Redditt v. Hale

• Decision Date: 29 October 1952
• Docket Number: No. 14559,14560.,14559
• Citation: 199 F.2d 386
• Parties: REDDITT et al. v. HALE et al. REDDITT et al. v. FOGLEMAN et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

199 F.2d 386 (1952)

REDDITT et al. v. HALE et al. REDDITT et al. v. FOGLEMAN et al.

Nos. 14559, 14560.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

October 29, 1952.

Thomas F. Turley, Jr., Memphis, Tenn. (Hal B. Mixon, Marianna, Ark., on the brief), for appellants.

G. D. Walker, Jonesboro, Ark. (Barrett, Wheatley, Smith & Deacon and Frierson, Walker & Snellgrove, Jonesboro, Ark., on the brief), for appellees.

Before SANBORN, RIDDICK, and COLLET, Circuit Judges.

RIDDICK, Circuit Judge.

This action was brought in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on behalf of Aquilla, James, and Mildred Redditt, by Bennett H. Hurt, as their domiciliary guardian, and as domiciliary administrator of the estate of Ernest Redditt, deceased, to surcharge the accounts of curators of the Arkansas estate of the Redditts, for an accounting of the Arkansas curatorship, and for possession of the Arkansas estate of the plaintiffs. These appeals are from summary judgments dismissing the complaint.

The facts are not in dispute. In 1924 Aquilla, Ernest, James, and Mildred Redditt, residents of Tennessee, were adjudged insane by a Tennessee court and a domiciliary guardian was appointed for them. In the same year they became the owners by inheritance from their mother of farming lands in Crittenden County, Arkansas. At that time title to the Arkansas lands was vested in one Williford, an uncle of the incompetents, as trustee, to hold and manage the property for their use and benefit until the youngest of them should become 21 years of age. After the expiration of the trust Williford became the tenant of the Tennessee incompetents for the years 1930 and 1931 by agreement with their domiciliary guardian.

In 1933, an action in a Tennessee court against the guardian, its surety, and Williford for an accounting of the rents and profits of the Arkansas lands resulted in judgment for the incompetents, the resignation of the domiciliary guardian, and the appointment of one Bicknell as guardian in succession. Four days before the filing of this action in the Tennessee court, Howard Curlin filed a petition in the Probate Court of Crittenden County, Arkansas, for the appointment of himself as curator of the Arkansas estate of the Tennessee incompetents, alleging that their insanity had been determined in proceedings in the Tennessee court and that the lands were not being managed or operated for their benefit. The petition was granted on January 9, 1933, and Curlin qualified as curator by giving bond in the sum of $10,000 with the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York as surety.

Curlin, as curator, continued to manage the Arkansas estate of the Tennessee incompetents until his death in 1941, when James C. Hale was appointed curator in succession with the National Surety Corporation of New York as surety on his bond. The administratrix of the estate of Howard Curlin, deceased, filed a final settlement of Curlin as curator in the Arkansas Probate Court, which by order of that court on October 19, 1942, was approved and confirmed. Funds in Curlin's hands at the time of his death were paid over to his successor, Hale, and his estate and surety were discharged. Since his appointment as curator in succession to Curlin, Hale has managed the Arkansas estate of the Tennessee incompetents under supervision of the Arkansas Probate Court and is still in possession and acting as curator.

Bicknell served as domiciliary guardian of the Tennessee incompetents until his death on April 27, 1947. On June 17, 1947, Bennett H. Hurt was appointed successor domiciliary guardian by the Tennessee court having jurisdiction of the guardianship. One of the Tennessee incompetents, Ernest Redditt, died in 1949, and Hurt is now domiciliary guardian of the three living Redditts and the administrator of the estate of Ernest Redditt, deceased.

Throughout the administrations of Bicknell and Hurt, as domiciliary guardians of the Tennessee incompetents, they have participated in the curatorship proceeding in the Arkansas Probate Court which has been in progress for more than 17 years and is still pending in that court. The reports of Bicknell to the Tennessee court, during his administration as domiciliary guardian, support the inference that the proceeding in the Arkansas Probate Court which resulted in the appointment of an Arkansas curator was procured by Bicknell on the advice of counsel as necessary for the best interests of the wards and so reported to the Tennessee court.

Bicknell from his appointment until his death appeared each year in the Arkansas Probate Court on the settlement of the Arkansas curator's current accounts, applying to the Arkansas court for the transfer to Bicknell of funds in the hands of the curator, accepting without appeal the judgments of the Arkansas court for the transfer of funds, giving the bond required by the Arkansas court on the transfer, and accounting to the Tennessee court for the funds so received. The present domiciliary guardian of the Tennessee incompetents, Hurt, pursued the same course during his administration until November 2, 1949.

Reporting to the Tennessee court on the 29th day of February, 1949, Hurt advised the court that he and his counsel had made a thorough investigation of the proceedings in the Arkansas Probate Court, found them regular on the face of the record, and that the annual settlements of the Arkansas curators had been approved and confirmed by the Arkansas Probate Court. This report contained a request to the Tennessee court for directions to the domiciliary guardian as to what steps, if any, should be taken in connection with "past years' rentals of his wards' lands in Arkansas." What directions the Tennessee court gave in response to this request the record does not show, but on November 2, 1949, Hurt, as domiciliary guardian of the surviving Redditts and as executor of the estate of Ernest Redditt, deceased, filed a petition in the Arkansas Probate Court asking that curator Hale be required to account for his management of the Arkansas land; that on accounting the court order all funds in the curator's possession turned over to petitioner, and that petitioner, as domiciliary guardian, be authorized to take control of the lands of the Tennessee incompetents then in the possession of the Arkansas court and thereafter to manage and control the same under the direction of the Tennessee court.

While the action just described was pending in the Arkansas Probate Court, Hurt, acting in the same capacity as in the Arkansas court, brought this action in the District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas against Hale, individually, and as curator of the Arkansas estate of the Tennessee incompetents; John Fogleman, his attorney; Kathleen Williford, individually, and as executrix of the estate of James Williford, deceased, both Willifords having during the Arkansas curatorship leased the Arkansas lands under orders of the Arkansas Probate Court; the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, surety on the bond of Curlin; and the National Surety Corporation, surety on the bond of Hale.

The complaint charged that all the proceedings in the Arkansas Probate Court were void under Arkansas law because of want of jurisdiction of either the subject matter of the litigation or of the necessary parties; and, on information and belief, that the reasonable rental value of the Arkansas lands was in excess of the rents collected and accounted for by the Arkansas curators during their administrations. The prayer of the complaint was that all defendants be permanently enjoined from dealing with the Arkansas lands, from taking any further steps in the proceedings pending in the Arkansas Probate Court; that the District Court appoint a receiver to take possession of the Arkansas lands, thus removing them from the possession of the Arkansas Probate Court; and that upon hearing plaintiffs have judgment against the sureties on the bonds of the Arkansas curators in the amount of the penalty of their bonds, and against the individual defendants and each of them in the amount of the fair and reasonable rental of the Arkansas land for the period of the Arkansas curatorship, which it was charged amounted to over $140,000 in excess of the amount accounted for by the Arkansas curators in their settlements in the Arkansas Probate Court, accepted by the domiciliary guardians of the Tennessee incompetents under orders of the Arkansas Probate Court, and by them accounted for in their reports to the Tennessee court.

On the first appearance of this case in the District Court defendants moved to dismiss on the ground that the claims stated were exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Probate Court, and that another action involving the same parties and the same claims was pending in that court. Defendants were successful in the District Court, but on appeal we reversed the judgment dismissing the action, holding that instead of dismissing the whole action the District Court should have held the action against Hale and his surety, pending the termination of the action in the Arkansas Probate Court; but that as between the plaintiffs and the other defendants, not parties in the Arkansas Probate Court proceeding, the action could proceed to trial. Redditt v. Hale, 8 Cir., 184 F.2d 443.

What was decided on this appeal was that the plaintiffs, while invoking the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Probate Court for an order turning over to the domiciliary guardian the Arkansas estate of the Tennessee incompetents and for an accounting from the Arkansas curator, could not at the same time attack the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Probate Court in a proceeding in the District Court seeking the same relief. What we did was to give the plaintiffs an opportunity to have this question of probate jurisdiction in Arkansas decided by the Arkansas Supreme Court, the only court competent to finally determine...