In re Estate of Campbell

• Decision Date: 17 June 1954
• Docket Number: NO. 2951.,2951.
• Citation: 40 Haw. 543
• Parties: IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF JAMES CAMPBELL, DECEASED.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

40 Haw. 543

IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF JAMES CAMPBELL, DECEASED.

NO. 2951.

Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawai‘i.

Argued March 24, 1954.

Decided June 17, 1954.

APPEAL FROM CIRCUIT JUDGE FIRST CIRCUIT, HON. W. D. GODBOLD, JUDGE.

Syllabus by the Court

A construction of a will in a former action with respect to the disposition by a trustee of certain trust lands is not res judicata as to a subsequent disposition with respect to different lands diverse in character at a later stage of trust.

Where the duration of trust is indeterminate ending twenty years after the death of the testator's children and the trustees are clothed with practically unlimited powers of management, control and sale with imperative duties to produce income for full period of trust from the trust realty, the trustees by necessary implication have the implied power to lease for a definite term extending beyond the probable duration of the trust when reasonably exercised in furtherance of the trust as required by “the obvious interests” of the estate within the express power to alienate.J. H. Hughes (also on the briefs) for appellants Alice Kamokila Campbell and Helen Kala Macfarlane.

J. G. Anthony ( Robertson, Castle & Anthony on the brief) for trustees Campbell Estate, appellees.

D. C. Lewis ( Lewis, Buck & Saunders on the brief) for appellees Kapiolani Campbell Field, Liliuokalani Kawananakoa Lee and Abigail Kekaulike Kawananakoa.

R. E. Stifel ( Anderson, Wrenn & Jenks on the brief) for appellees Beatrice A. King et als.

M. D. White, guardian ad litem, filed a brief but was not present at argument.

TOWSE, C. J., LE BARON AND STAINBACK, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY LE BARON, J. (Stainback, J., dissenting.)

This is a bill for construction of will and in the alternative for authority to deviate brought by the trustees under the will of James Campbell, deceased. By amended petition the trustees pray that the court of equity construe the will to determine whether they have power with respect to certain lands of the trust to execute valid leases for the definite term of fifty-two years, irrespective of a prior termination of the trust, and if the will be construed as not giving them such power, that an authorization be granted permitting them to deviate from the will, so construed, by executing such long-term leases for those lands. At this juncture, it is pertinent to note that the residential lands of the testator were not made subject to the trust by the will and that the trust itself as to the trust realty is of uncertain duration ending twenty years after the death of the survivor of the testator's four children, only two of whom are now living, aged sixty and seventy years, respectively. But the probable duration, based on mortality tables as to the life expectancy of the younger of those two children and the final twenty-year period of the trust, is thirty-four years which nevertheless is indeterminate because the life of the trust might be considerably shorter or longer in duration. After a hearing the chancellor out of deference to two prior decisions of this court in Campbell v. Kawananakoa, 31 Haw. 500 and 34 Haw. 333, declined to construe the will on the ground that those decisions are res judicata of the question of construction as set forth in the amended petition. On findings of fact, however, he concluded that the case is an appropriate one for deviation from the will as construed in those prior cases. Accordingly, he entered a decree authorizing the trustees to execute the proposed leases. From the decree granting such authority, the appellants, as life beneficiary and contingent remainderman, respectively, appeal. The other respondents as the remaining beneficiaries and remaindermen joined in the prayer of the trustees and are satisfied with the decree.

The specification of alleged errors on which the appellants rely for a reversal of the decree on appeal presents two main questions of law, the second being dependent on a determination of the first. The first pertains to the two prior decisions of this court in Campbell v. Kawananakoa, supra. It is whether those decisions are res judicata of the question of construction as set forth in the amended petition. If that question be answered in the affirmative then the will need not be further construed and the second question arises. But if it be answered in the negative, the second question would arise only if the will be construed the same as in those prior decisions; otherwise, it would not be judicable. This is evident from the fact that the second question pertains solely to the alternative question of deviation from the will as construed in such decisions and runs to the sufficiency of the evidence to warrant the deviation. It is whether this case is an appropriate one for that deviation. Material to the first question presented on appeal as well as to the second are the chancellor's findings on which he based his decree. Those findings are further material to the two questions set forth in the alternative by the trustees in the amended petition. For a proper understanding of the case, therefore, such findings are made a part of this opinion.

The findings in full are: “(1) That the trustees have in the estate certain marginal lands not suitable for the major agricultural enterprises of the Territory but which are well suited for potential residential, commercial, industrial, piggery and small farm purposes; (2) That the lands in question at present are either non-income producing or yield a relatively low income; (3) That there is a pressing demand for the utilization of these lands but that demand cannot be fulfilled unless the trustees are in a position to grant leases for a term in excess of 51 years; (4) That few prospective tenants are interested in the leasing of said lands unless they can secure adequate financing and this cannot be done without a lease for a term in excess of 51 years; (5) That in order to secure adequate rentals for the lease of said lands either for residential, commercial, industrial, piggery or small farm purposes as the case may be, it is necessary that the trustees execute long term leases so that lessees will have a term of years within which to amortize improvements erected by them on the demised premises and to comply with conditions for the obtaining of financing through the Federal Housing Authority among which is a requirement that a lease of real property will not be approved for Federal Housing Authority financing unless it is for a term in excess of 51 years; (6) That the estate of James Campbell is at a competitive disadvantage with other landowners on the Island of Oahu who are able to and uniformly do grant leases of terms in excess of 51 years; (7) That the will of James Campbell directs that the real estate ‘shall be particularly and especially preserved intact, and shall be aliened only in the event, and to the extent, that the obvious interests of my Estate shall so demand’ and accordingly the trustees are in the dilemma of either holding relatively unproductive land or selling it unless they secure the approval of the Court for long term leases; (8) The conditions that existed at the date of the death of James Campbell have materially changed and the present urban development of Honolulu could not reasonably have been anticipated in 1900; (9) That the will of the testator vests full power of management and discretion in his trustees and provides, among other things, in the Twelfth Article: ‘It being my purpose herein to provide a safe and certain income and maintenance for my wife, our children and grandchildren, for and during the period of the trusts hereby established, ... and that the Trustees herein named, and their successors in trust hereunder, shall keep intact my Estate, and administer the same under the name of “The Estate of James Campbell” ...’; (10) That it is to the best interests and benefit of the beneficiaries of said estate (both income takers and contingent remaindermen including those unborn) that the trustees have and exercise the power to execute leases for such terms that will be valid notwithstanding the prior termination of the trust, [and] based upon the [ten] findings as above set forth it is the determination of the chancellor [11] that the granting of authorization to the trustees to execute leases for a definite term of 52 years, notwithstanding the prior termination of the trust, is necessary in order to make the lands in question properly productive and for the protection of both the income of the income takers and the assets of the remaindermen, and will be a definite and certain benefit to all the beneficiaries, and [12] that such deviation is in accordance with the cardinal objectives of the testator.”

On review of the record, this court finds no reason to disturb any of the above findings of fact or any of the conclusions and inferences drawn therefrom by the chancellor aside from his final conclusion as to deviation. He, as the trier of fact, was in a better position to pass upon the credibility of the witnesses and to weigh their oral testimony than is this court. His findings, resting as they do upon the credibility of witnesses and the weight of their oral testimony as well as involving the consideration of opinion evidence, are entitled to great weight. Where, as here, the essential facts underlying those findings, conclusions and inferences are largely undisputed and the overwhelming weight of substantial evidence supports them, this court not only will not set them aside but adopts them as its own.

The doctrine of res judicata, broadly speaking, is but the technical formulation of the “Public policy * * * that there be an end of litigation; that those who have contested an issue shall be bound by the result of the contest; that matters once tried shall be considered forever settled as between the parties.” (Baldwin v. Iowa State Traveling Men's Ass'n, 283 U. S....