In re Stone's Estate

• Decision Date: 14 March 1914
• Citation: 145 N.W. 903
• Parties: IN RE STONE'S ESTATE.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

145 N.W. 903

IN RE STONE'S ESTATE.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 14, 1914.

Appeal from District Court, Woodbury County; David Mould, Judge.

This is a proceeding brought by the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company to test the validity of the appointment of one Garnier as administrator of the estate of John W. Stone, deceased. The petitioner asks that the appointment be set aside as having been made without jurisdiction. The application was refused, and the petitioner appeals. Affirmed.Sargent, Strong & Struble, of Sioux City, for appellant.

EVANS, J.

Passing the question of the preservation of the record, it is made to appear that John W. Stone died at Bloomington, Ill., and was a resident of such place up to the time of his death. Shortly thereafter, and on September 19, 1912, Garnier was appointed administrator of his estate in Woodbury county, Iowa. Stone left surviving him in Bloomington a wife and two children. He left no property either in Illinois or Iowa. Garnier is the son of the widow by a former marriage, and the application for administration in Woodbury county was made with the approval of the widow. The only property interest, if any, held by the estate of Stone was an alleged cause of action against the Lake Erie & Western Railway Company for negligently causing his death. The purpose of the administrator so appointed was to bring an action against said company for such wrongful act. Since the appointment such action has been brought in the Circuit Court of the United States in the Northern District of Iowa. It is urged for the appellant that such action for damages is and must be based upon the statute of Illinois (under such statute no cause of action arose in favor of the estate of the decedent, but in favor of the widow and children only), and that the damages, if any, were to be recovered by the personal representative of the deceased for the benefit of such widow and children. It is argued, therefore, that there was no property belonging to such estate in any sense, and that, inasmuch as the deceased was a nonresident of this state, there could be no jurisdiction in Woodbury county to appoint an administrator over his estate. If the question were open, the argument would not be without its force. The question, however, was settled otherwise by this court in Morris v. C., R. I. & P., 65 Iowa, 727, 23 N. W. 143, 54 Am. Rep. 39. The cited case is conclusive of this at all points. The alleged cause of action...