54 Cal. 2d 540 | Cal. | 1960
This is an appeal from a nunc pro tunc order purporting to correct a decree of distribution in a decedent’s estate.
The decree provided that all taxes due and payable by the estate had been paid; that in accordance with the petition the federal estate tax “shall be prorated among the legatees ... as follows: Marie Eekstrom, $46,995.28; Thomas Eekstrom, Jr,, $46,995.28; Citizens National Trust & Savings Bank of Los Angeles in its capacity as Trustee of that certain Trust No. P.T. 8661, $59,327.86”; that the executor “is hereby instructed to pay to itself in its capacity as Trustee of that certain Trust No. P.T. 8661 the sum of $60,445.35 out of the balance of cash on hand as a refund of the unused portion of the money advanced to this estate by said trust for payment of estate and inheritance taxes”; and, that “the balance of cash and property hereinabove described, and all other property belonging to said estate, whether described herein or not, be and the same is hereby distributed as follows: 1. An undivided one-third (%) thereof to Marie Eekstrom, less deduction for Federal Estate Taxes in the sum of $46,995.28 . . .; 2. An undivided one-third (%) thereof to Thomas Eekstrom, Jr., less deduction for Federal Estate Taxes in the sum of $46,995.28 . . .; 3. An undivided one-third (Ys) thereof to the Citizens National Trust & Savings Bank of Los Angeles in its capacity as trustee of that certain trust known as Trust No. 8661 . . . less deduction for Federal Estate Taxes in the sum of $59,327.86.” These provisions followed those of the prayer in the petition.
On September 18, 1957 (some 20 months after entry of the final decree), the executor filed a motion to correct an alleged error in the decree of distribution by the elimination of the provision for a deduction of $59,327.86 from the
The appellants contend that there is no clerical error in
A court can always correct a clerical, as distinguished from a judicial error which appears on the face of a decree by a nunc pro tunc order. (Estate of Goldberg, 10 Cal.2d 709, 714 [76 P.2d 508] ; Code Civ. Proc., § 473.) It cannot, however, change an order which has become final even though made in error, if in fact the order made was that intended to be made. In Smith v. Smith, 115 Cal.App.2d 92 [251 P.2d 720], the rule is expressed in the following language at page 99: “The function of a nunc pro time order is merely to correct the record of the judgment and not to alter the judgment actually rendered—not to make an order now for then, but to enter now for then an order previously made. The question presented to the court on a hearing of a motion for a nunc pro tunc order is: What order was in fact made at the time by the trial judge?” In Felton Chemical Co. v. Superior Court, 33 Cal.App.2d 622 [92 P.2d 684], the same thought is expressed at page 627 as follows: “But the nunc pro tunc order ... is equally without legal force because it does not by its terms amend the already entered judgment to make the latter conform to the decision which the court actually rendered, but attempts to amend by new modifications and enlargements the judgment which the court originally rendered. This the court is not empowered to do. It may not make the judgment express anything not embraced in the court’s decision, even though the proposed amendment contains matters which ought to have been so pronounced. (Freeman on Judgments, § 70, n. 2; First Nat. Bank of Fresno v. Dusy, 110 Cal. 69, 75 [43 P. 476]; O’Brien v. O’Brien, 124 Cal. 422, 428 [57 P. 225].) Indisputably, the amendment here made does not change the judgment in important particulars, and amendments to judgments can only be made for the purpose of making the record conform to the truth, and not for the purpose of revising and changing the judgment.”
In Estate of Buckhantz, 159 Cal.App.2d 635 [324 P.2d 317], the same type of claimed error as in the instant ease appeared in the record of the cited ease. The court, in that ease, stated that the error was obvious and apparent from the record. It consisted of an overcharge of federal estate and inheritance taxes to one of the distributees, and the error was admitted by all of the parties. But in respect to the power of the trial court to correct the error after the judgment had become final, the court held that “It is hornbook law that
There can be no serious dispute with the foregoing statement of the law. Questions in this area, when they do arise, usually relate to whether a particular error falls within the class of errors generally designated as clerical as distinguished from judicial, which may be corrected to the end that the amended order or judgment truly reflects the order actually made. While a clerical error is no longer to be limited to only those made by a clerk (Brashear v. Gerbracht, 128 Cal.App.2d 263 [274 P.2d 933]; LaMar v. Superior Court, 87 Cal.App. 2d 126 [196 P.2d 98]; Estate of Remick, 75 Cal.App.2d 24 [170 P.2d 96]), nevertheless, clerical errors do not include those made by the court because of its failure to correctly interpret the law or apply the facts. (Lankton v. Superior Court, 5 Cal.2d 694, 695 [55 P.2d 1170]; O’Brien v. O’Brien, 124 Cal. 422 [57 P. 225].) It is only when the form of the judgment fails to coincide with the substance thereof, as intended at the time of the rendition of the judgment, that it can be reached by a corrective nunc pro tunc order.
The respondent contends that where the order made clearly is not that which the court ought to have made, it is also subject to correction. There is some supporting authority for this proposition in the following language from Estate of Goldberg, supra, 10 Cal.2d 709, beginning at page 715: “In 14 California Jurisprudence, pages 995, 996, the rule is thus stated: ‘But the power to amend is not wholly confined to the correction of an erroneous record; it extends also to cases where some provision of or omission from an order or judgment as made or rendered was due to the inadvertence or mistake of the court and may therefore properly be treated as a clerical misprision rather than a judicial error. . . . There are many cases in which it so clearly appears that the
In People v. Ward, supra, 141 Cal. 628, wherein the foregoing language also appears, the original judgment provided for a confinement “in the state at Folsom,” and was corrected to provide for confinement “in the state prison of the state of California at Folsom.” Such an intention was clearly indicated elsewhere on the face of the original judgment, and the judgment was subject to correction without having to rely on the liberal language quoted therein. Research has thus failed to disclose any decision wherein the quoted language has been applied in the courts of this state to correct a judgment to conform to what that judgment “ought to have” provided.
The aforesaid cases cited by us hold, for good reason, that the finality of a judgment should be recognized where intentionally, although erroneously made. While it was properly concluded in the Goldberg and Ward cases, supra, that the errors therein were clerical in nature, the broad language quoted therein would impress upon all judicial errors the clerical label if the “judgment as entered is not the sentence which the law ought to have pronounced” without regard, apparently, for the intention of the court in rendering the judgment. If this theory were carried to its logical and ultimate conclusion it would give to a motion made pursuant
It cannot be denied that there is both an inherent and a statutory right for a court to cause its acts and proceedings to be correctly set forth in its records, where such records fail to indicate the order or direction in fact made. By its very nature, however, the right is exercisable only for the purpose of ascertaining and reflecting the truth. In most instances, as in the present case, the truth must be ascertained from the intention of the trial judge in making his original order. (Lankton v. Superior Court, supra, 5 Cal.2d 694.) There are many instances where his intention is apparent (People v. Ward, supra, 141 Cal. 628), or is a matter of record (Estate of Goldberg, supra, 10 Cal.2d 709). But the only matters bearing on the question of the judge’s intentions in the case now engaging our attention are the petition for, proceedings on and the judgment of final distribution, all of which indicate that the trial judge performed an intentional, if erroneous, act. The decree complied strictly with the prayer of the petition. They both were prepared by the executor who was also the trustee prejudicially affected. The decree was approved by the attorneys for the other beneficiaries and by the probate commissioner. It cannot be determined from the face of the original decree that even a judicial error had been made. On the other hand there is nothing of significance to indicate that the court intended to make a different decree, other than the conclusion that the court ought to have done so. An examination of the petition would suggest to the discerning mind that an inconsistency existed between recitals in the petition and the prayer thereof, but there is nothing to suggest that even such an error was
In view of the foregoing it must be deemed conclusive that the claimed error is judicial in nature, and that the judgment as originally made is that intended to have been made.
The order appealed from is reversed with directions to the court below to deny the motion for modification of the decree as entered.
Gibson, C. J., Traynor, J., Schauer, J., McComb, J., Peters, J., and Dooling, J., concurred.
The balance of the amount withheld, $226.79, was applied to California inheritance taxes on behalf of decedent’s sister, as a part of the settlement of a claim asserted by her.
It is to "be noted that the foregoing language quoted from 14 Cal.Jur. 995, 996, is not repeated in Cal.Jur.2d. (29 Cal.Jur.2d, Judgments, §§ 99 et seq.)