Moultis v. Degen

• Decision Date: 24 March 1983
• Docket Number: No. 21770,21770
• Citation: 301 S.E.2d 554,279 S.C. 1
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: Ann E. MOULTIS, as Administratrix of the Estate of Carol A. Wludyka, a/k/a Carol A. Moultis, Appellant, v. Dr. Jerome B. DEGEN; Dr. J.A. McFarland; Dr. Robert M. Anderson; Dr. Harvey L. Burnett, Jr.; Dr. J.M. Davis; Mary B. Davis; the South Carolina National Bank and Mary B. Davis as Executors of the Estate of Dr. J.M. Davis; and Dr. Andrew E. Martin, Jr., Respondents.

Page 554

301 S.E.2d 554

279 S.C. 1

Ann E. MOULTIS, as Administratrix of the Estate of Carol A Wludyka, a/k/a Carol A. Moultis, Appellant, v. Dr. Jerome B. DEGEN; Dr. J.A. McFarland; Dr. Robert M Anderson; Dr. Harvey L. Burnett, Jr.; Dr. J.M. Davis Mary B. Davis; the South Carolina National Bank and Mary B Davis as Executors of the Estate of Dr. J.M. Davis; and Dr. Andrew E. Martin, Jr., Respondents.

No. 21770.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

March 24, 1983.

James D. Cooper, Jr., of Ratchford, Cooper & Jonas, Columbia, for appellant.

Charles E. Carpenter, Jr., and Donald V. Richardson, III, both of Richardson, Plowden, Grier & Howser, Columbia, for respondents.

H. Fred Kuhn, Jr., of Moss, Bailey, Dore & Jessee, Beaufort and Robert R. Horger, of Horger, Horger & Barnwell, Orangeburg, for S.C. Trial Lawyers Ass'n, amicus curiae.

ORDER

This case is before us upon a Petition for Rehearing. Upon reconsideration, the Opinion of this Court, number 21770, filed July 29, 1982, is withdrawn and the following Opinion substituted therefor:

HARWELL, Justice:

This appeal presents the question whether Section 21-15-640, Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976), erects a time bar to a tort claim not filed with an estate within five months after first publication of notice to creditors. The trial judge held the statute barred the claim in suit and sustained a demurrer on that ground.

The pertinent portions of § 21-15-640 provide:

All claims of creditors of such estate shall upon the expiration of five months after the first publication of the notice prescribed in § 21-15-630 be forever barred unless, before the expiration of such period, an account thereof, duly attested, shall have been filed with such executor or administrator or with the judge of probate of the county in which such estate is being administered. (Emphasis supplied.)

The language we emphasize was first incorporated into the statutory scheme when the state legislature, in 1943, approved Act No. 177 to amend then Section 8993, Code of Laws of South Carolina (1942), so as to, inter alia, "Provide for the Barring of Claims Not Filed ... within the Period Therein Provided." 43 Stat. 260 (1943). The amendment accomplished the addition of an entirely new subsection to § 8993 as follows:

(b) All claims of creditors of such estate shall, upon the expiration of eleven months after the first publication of the notice prescribed in subsection (a), be forever barred unless before the expiration of such period an account thereof, duly attested, shall have been filed with such executor or administrator, or with the Judge of Probate of the county in which such estate is being administered; PROVIDED HOWEVER, that the provisions of this sub-Section (b) shall not apply to obligations secured by mortgages or other liens which have been duly recorded prior to the expiration of such period.

Prior to the adoption of the above subsection, this Court consistently interpreted the statutory scheme as providing personal protection for the estate representative ¹ but allowed the creditor to proceed against identifiable assets of the estate which had been distributed. McNair v. Howle, 123 S.C. 252, 116 S.E. 279 (1923); Columbia Theological Seminary v. Arnette, 168 S.C. 272, 167 S.E. 465 (1932) see also Muckenfuss v. Marchant, 105 F.2d 469 (4th Cir.1939). Clearly, until the adoption of § 8993(b) in 1943, "[W]e [had] no statute of nonclaim in this state...." McNair v. Howle, supra, 116 S.E. at 285.

The Attorney General of South Carolina, in a published opinion dated December 23, 1964, traced the legislative history of present § 21-15-640 and concluded: "It is the opinion of this office that [then] Section 19-474 of the 1962 Code of Laws is a nonclaim statute and accordingly bars claim of creditors not timely filed against the estate." 1964 Op. Att'y Gen., No. 1777, pp. 296, 298.

We agree that the legislature has expressed its intent that this state should have a nonclaim provision. As Professor Karesh noted in 8 S.C.L.Q. 162, if the statute is not a claims-barring statute, it has no meaning. The 1943 Amendment to § 21-15-640 created a category of exemptions to the five-month time limit. The claims which are not barred are "obligations secured by mortgages or other liens which have been duly recorded prior to the expiration of such period." By enacting that amendment, the legislature obviously intended to bar after five months all claims other than those specifically exempted.

Appellant would have us extend judicially this exemption to all tort claims. This is not a judicial but rather a legislative function. Any further exemptions must be legislative determinations. Accordingly, we hold § 21-15-640 is a nonclaim statute which bars all claims which are not timely filed against an estate, its distributed assets and the beneficiaries. To the extent the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Dubuque Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Wilson, 213 F.2d 115 (4th Cir.1954) interprets our state statute's predecessor to the contrary, it is expressly overruled. ²

We now turn to the facts of the instant case. Appellant's decedent, Carol A. Wludyka, died on July 9, 1973, following an illness for which she was treated at Richland Memorial Hospital and the South Carolina State Hospital. It appears that shortly thereafter, one of her treating physicians, Dr. J.M. Davis, also passed away.

Nearly six years later, Appellant Ann E. Moultis, as Administratrix of the estate of Carol A. Wludyka, brought these two causes of action under the wrongful death act and the survival statute against the several treating physicians at both hospitals and the executors of Dr. Davis' estate. The Amended Complaint alleged co-executor Mary B. Davis, the sole beneficiary of the Davis estate, was liable to the extent of any remaining assets of the estate.

The trial judge sustained a demurrer and dismissed the action against respondent Mary B. Davis individually and as the heir and beneficiary of the estate. He reasoned that § 21-15-640 barred the tort claims against estate assets because they were not timely filed. ³ We agree.

Appellant contends this was error because § 21-15-640 "claims of creditors" and a cause of action in tort is not a "claim" nor is she a "creditor" within the meaning of the statute. We disagree. The general rule in this regard is well-stated in an annotation appearing at 22 A.L.R.3d 488, 496:

Statutes which by their terms simply require that "any claim" or "all claims" must be presented or filed before an action can be brought thereon have generally been held to apply to claims based on negligence or other tortious acts, although there is authority to the contrary based on a theory that a non-claims statute is intended only to apply to liquidated claims for sums certain.

Further, the term "creditor" has been held sufficiently comprehensive to include those holding claims arising out of tort. 21 C.J.S. Creditor, p. 1050. A "creditor ... may include the owner of any right of action against another, whether a claim or legal right for damages arising out of contract or for a tort." Coronet Mfg. Corp. v. May Furniture Co., 31 Ohio Misc. 131, 282 N.E.2d 588 (1971).

Moreover, we recently held in Bonsall v. Piggly Wiggly Helms, Inc., 275 S.C. 593, 274 S.E.2d 298 (1981) that respondent Bonsall's tort claim made her a creditor of appellant Piggly Wiggly even though Bonsall had not filed her claim against appellant when the corporation was dissolved. Therefore, a claim for unliquidated damages may constitute a creditor's claim. Consequently, we affirm the trial court's order holding that § 21-15-640 includes tort claims as well as liquidated claims of creditors.

We have held that § 21-15-640 bars the untimely filing of tort claims but this holding does not apply to undistributed assets discussed hereinafter. Where there are undistributed assets, it is appropriate to petition the Probate Court to reopen the estate in order that after-discovered assets may be accumulated and distributed either under the statute of distribution or under the terms of a will. Anderson v. Bowers, 117 F.Supp. 884 (D.S.C.1954); McNair v. Howle, supra.

In the case of In Re Miles Estate, 262 N.C. 647, 138 S.E.2d 487 (1964), it was held that a liability insurance policy covering negligent actions of the deceased person was an undistributed asset of the estate, even though the administration of the estate had ended. There the court held that under the stated facts, it was appropriate to reopen the estate so that a tort action might be pursued and judgment, if obtained, satisfied by the insurance policy. Also see Belancsik v. Overlake Memorial Hospital, 80 Wash.2d 111, 492 P.2d 219 (1971).

A similar situation was involved in the case of Williams v. Grossman, 409 Mich. 67, 293 N.W.2d 315 (1980). Therein, the Court said:

We overrule In re Curzenski Estate [384 Mich. 334, 183 N.W.2d 220]. Although the probate of an estate has been completed and the estate closed, where a person has an action which by statute may be commenced directly against the personal representative of the decedent without first filing a claim against his probate estate, ³ the administration of the estate is "incomplete" within the meaning of the statute and upon petition the estate may be reopened ⁴ to provide a suable person so that the action can be commenced. Because the person having the right of action has not filed a claim in the probate proceeding (or, before it was closed, notice of suit pending), recovery of money damages is limited to sources other than assets of the probate estate theretofore distributed, e.g., to sources such as the estate's right of indemnification from an insurer or the obligation of the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund ⁵ to compensate victims of uninsured drivers. ⁶

[Footnotes omitted.]

Such a procedure, which we hold appropriate, protects the heirs and/or beneficiaries, and...