Wahl v. Wahl
| Decision Date | 04 March 1947 |
| Docket Number | 6643 |
| Citation | 200 S.W.2d 597 |
| Parties | WAHL et al. v. WAHL et al |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
'Not to be published in State Reports'.
M. E Montgomery, and Blanton & Blanton, all of Sikeston, for appellant.
Maddox & Maddox, of Huntington, Tenn., Jack Manhein, of Jackson Tenn., and Stephen Barton, of Benton, for respondents.
BLAIR
This is an action under the declaratory judgment statute, Secs 1126-1140, R.S.Mo.1939, Mo.R.S.A., to declare the right, title and interest of plaintiffs (respondents) in certain shares of stock in Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company, of Chaffee, Missouri, and Wahl & Company, of Hayti, Missouri.
The case was first set for argument before this Court at Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and was afterwards transferred to this Court at Springfield, by agreement of the parties.
The petition was filed by plaintiff on March 30, 1945 (probably earlier, though the transcript so states), and the prayer of such petition was as follows: * * *'
The petition alleges that defendants Anna Vashti Wahl and Sharon J. Pate were jointly and respectively executrix and executor of the last will and testament of James S. Wahl, deceased, and alleges nothing as to the rights of defendant Anna Vashti Wahl, individually. But, among other things, such petition alleges, What appellant was then claiming is a mere conclusion on the part of plaintiffs. It is not an allegation of fact.
Sharon J. Pate, as such coexecutor, and the corporations named were made defendants, but it is apparent from the entire record that they were nominal defendants only. They did not appeal, although the judgment below was for plaintiffs.
On July 6, 1942, defendant Sharon J. Pate, as an individual and as coexecutor of the estate of James S. Wahl, deceased, filed his separate answer, and apparently agreed with plaintiffs. On October 26, 1942, defendant Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company, and defendant Wahl & Company, a corporation, filed joint separate answers. On May 11, 1943, defendant Anna Vashti Wahl filed her separate answer, and alleged that she filed such answer individually and as coexecutor of the estate of James S. Wahl.
After hearing the testimony then offered and the stipulations as to the facts, subject to the objections at the time such stipulations were offered, and at the conclusion of the evidence first offered, and submission thereon, the trial judge took the case under advisement. Such submission was set aside on December 18, 1944, and additional evidence was offered and certain stipulations were admitted in evidence by the trial judge. On January 14, 1946, the trial judge filed an opinion and rendered final judgment for plaintiffs.
After such opinion and final judgment, defendant Anna Vashti Wahl, individually, and as coexecutor of the estate of James S. Wahl, deceased, filed motion for new trial. Such motion for new trial was overruled by the trial judge, and defendant Anna Vashti Wahl, individually, and as joint executrix of the last will and testament of James S. Wahl, filed her notice of appeal to this Court, and gave notice of such appeal. Within the time allowed by law, and extended by order of the trial judge, such defendant (sole appellant here) filed her transcript in this Court in narrative form. The case is thus before us.
The issues involved in the case are succinctly set forth in the opinion of the trial judge, from which we quote (without using quotation marks), as follows:
This action was brought in Scott County, Missouri, under the declaratory judgment law to determine the legal rights of the parties in and to certain corporate stock in the Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company and Wahl and Company of Hayti, Missouri.
The facts in the case are undisputed as shown by stipulations filed herein. James S. Wahl was 75 years old at the time of his death and a resident of Caruthersville, Missouri, where he had been in business for many years. He was married in 1929 to Anna Vashti Wahl, who was his second wife, and, as defendant herein, claims an interest in the stock in question individually as the widow having elected to take under the law one-half of the estate as there were no children of the marriage and as coexecutor of the estate.
plaintiffs James H. Wahl, Lewis F. Wahl and Ella Wahl Patterson were nephews and niece of the said deceased James S. Wahl. Defendants Sharon J. Pate and Dorothy V. Edwards were the children of a sister of the first wife of James S. Wahl and were raised by James S. Wahl in his home. Mary Shoptaw was for twenty five years the secretary of deceased James S. Wahl. The above plaintiffs James H. Wahl, Lewis F. Wahl and Ella Wahl Patterson were educated by James S. Wahl and were very close to him. He visited with them in his lifetime and up until his death and the Court thinks that he considered them almost his children and, since Sharon J. Pate and Dorothy V. Edwards lived in his home, James S. Wahl probably was as close to them as if they had been his own children.
On December 30, 1937, James S. Wahl conveyed 210 shares of stock in the Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company of Chaffee, Missouri, evidenced by Certificates Nos. 1, 24, 28, 30, 32, and 43, to James M. Reeves and surrendered said certificates of stock to him with the following endorsement thereon, to-wit:
Said certificates of stock were surrendered to the corporation by James M. Reeves, canceled and a new certificate No. 49 for 210 shares of stock were (was) issued to said James M. Reeves in lieu of said surrendered stock and that on the same day, to wit, December 30, 1937, the said James M. Reeves endorsed the said certificate No. 49 as follows:
and surrender the same to said Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company and had issued in lieu thereof three certificates Nos. 50, 51, and 52, each for 70 shares of stock. Certificate No. 50 was issued to James S. Wahl during his life and, upon his death, to plaintiff James Hubbard Wahl. Certificate No. 51 issued to James S. Wahl during his life and, upon his death, to Ella Wahl Patterson. Certificate No. 52 was issued to James S. Wahl during his life and, upon his death, to Lewis F. Wahl. All of such transfers were shown upon the books of the corporation, Chaffee Ice and Cold Storage Company, and all of such conveyances were made on the same day.
The said James S. Wahl during his lifetime, to wit, on February 21, 1938, conveyed 150 shares of stock in defendant corporation Wahl and Company,...
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