Moore v. Kraft

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit
• Citation: Moore v. Kraft, 179 F. 685 (7th Cir. 1910)
• Decision Date: 19 April 1910
• Docket Number: 1,620.
• Parties: MOORE v. KRAFT.

179 F. 685

MOORE v. KRAFT.

No. 1,620.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

April 19, 1910

In April, 1909, plaintiff in error filed his declaration in debt against defendant in error upon a judgment rendered in a state court of Arkansas. From the record of that judgment it appears that in December, 1898, plaintiff in error was appointed by a probate court of Arkansas administrator of the estate of Sallie B. Kraft, who died intestate leaving real and personal property and also creditors in Arkansas; that as such administrator he brought an action in an Arkansas court to recover a debt which had been incurred by defendant in error to said Sallie B. Kraft; that defendant in error appeared and defended the action; and that the judgment now in suit resulted.

To the present declaration defendant in error pleaded 'that Sallie B. Kraft in her lifetime was a citizen and resident of the state of Illinois, and had her domicile in the county of St. Clair in the said state of Illinois at the time of her decease and for a long time previous thereto, and that she was at the time of her decease the wife of the said defendant; that upon the decease of the said Sallie B. Kraft the said defendant, F. W. Kraft, was by the probate court of St. Clair county, Illinois, duly appointed the administrator of the estate of the said Sallie B. Kraft, and that she died intestate; that upon the decease of the said Sallie B. Kraft and the appointment of defendant as administrator of her estate, he took upon himself the administration of the assets of the said Sallie B. Kraft; and that he has been since the time of his appointment until the present time and still is administrator of the estate of the said Sallie B. Kraft. And defendant further avers that the said John P. Moore, if in fact he was ever appointed administrator of the estate of Sallie B. Kraft, deceased, was appointed as an ancillary administrator in the county of Phillips in the state of Arkansas, and that whatever assets belong to the estate of Sallie B. Kraft, deceased, are subject to administration and distribution in the state of Illinois, the place of her domicile at the time of her decease, and that the said John P. Moore as administrator of the estate of Sallie B. Kraft deceased, has no right, power, or authority to maintain an action in the state of Illinois for the recovery of any of the assets of the said Sallie B. Kraft, deceased; and this the said defendant is ready to verify.'

Plaintiff in error demurred to this plea on the grounds: (1) That it alleged matters 'which could not be set up after judgment to avoid its effect in the state from which the record came'; (2) that 'all such matters should have been set up in the original action and are now res adjudicata'; and (3) that 'after judgment the debt became personal to the plaintiff, the style of administrator being merely descriptive and not essential to a recovery.'

The demurrer was overruled, plaintiff in error elected to stand by his demurrer, and the court adjudged that 'Moore administrator of the estate of Sallie B. Kraft, deceased, in the state of Arkansas, be and he is barred of his action upon the judgment in said declaration described, without prejudice to the right of action on said judgment by a domestic administrator, or administrator appointed by the proper court in Illinois of the estate of said Sallie B. Kraft, where the said Sallie B....