Klessig v. Lea, No. 23756.

• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)
• Writing for the Court: HOLT
• Citation: 196 N.W. 655,158 Minn. 14
• Parties: KLESSIG v. LEA et al.
• Docket Number: No. 23756.
• Decision Date: 11 January 1924

158 Minn. 14
196 N.W. 655

KLESSIG
v.
LEA et al.

No. 23756.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Jan. 11, 1924.

Appeal from District Court, Waseca County; W. L. Converse, Judge.

Action by Minna Klessig against A. L. Lea, as administrator of the estate of Louis Klessig, deceased, and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

See, also, 153 Minn. 27, 189 N. W. 424.

Syllabus by the Court

Assignments of error not discussed are waived. Rulings relating to admission of evidence concerning facts found in favor of an appellant are not subject to review.

The complaint is held to state a cause of action in equity to trace into the hands of defendants the fund derived from the sale of plaintiff's lot by the deceased, and have the same adjudged a trust fund belonging to plaintiff.

The finding that none of the proceeds of the lot ever came to the estate of the deceased or into the hands of his heirs or administrator is fully sustained.

Such being the case, neither the heirs nor the administrator can be held liable in this action.

Plaintiff cannot now waive the tort and recover for money had and received, for the probate court has exclusive jurisdiction of claims against the estate of decedents arising under implied or quasi contracts for the payment of money.

In an action tried to the court, even though it appears that certain important facts were shown by evidence to which technically there might be valid objections, still, if it is clear that such facts exist and can be conclusively established were another trial had, there should not be a reversal.

The complaint and the course of trial do not justify a claim that this is an action to recover damages for fraud and deceit, in which it is not necessary to proceed in the probate court.

[196 N.W. 655]

Moonan & Moonan, of Waseca, for appellant.

A. W. Johnson, of Albert Lea, for respondents.

HOLT, J.

Plaintiff, the daughter of Louis Klessig, deceased, brings this action against the administrator of his estate and his other heirs, alleging, in substance: That she worked as a farm hand for her father until she was 29 years old; that he agreed to compensate her for such services out of his estate ‘prior to or at the time of his death’; that pursuant thereto he, in 1912, executed a deed conveying a lot he owned in New Richland to her as grantee, and delivered the deed in escrow to the judge of probate, Charles Spillane, which deed she was to receive upon the death of the grantors therein, her father and mother; that after the death of the mother, in 1918, her father obtained the deed from Spillane without plaintiff's knowledge and sold and conveyed the lot for $4,000 to an innocent purchaser for value; that the proceeds of the sale are now in the hands of defendants and constitute a trust fund ‘which can be traced and identified as the proceeds of the property of said real estate and constitutes a fund in the hands of said defendants which was substituted for said real estate so sold to an innocent purchaser.’ The prayer for relief is that the court specifically enforce the contract, and adjudge plaintiff the owner of the property in the hands of defendants, and for such other and further relief as the court sees meet.

The separate answers of the administrator and the heirs alleged that the heirs were not proper parties, and, in addition to a general denial, set forth, as a defense, a former adjudication, in that plaintiff had filed a claim for the same services against the estate of her father, which claim had been disallowed, and such disallowance affirmed on appeal to the district court and this court. In re Estate of Klessig, 153 Minn. 27, 189 N. W. 424.

The court found that pursuant to an understanding between plaintiff and her parents they executed a deed, delivering the same to Charles Spillane, conveying the lot named to plaintiff; that the deed was so delivered to Spillane without reservation,

[196 N.W. 656]

and constituted a full and complete delivery, but possession thereof was to be retained by Spillane until the death of both grantors, after which it was to be given to the plaintiff; that Spillane returned the deed to Louis Klessig after the death of the latter's wife; that thereafter on June 25, 1919, Louis Klessig conveyed the lot to August P. Nelson, which conveyance was duly recorded the same day; that the lot was reasonably worth $4,000; ‘that the proceeds...