146 Ky. 339 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1912
Opinion of the Court by
Reversing.
The administrator declining to sne this action was brought by the heirs of Ison Stamper against Jesse Hal-comb to recover $1,600 that it was alleged Halcomb owed Stamper for the purchase price of about 400 acres of land sold at $4 per acre. Halcomb set up several defenses to the action, but it only seems necessary to notice the plea of the fifteen-year statute of limitations.
■ The suit was brought in February, 1907, and it is Halcomb’s contention that the note which was due one day after date, was executed on March 6,1891; while the appellees claim it was executed in November, 1892. Isom Halcomb died in 1899 and administration was granted on his estate about two years thereafter. If the note was executed in March, 1891, more than fifteen years had elapsed between the maturity of the note and the institution of the action, and a recovery is barred by the fifteen-year statute of limitations. ■ On the other hand, if the note was executed in November, 1892, the statute had not run against it.
The evidence is practically conclusive that the note was executed in March, 1891, and was due in one day after date. It is true that in the suit of Cornett v.
But, in avoidance of the plea of limitation, the ap-pellees say that as no administration was granted on the estate of Isom Stamper until about two years after his death, that the statute was suspended during this period; and, if this is true, the note was not barred. Section 2526, of the Kentucky Statutes, reads:
“If a person entitled to bring any action mentioned in the third article of this chapter dies before the expiration of the time limited for the commencement thereof, and the cause of action survives, the action thereon may be brought by his representative after the expiration of that time if commenced within one year after his qualification. ’ ’
Isom Stamper was of course entitled to bring this action at any time after the expiration of one day from the date of the execution of the note in March, 1891; and, as he did not' bring the action, the cause of action survived to his personal representative. But, as the personal representative qualified at least five years before the expiration of the time limited for the commencement, of the action, the death of Isom did not suspend the running of the statute for a moment. Under the facts the condition is precisely the same as if Isom Stamper had himself lived for fifteen years after the note fell due and had brought suit on it after the expiration of that time.
The reasons for this construction of the statute are fully stated in Johnson v. Equitable Life Assurance Society, 137 Ky., 437, in which case Southern Contract Company’s Assignee v. Newhouse, 119 Ky., 704, relied on by counsel for appellees, was overruled.
It follows from what we said that the plea of the statute of limitations presented a complete bar to a recovery, and the judgment is reversed with directions to dismiss the petition.