Sutton v. English

Decision Date04 March 1918
Docket NumberNo. 330,330
Citation38 S.Ct. 254,246 U.S. 199,62 L.Ed. 664
PartiesSUTTON et al. v. ENGLISH et al
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Allen G. Fisher, of Chadron, Neb., for appellants.

Mr. Cecil H. Smith, of Sherman, Tex., for appellees.

Mr. Justice PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.

The United States District Court dismissed for want of jurisdiction a bill in equity brought by appellants, and certified in substance that the dismissal was based upon the ground that the bill and its exhibits disclosed no infraction of any right arising under the Constitution or laws of the United States; that the matter was cognizable solely in the county court of Collin county, Texas, a court of probate jurisdiction; and that the record disclosed no diversity of citizenship upon which the federal jurisdiction might be based, because it appeared that one of the defendants who should be considered as a plaintiff and the remainder of the defendants were in fact citizens of the same state.

The case comes to us by direct appeal, upon the jurisdictional question only, under section 238, Judicial Code (Act March 3, 1911, c. 231, 36 Stat. 1157 [Comp. St. 1916, § 1215]).

The bill sets up diversity of citizenship and the fact that the amount in controversy exceeds that which is requisite for jurisdiction. It asserts no federal right. It alleges that the plaintiffs (seven in number) are citizens of states other than Texas, while of those named as defendants six (including Cora D. Spencer) are citizens of Texas and residents of Collin county in the Sherman division of the Eastern district of that state, and the seventh is a municipal corporation of that state.

The averments of the bill are in substance as follows: That about the year 1866 Moses Hubbard and Mary Jane Hubbard, his wife, settled on a parcel of real estate in Collin county, Texas, and from that time continuously until the dates of their respective deaths lived as citizens and inhabitants of that county, and during their joint lifetime cohabited together as husband and wife; that the said Moses died in 1906, leaving his wife surviving, but no descendant or other heir; that she died in 1914, without children or husband, but leaving her surviving the following heirs at law: A sister, Rachael E. Kirtley, two brothers, Albert E. Sutton and Delana M. Sutton, and the children of a deceased brother, Lewis Sutton, namely, Cora D. Spencer, Elizabeth E. Davis, Ida Krickbaum, George D. Sutton, and Lewis Sutton, Jr., and that afterwards the last named died intestate, unmarried, and without descendants, leaving his mother, Helen M. Marshall, and his sisters and brother, Cora D. Spencer, Elizabeth E. Davis, Ida Krickbaum, and George D. Sutton, as his heirs. The persons named are stated to be the only heirs at law of Mary Jane and Moses Hubbard. All of them are plaintiffs in the suit except Cora D. Spencer, who is made a defendant.

The bill alleges, further: That Moses and Mary Jane Hubbard accumulated community property, real and personal (specified in the bill), of the value of about $100,000 situate in Collin and Denton counties, all of which descended to the said Mary Jane as survivor of the community.

That in the year 1897 Moses Hubbard, being then 'subject to a mania or unsound idea relative to the memory of his deceased daughter,' attempted a disposal of his wife's community property by a purported will (executed by his wife also and in form a joint and several will), by the terms of which it was attempted to establish in the community property after it should become separate property of Mary Jane Hubbard a certain charitable trust in perpetuity, in the name of the deceased daughter. Plaintiffs allege that this trust was void, for various reasons specified, and that if the instrument had any effect in law it created a naked trust whereof the said Mary Jane Hubbard was sole beneficiary. That afterwards and in the month of January, 1913, the defendan English, joining with himself the defendants Finley, Robinson, and Foster, acting as trustees of the charity, filed a petition in the district court of Collin county against* Mary Jane Hubbard and another, wherein it was alleged that the will of 1897 was a joint will, constituting an agreement binding upon both Moses and Mary Jane Hubbard, under which she received rights, emoluments, and privileges which she would not have had otherwise, and that she had accepted the will, and at all times since its probating had accepted and exercised those rights, privileges, and emoluments, by reason whereof the will was irrevocable by her, and that a trust was thereby created in behalf of the said English, Finley, Robinson, and Foster; that said petition prayed for a citation thereon and judgment that a trust be declared in favor of the petitioners; but plaintiffs herein allege that no citation was issued, that Mary Jane Hubbard had no notice of the proceedings, and that she was deceived into signing a purported waiver and disclaimer which was without consideration and void; that the judgment was never given by any judge or person possessing judicial power within the state of Texas; and that the petition was in effect an application for the construction of the paper as the will of Moses Hubbard, of which the district court had not jurisdiction in the first instance, and for which construction there was then and yet pending in the county probate court of Collin county a petition signed by the said purported trustees whereupon the judgment of the said county court would be binding upon them without the assumption of power in the district court of said county.

That in addition to the community property, Mary Jane Hubbard accumulated real and personal property amounting in value to about $18,000 and that in her last sickness, while she was clouded in her intellect and was not of sound or disposing mind or memory, she was unduly influenced by the defendant English to execute an instrument in the form of a will purporting to dispose of her accumulations and separate property, by the 12th paragraph of which she gave and bequeathed all the res- idue of her property to her niece Cora D. Spencer; that this will 'ought to be annulled and set aside and held for naught; nevertheless, these plaintiffs do not desire to interfere with the distribution made by the defendant, Clayton, purporting to act as executor of said will, but they bring this bill for the purpose of having it annulled to the extent only that the twelfth paragraph * * * be decreed * * * not to be a testamentary disposition of that portion of her separate estate which had once been community estate of the said Moses Hubbard and Mary Jane Hubbard'; and that the community property should be decreed to pass to the plaintiffs pursuant to the statutes of Texas as estate not devised or bequeathed, and should be divided among the plaintiffs in certain proportions specified.

The bill avers that the defendant English has usurped and taken possession of seven tracts of real estate and certain moneys, notes, and credits particularly described, and has rented the lands and converted to his own use their annual profit.

The prayer is that the defendants English, Finley, Robinson, and Foster account concerning the rents, issues, profits and income of said real estate and personal property; that the joint will of 1897 and every claim, judgment, or right based thereon be set aside and held for naught; that the supposed will signed by Mary...

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