Taylor v. Drury

• Decision Date: 05 April 1926
• Docket Number: No. 4371.,4371.
• Citation: 12 F.2d 489
• Parties: TAYLOR et al. v. DRURY.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

12 F.2d 489 (1926)

TAYLOR et al. v. DRURY.

No. 4371.

Court of Appeals of District of Columbia.

Submitted March 4, 1926.

Decided April 5, 1926.

H. E. Davis, of Washington, D. C., for appellants.

A. P. Drury, of Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before MARTIN, Chief Justice, VAN ORSDEL, Associate Justice, and BARBER, Judge of the United States Court of Customs Appeals.

MARTIN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the lower court construing an item in the last will of Margaret Boyd Dawson, deceased.

It appears that on June 9, 1896, Mrs. Dawson executed and delivered her promissory note to her daughter, Clara D. Taylor. payable in the sum of $1,000, 12 months after date, with interest. In order to secure the payment of the note, Mrs. Dawson conveyed certain real estate, situate within the District of Columbia, to certain trustees in trust, to sell the property and apply the proceeds to the payment of the note in case of default. Mrs. Dawson never paid the note, nor any part thereof; nor did the trustees take any action under the deed of trust. The trustees named in the deed died before the decease of Mrs. Dawson, but no successors were appointed during her lifetime to execute the trust.

On September 6, 1913, Mrs. Dawson duly prepared and executed a written instrument as and for her last will and testament in case of her decease. On July 13, 1921, she departed this life, and the instrument as theretofore written was regularly admitted to record as her last will. The first item of the will contains a devise of the real estate described in the trust deed, and a provision concerning the note held by Clara D. Taylor, reading in part as follows, to wit:

"First. I devise to my heirs, Clara D. Taylor and William B. Dawson, to them and their heirs and assigns forever, the premises at 807 Ninth street, N. W., being situate thereon one frame house, first satisfying a mortgage of $1,000.00 held by Clara D. Taylor, then share and share alike, the same not to be sold without the full consent of both parties."

After the will was admitted to record, a suit was brought by Clara D. Taylor in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, for the appointment of trustees under section 534, D. C. Code, to act as successors of those named in the deed of trust. The lower court thereupon appointed Arthur P. Drury and Joseph Y. Reeves as such trustees, and that order was affirmed by this court upon appeal. Dawson v. Taylor, 55 App. D. C. 237, 4 F.(2d) 430.

Thereupon the present appellee, Arthur P. Drury, one of the trustees so appointed, filed a bill in the lower court, setting out the foregoing facts and praying to be instructed concerning the duties to be discharged...