Killian v. Ebbinghaus

• Decision Date: 03 March 1884
• Citation: 4 S.Ct. 232,28 L.Ed. 246,110 U.S. 568
• Parties: KILLIAN and others, Trustees, etc., v. EBBINGHAUS, Trustee
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

110 U.S. 568

4 S.Ct. 232

28 L.Ed. 246

KILLIAN and others, Trustees, etc., v. EBBINGHAUS, Trustee.

March 3, 1884.

H.W. Garnett and Convay Robinson Jr., for appellants.

P. E. Dye andF. P. Cuppy, for appellee.

WOODS, J.

The bill in this case was filed by John W. Ebbinghaus, the appellee, as trustee for the German Calvanist Society and their legal representatives. His appointment as trustee was brought about in the following manner: On July 16, 1877, August Sievers, Edward Kolb, and Ludwig Freund, as trustees of the First German Reformed Church of Washington, District of Columbia, filed their petition in the supreme court of the District of Columbia, in which they represented that on June 28, 1793, one D. Reintzel held, as trustee, in trust for the German Calvanist Society, lot 9, in square 80, of the city of Washington; that the German Reformed Church was the legal counterpart and successor of the German Calvanist Society, and that the petitioners were the only beneficiaries of the trust estate; that Reintzel, the trustee, was dead, and no successor had been appointed. They, therefore, prayed that John W. Ebbinghaus, the pastor of the First Reformed Church of the city of Washington, might be appointed trustee, as the successor of Reintzel. On the day on which the petition was filed, the supreme court of the district, without notice or service of process, appointed Ebbinghaus trustee in the place of Reintzel, to hold, as trustee, the said property 'for the German Calvanist Society and their legal successors, in accordance with the intent of Jacob Funk, the original donor.' Ebbinghaus believed, for he so testifies, that the real estate in question was the property of the First Reformed Church. When giving his deposition in this case he was asked, 'Do you consider that this lot belongs to your church?' His answer was, 'Yes, sir; most emphatically.' With this belief, on the day next after his appointment as trustee, and in pursuance of an understanding entered into with the trustees of his church before his appointment, he filed the bill in this case. It alleged that the appellee, Ebbinghaus, was the trustee and legal owner of lot 9, in square 80, in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia; that the property mentioned was given in trust by one Jacob Funk to D. Reintzel, as trustee, to hold for the use and benefit of the German Calvanist Society, and that he held the property as the successor to D. Reintzel, deceased, for said society and their legal representatives, in accordance with the intent of Jacob Funk, the original donor. The bill further averred that Ebbinghaus held the property in trust for the legal successors and beneficiaries of the trust, whoever they might be, and was ready to pay the rents, issues, and profits arising therefrom into court, to be disposed of as the court might direct, and faithfully perform the duties of trustee; and that he brought his bill to have the court decide who were the legal beneficiaries under said trust. The bill further averred that the defendants John G. Killian, John Schenck, and John Schneider, trustees of the German Evangelical Concordia Church of the city of Washington, claimed to be the legal beneficiaries and entitled to the rents and profits of the trust property for religious purposes, and had already received and converted to their own use a large sum of money, the rents of the property, without the consent of Reintzel or his legal representative or of the appellee. The bill also averred that the defendants August Sievers, Edward Kolb, and Ludwig Freund, trustees of the First Reformed Church of the city of Washington, claimed to be the legal successors of the German Calvanist Society, and the legal beneficiaries of the trust, and entitled to the rents, profits, and estate of and in said property, and were 'expected to sue the complainant for the recovery of their supposed rights.' The prayer of the bill was for an account of the rents and profits of the trust estate received by the trustees of the German Evangelical Concordia Church and for the payment into court of the amount found due from them; that the trustees of the two church societies mentioned in the bill might be respectively enjoined from bringing suit against Ebbinghaus on account of, and from further interference with, the trust property during the pendency of the present suit; and that they might be required to interplead together; and that Ebbinghaus might be indemnified.

The defendants Schenck and Schneider filed their joint answer, in which they denied that Ebbinghaus was the trustee and legal owner of the real estate described in the bill, and averred that they and the defendant John G. Killian, their associate trustee, were the only lawful and equitable trustees of the property. They denied that Ebbinghaus, whom they averred to be an interloper, held the property as trustee or successor to to D. Reintzel, or as successor of any one having title thereto, or that he held it for the benefit of the legal successors and beneficiaries of the trust. The defendants Siever, Kolb, and Freund, styling themselves trustees of the First Reformed Church, filed their joint answer, admitting all the averments of the bill. Upon final hearing of the case, upon the pleadings and evidence, the supreme court of the District of Columbia, in special term, dismissed the bill without prejudice. Upon appeal to the supreme court of the district, in general term, the decree of the special term was reversed, and the court decreed that Ebbinghaus, as trustee as aforesaid, be authorized and empowered to take possession of the property described in the bill, and hold the same as trustee for the First Reformed Church, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, and receive the rents and profits thereof, and account therefor as such trustee to said First Reformed Church; that the trustees of the German Evangelical Concordia Church be enjoined from further interfering with said real estate, or with the receipt of the rents and profits thereof by Ebbinghaus, and that they account to him for the rents received by them since the filing of the bill in this case. The present appeal brings this decree under review.

The appellants contend that the decree of the court below should be reversed because the suit is not one of which a court of equity could take jurisdiction, and the decree is not one which it was competent for such a court to make. We think this contention is well founded. The bill is either a bill of interpleader or a bill in the nature of a bill of interpleader. It is clear that it cannot be sustained as a bill of interpleader. In such a bill it is necessary to aver that the complainant has no interest in the subject-matter of the suit; he must admit title...