McGee v. Marbury

Decision Date14 August 1951
Docket NumberNo. 1101.,1101.
Citation83 A.2d 157
PartiesMcGEE v. MARBURY.
CourtD.C. Court of Appeals

Harold P. Ganss, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

G. Bowdoin Craighill, Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before CAYTON, Chief Judge, and HOOD and CLAGETT, Associate Judges.

CAYTON, Chief Judge.

This litigation had its origin in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. There Charles R. McGee filed against Leonard Marbury individually and as executor of the estate of Alice Lee Russell, deceased, a petition for the construction of the will of said decedent and for a money judgment for income or interest on certain shares of stock which were part of the estate and which were to become part of a life estate for the benefit of McGee. It will be helpful to relate something of the background of the case.

Alice Lee Russell died in February 1946, leaving a will in which she named Charles R. McGee, the plaintiff, and Leonard Marbury, the defendant, as executors. Among other bequests she left $10,000 in trust to Leonard Marbury with directions to pay the net income therefrom to her nephew, the same Charles McGee, for his lifetime and at his death to deliver the corpus and any accumulated income thereon to her niece, Mildred M. Marbury. Testator also left the residuum of her estate to Mildred who is the wife of the defendant and the sister of plaintiff McGee. A caveat to the will was filed by the sole surviving sister of testator, a number of her brother's children joining therein. None of these caveators was to receive anything under the will. At the trial as to the validity of the will Charles McGee, though nominally a caveatee by virtue of his designation as executor, voluntarily gave testimony opposing probate of the will. The trial of the caveat resulted in a verdict on all except two issues. Thereafter the parties in interest negotiated a settlement and entered into a formal compromise agreement, dated May 19, 1948, in which they recited that they had agreed upon a compromise and settlement of their differences. In the agreement various concessions were made, all parties consented to the probate of the will, sums of money were allotted to the surviving sister and her brother's children, and this resulted in a decrease of the residuum of the estate which was ultimately payable to Mildred M. Marbury, wife of the defendant in this action. Most pertinent to the present case is the provision in the contract whereby: "Charles R. McGee agrees to renounce in writing "his appointment as one of the Executors named in said will and waives any and all right he may have to any commission or compensation as Executor, it being agreed that Leonard Marbury will decline to serve or will resign as Trustee of the trust fund of $10,000 created by Item Fifth of said will; that Charles R. McGee will then take appropriate steps to have a substitute or successor Trustee appointed and upon such Trustee qualifying, said Leonard Marbury, as Executor, agrees to pay such Trustee the sum of $10,000 in cash out of the assets of said estate and thus establish said trust fund."

Also it was agreed that each party to the agreement was to pay the compensation of his own attorney but that $1000 would be paid out of the funds of the estate to Harold P. Ganss, attorney for Charles R. McGee, in payment for his services in the litigation. The agreement was signed by Leonard Marbury and his wife Mildred, by Charles R. McGee, Annie R. McGee, and the three attorneys in the case.

Complying with the compromise agreement, Marbury relinquished his trusteeship and by his check as executor paid over to the substituted trustee, Liberty National Bank, the $10,000 stipulated in the agreement. This sum the bank accepted and issued for it a formal receipt under seal reciting that it "hereby acknowledges receipt of the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) from Leonard Marbury, Executor under the will of said decedent, in full settlement and satisfaction of the legacy for that amount bequeathed to Leonard Marbury in trust for Charles R. McGee and others, as set forth in Paragraph Fifth of the will of Alice Lee Russell, dated January 3, 1946, (the said Leonard Marbury having renounced his right to serve as Trustee), and as set forth in Paragraph No. 3 of the Settlement Agreement dated May 19, 1948, by and between Leonard Marbury, Mildred M. Marbury, Charles R. McGee and others." Marbury filed his final account as executor which was approved by the probate court in April 1949.

On January 5, 1949, the action which is now before us was filed by McGee against Marbury in the District Court claiming interest on the $10,000 trust fund. After a pre-trial of the case it was ordered certified to the Municipal Court in accordance with Code 1940, Supp. VII, § 11-756(a). The trial in the Municipal Court was had without a jury. Plaintiff McGee took the position that as beneficiary of the trust estate he was entitled not only to have that sum paid over to the trustee but was personally entitled to interest thereon from the date of the death of the testatrix. Marbury defended on the ground that the compromise agreement had settled all matters of dispute between all the parties, that no question of interest had been reserved, and that when he paid over the $10,000 to the Liberty National Bank he stood discharged of any further liability.

In lieu of sworn testimony the trial judge by stipulation received the statements of counsel who also presented various writings as exhibits. In a written memorandum the judge found in favor of defendant and the case now comes here on plaintiff's appeal.

We think there can be no question that legatees under a disputed will can, like other litigants, settle their differences and make an effective and binding compromise agreement respecting their rights. Murray v. Monidah Trust, 9 Cir., 33 F.2d 379, certiorari denied 280 U.S. 597, 50 S.Ct. 67, 74 L.Ed. 643; Callaghan v. Corbin, 255 N.Y. 401, 175 N.E. 109, 81 A.L.R. 1184. Appellant does not question that a compromise was made in this case. But he says that because interest was not mentioned in the compromise agreement, he now has the right to claim it. He...

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4 cases
  • Hoffa v. Fitzsimmons
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • March 26, 1982
    ...beneficiaries can, like other litigants, "make an effective and binding compromise agreement respecting their rights." McGee v. Marbury, 83 A.2d 157, 158 (D.C.1951) (will legatees). Such agreements, it is also clear, have an independent validity and vitality distinct from that of the paymen......
  • Bullard v. Curry-Cloonan
    • United States
    • D.C. Court of Appeals
    • December 13, 1976
    ...alone, preclude the parties from entering into an agreement compromising their respective rights as legatees. McGee v. Marbury, D.C.Mun.App., 83 A.2d 157, 158 (1951); see In re Fiedler's Estate, 55 N.J. Super. 500, 511, 151 A.2d 201, 207 Our question, then, becomes whether the settlement ag......
  • Brown v. Hornstein, 94-CV-1129.
    • United States
    • D.C. Court of Appeals
    • January 4, 1996
    ...and settlement agreement operates as a merger of and bars the right to recovery on any claim included therein." McGee v. Marbury, 83 A.2d 157, 159 (D.C. 1951). The law favors the settlement of controversies, and a compromise agreement will be enforced just like any other contract. Goozh v. ......
  • Grand Hyatt Washington v. Dc Does, No. 07-AA-374.
    • United States
    • D.C. Court of Appeals
    • December 23, 2008
    ...language in the settlement agreement to determine whether it included the previous application for attorneys fees. See McGee v. Marbury, 83 A.2d 157, 159 (D.C.1951) ("The general rule is that a compromise and settlement operates as a merger of and bars the right to recovery on any claim inc......

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