Tucker v. Benedict
| Decision Date | 30 January 1905 |
| Docket Number | 15,342 |
| Citation | 38 So. 142,114 La. 203 |
| Court | Louisiana Supreme Court |
| Parties | TUCKER et al. v. BENEDICT et al |
On Rehearing, March 13, 1905. Rehearing Refused.
Appeal from Twenty-Fifth Judicial District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa; Robert Raymond Reid, Judge.
Action by W. W. Tucker and others against H. P. Benedict and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.
Clay Elliott and Alfred Wood Spiller, for appellants.
Stephen D. Ellis, John W. Sentell, Benjamin Moore Miller, Hypolite Mixon, Obadiah Pierson Amacker, and W. M. Wright, for appellees.
NICHOLLS J. PROVOSTY, J., takes no part, not having heard the argument.
Statement of the Case.
Plaintiffs seek in this suit to be decreed joint owners of certain described property alleged to be in the possession of the different defendants, and to have decreed absolute nullities the titles which they set up adversely to themselves.
Rachel Tucker, who was plaintiffs' grandmother, was twice married. Her first husband was William Packwood. There was issue of that marriage one child, George H. Packwood, one of the defendants.
After the death of her first husband, the widow married James Tucker, who was the grandfather of the plaintiffs.
There was issue of that marriage three children, Alphus G. Tucker William H. Tucker, and Spencer W. Tucker. Rachel Tucker died in the parish of Tangipahoa in January, 1879, leaving as her heirs her above-named four sons. James Tucker died intestate in 1891.
His three sons, Alphus G. Tucker, William H. Tucker, and Spencer W. Tucker, had all died before him, and intestate.
On the 3d of March, 1879, on the petition of the surviving husband, James Tucker, an inventory was made in the succession of Rachel Tucker. The inventory showed $ 4,355 worth of movables, and $ 1,500 worth of immovables.
On this petition the district judge ordered that an inventory be made of all the property of the succession of James and Rachel Tucker, that advertisement be made of the application of Packwood, and that, after all legal requirements had been complied with, that he be appointed administrator of the estate of James and Rachel Tucker, deceased.
An order issued that an inventory be taken of all the property belonging to the "estate" of James and Rachel Tucker. The oath taken by the appraisers was to faithfully appraise all the property pointed out to them as belonging to the succession of James and Rachel Tucker. The inventory taken under the order was of the property "of the succession of James and Rachel Tucker." The oath taken by Packwood, and the bond executed by him, were as administrator of the succession of James and Rachel Tucker, and "letters" issued to him as such.
On the 22d of January, Packwood, as administrator of the succession of James and Rachel Tucker, presented a petition to the district court for the parish of Tangipahoa in which he averred that there were some debts and charges against said succession, and also a portion of it needed repairing and renovating, especially the hotel and buildings in Ponchatoula; that a portion of the land was being continuously depredated upon, particularly that portion lying on and near the Ponchatoula river, and it was to the interest of the estate to dispose of the same, which would realize funds to settle all the debts of the estate, repair the other property, and have some means to turn over to the widow and minor heirs, who then needed assistance. He prayed for an order empowering him to sell the property inventoried for cash, provided it brought two-thirds of its appraised value.
The deputy clerk of the court upon said petition ordered Packwood, administrator, to sell at public auction the property inventoried, provided it brought two-thirds of its appraised value. A commission to sell issued to him as administrator of the succession of James and Rachel Tucker. Packwood, as administrator, advertised the property for sale as belonging to the succession of James and Rachel Tucker; and it was, as such, adjudicated by Packwood, acting as auctioneer, to himself, as being the last and highest bidder, for the sum of $ 1,020, as being over two-thirds of the appraised value. The proces verbal of sale was made out by Packwood himself, and therein he, as administrator, transferred the property to himself individually; recognizing and declaring that the purchaser had complied with the terms of the sale, by paying to him the amount of his bid.
On the 23d of February, 1895, Packwood sold the property to John W. Sentell for $ 4,043; $ 1,000 cash; the balance represented by the purchaser's note, payable in February, 1896, with 8 per cent. interest from date, secured by special mortgage and vendor's privilege. In the act of sale it was declared that the property sold was the same land purchased that day by Packwood from the succession of James and Rachel Tucker, he being one of the heirs of said deceased.
On the 20th of March, 1895, Sentell sold a portion of the property containing 500 acres to Anna S. Sanford for $ 5,000.
On the 14th of October, 1895, Anna S. Sanford sold the property which she had purchased to F. W. Sanford for $ 1,000.
On the 10th of December, 1895, F. W. Sanford sold the property to H. P. Benedict for $ 2,000.
On the 20th of June, 1895, John W. Sentell sold a portion of the property which he had purchased to H. P. Benedict for $ 3,080 -- $ 1,000 cash, and the balance on credit. On the 11th of June, 1896, H. P. Benedict sold a portion of the property to Paul A. Hoffmann for $ 200 cash, and on the 26th of May, 1897, he sold him another portion of the property for $ 300 cash.
On the 6th December, 1897, H. P. Benedict sold a portion of the land he had bought to John Herman for $ 1,700 cash, and another portion of the same to him on the 26th of May, 1898, for $ 200 cash.
On the 9th of September, 1897, John Herman sold to Philip Herman. On the 14th of November, 1898, H. P. Benedict sold a portion of the property to W. G. Wilmot. On the 30th of March, 1900, H. P. Benjamin sold a portion of the property to Asahel W. Cooper. On the 15th of October, 1901, H. P. Benedict sold a portion of the property to the Hammond State Bank. On the 16th of December, 1901, H. P. Benedict sold a portion of the property to John W. Sentell.
Some time in May, 1903, prior to the 18th, the plaintiff and George H. Packwood presented in the matter entitled "Succession of James and Rachel Tucker, Deceased," a petition to the district court for Tangipahoa, in which it was declared: That Eleonora Tucker, Florence Tucker, and Daisy Tucker were the sole heirs of James Tucker, deceased, and that they, with George H. Packwood, were heirs of Rachel Tucker, deceased. That Rachel Tucker was the wife of James Tucker by second marriage, and they both died in the parish of Tangipahoa. George H. Packwood was appointed administrator, after the death of James Tucker, of the succession of James Tucker and Rachel Tucker, as would be seen by the letters as such issued to him on January 18, 1895, in succession proceedings entitled, "Succession of James and Rachel Tucker," No. 549 of the docket of the late Sixteenth Judicial District court for the parish of Tangipahoa, and gave bond as such on the same day. That James and Rachel Tucker both died intestate. That the succession of James and Rachel Tucker owes no debts, and that there are no claims of any kind against their estates, and that there is no need of any further administration of their estates by an administrator. That they were each more than 21 years of age, and that George H. Packwood had sold and delivered to the other petitioners all his rights, title, and interest in and to the property in which his mother, Rachel Tucker, had an interest as the wife in community of James Tucker, and it was the desire of all the petitioners to relieve George H. Packwood, administrator of said succession, without requiring from him any account as such, and to have his bond given as such canceled, and the securities thereon discharged, and that the petitioners, Walter W. and Eleonora and Florence and Daisy Tucker, above named, be recognized as the exclusive owners and possessors together of the property, rights, title, and interest belonging to the estate of James Tucker, as his sole heirs, and also of all the property rights, title, and interest left by and belonging to the estate of Rachel Tucker, as heirs, and by purchase from George H. Packwood. The prayer of the petition was that there be judgment relieving George H. Packwood of his office of administrator of the successions of James and Rachel Tucker, No. 549 on the docket of the late Sixteenth Judicial District court for the parish...
To continue reading
Request your trial