 (Laws 1906, c. 48), the special board of directors of the Western State Hospital were authorized and directed, under the supervision and control of the general Board of Directors of the State Hospitals of Virginia for the Insane (hereinafter called the General Board), to "erect on the Murkland land" suitable buildings, etc., for the establishment of a colony for the reception, care, treatment, training and employment of 300 epileptic patients. No action was taken under the foregoing act, and at the next session the General Assembly passed another act, approved March 12, 1908 (Laws 1908, c. 195), which provided that if in the opinion of the General Board it should appear proper the Western State Hospital should sell and convey the whole or any part of the "Murkland land, " and with the proceeds purchase other lands in Amherst county for the purposes of said epileptic colony. Thereupon the General Board directed the Western State Hospital to make sale of the "Murkland land" for the purposes aforesaid.

The Western State Hospital then filed its bill in the circuit court of the city of Richmond against the General Board, reciting the foregoing facts and charging that the "Murkland land" in its hands was impressed with a trust in favor of the inmates of the Western State Hospital, as declared by the will of Sidney R. Murkland, deceased, under which to the extent of $14,000 the land was acquired, that the trusts declared in the will were clear, definite, and legal, and that complainant was competent to execute the trusts, etc. The object of that suit was to determine the question of the power of the General Assembly to enact the foregoing statutes authorizing the General Board to divert the trust property from the purposes to which it, or its proceeds, had been dedicated by the testator's will.

The General Board demurred to the bill upon the ground that the suit was in effect asuit against the state, and a suit by one branch or arm of the state government against another branch or arm of the state government, and therefore that the circuit court of the city of Richmond was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the case. The circuit court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the bill, and its decree was affirmed on appeal to this court. Western State Hospital v. General Board of State Hospitals for the Insane, 112 Va. 230, 70 S. E. 505.

Caskie & Caskie, of Lynchburg, and the Attorney General, for appellants.

Timberlake & Nelson, of Staunton, for appellee.

WHITTLE, J. (after stating the facts as above). The present suit was instituted by the appellee, A. Stuart Robertson, committee of Joseph S. Rowe, an insane person, against the Western State Hospital, trustee under the will of Sidney R. Murkland, deceased, the General Board, and the individual members thereof. The bill alleges that Joseph S. Rowe had been adjudged a lunatic in the county of Augusta, the place of his residence, and had been committed to the Western State Hospital for care, maintenance, and treatment, and still is an inmate of that asylum, and that he is one of the beneficiaries of the trust created by the Murkland will, and has such property interest in the trust subject as to entitle his committee to invoke the jurisdiction of a court of equity to establish the trust and protect the trust property from the misappropriation sought to be made of it by the General Board under the authority of the acts of the General Assembly above mentioned; that said acts are not only in contravention of the state Constitution, but are also violative of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States, in that they deprive the lunatic of property rights without due process of law and deny to him the equal protection of the law; and that the...