Stevenson v. Valentine

• Decision Date: 17 September 1889
• Citation: 27 Neb. 338,43 N.W. 107
• Parties: STEVENSON v. VALENTINE.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

27 Neb. 338

43 N.W. 107

STEVENSON

v.VALENTINE.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Sept. 17, 1889.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. “A person who aids in the conversion of personal property is responsible to the owner for its value.” McCormick v. Stevenson, 13 Neb. 70, 12 N. W. Rep. 828.

2. When at attorney at law or other person acting as agent for another, known to him to be without authority or right, takes possession of the personal property of a deceased person and converts it into money, without administration, he will be liable to the lawful administrator for the value of the property so converted and appropriated, without reference to whether he accounts to the person for whom he acts or not.

3. The evidence examined, and held competent and sufficient to support the findings of the court as set out in the opinion.

Error to district court, Cuming county; POWERS, Judge.M. McLaughlin, for plaintiff in error.

E. K. Valentine, for defendant in error.

REESE, C. J.

This is a proceeding in error to the district court of Cuming county. It was alleged in the petition that defendant in error was the duly appointed and qualified administrator of the estate of B. M. Gay, late of Cuming county, deceased, and that said Gay at the time of his death was possessed of personal property of the value of $4,284.40, the property being described as one drug-store, of the value of $2,400; one horse, phaeton, and harness, of the value of $130; one gun, of the value of $35; cash on hand, of the value of $1,156; and books of account, of the value of $563.40; and that, soon after the death of said Gay, one R. F. Stevenson obtained possession of said goods, chattels, money, and book-accounts, and unlawfully converted the same to his own use, to the damage of plaintiff in the sum named; that afterwards, on the 9th day of March, 1885, the said R. F. Stevenson died testate, and by his will left plaintiff in error as his executrix, who duly qualified and entered upon the duties of said office; that the claims named in the petition had been duly filed in the county court of Cuming county against the estate of said Stevenson, and had been rejected by said court, from which plaintiff in error had duly appealed. There was a prayer for judgment for the sum of $4,265.91, and interest thereon from July 1, 1883. The answer of plaintiff in error consisted of a general denial. The cause was tried to the court without the intervention of a jury, and the trial resulted in the following findings and judgment:

“Now, on this 25th day of January, 1888, this cause comes on for decision, the same having been heretofore tried, argued, and taken under advisement, and the court, after hearing all the evidence and arguments of counsel, and being fully advised in the premises, finds upon the issue joined and evidence as follows: (1) That the said B. M. Gay died intestate in Cuming county, Neb., on or about the 20th day of June, 1883, leaving an estate therein consisting of real and personal property, and also left surviving him a widow and three children, living in the state of Connecticut, who were entitled to said property as the heirs of said Gay; (2) that in or about the month of July, 1883, the said R. F. Stevenson, as the attorney for one Augustine Bromley, who claimed the property as her own, took possession of, sold, and converted certain of the property of said estate, of the value of $4,055.00; (3) that said Stevenson was an attorney at law, and the only relation he sustained to said...