111 Tenn. 394 | Tenn. | 1903
delivered the opinion of the Court.
In the aspect in which this case comes before us it is a bill by a ward against the administrator of his guardian to hold the latter to account for a balance on the estate not paid over. The main defense is the statute of limitations.
The facts on which this question turns are as follows: The complainant reached his majority on November 11,
The question made upon the statute of limitations-arises on a construction of Code 1858, section 2757 (Shannon’s Code, section 4448).
That section reads as follows :• “If the person entitled' to commence an action is, at the time the cause of action accrued, either (1) within the age of twenty-one years,, or (2) of unsound mind, or (3) a married woman, or (4) beyond the limits of the United States and the territories thereof, such person, or the [their] representatives and privies, as the case may be, may commence the action, after the removal of such disability, within the time’ of limitation for the particular cause of action, unless it exceed three years, and in that case within three years-from the removal of such disability.” Laws 1715, c. 27,. sections 4, 9; Laws 1797, c. 43, section 4; Laws 1819, c. 28, section 2; Laws 1823, c. 16, section 1.
It is insisted that, in accordance with this section, the-person under disability at the time the cause of action
There are some general expressions in some of our
There is one case, however—State v. Parker, 8 Baxt., 495, 498—in which the point seems to have been ruled in accordance with the contention of the defendants in the present case. There were several rights of action involved in that case, but the point arose only upon those claimed by Wm. S. Howard, Hester A. Moffit, and Jas. F. Howard. Said the court (page 498): “As to Wm. S., Jas. F., and Hester A., who are minors, the cause of action accrued at the time of the resignation of A. E. Moore as guardian and the appointment of F. M. Snoddy as guardian in his place, which was on the fifth of March, 1866. . . . Wm. S. Howard became of age on the fourteenth of June, 1868, and Hester A. Moffit became of
The action was brought on the twenty-seventh of March, 1874, against W. W. Parker, as surety on the bond of Moore. By comparing the dates above referred to, it will be seen that from the date of the accrual of the cause of action, March 5, 1866, to the time when suit was brought, March 27, 1874, there had elapsed eight years and twenty-two days. From the accrual of the cause of action to the majority of William S. Howard on the fourteenth of June, 1868, there had accrued two years, three months, and nine days. But from the fourteenth of June, 1868, to the bringing of the action there had accrued five years, nine months, and thirteen days. The six years from the accrual of the cause of action, March 5, 1866, would have brought the time up to March 6, 1872. So it appears that in this case, as to William S. Howard, the full six years had elapsed from the accrual of the cause of action before suit was brought. The same is true as to the case of Hester A. Moffit, and also as to the case of James F. Howard; that is to say, six years from the accrual of the cause of action forward carried the date to March 6, 1872, and suit was not brought until the twenty-seventh of March, 1874. In the meantime, however, William S. Howard had become of age on the fourteenth of June, 1868, and it was held that he was
On the contrary, in the case of Patton v. Dixon, 105 Tenn., 97, 102, 58 S. W., 299, 300, it is said, though, it seems, only arguendo, that a person under disability would, after the removal of the disability, have three years additional in which to sue, provided the time fixed for the particular form of action (in that case seven
The subject is exceedingly complex, and it is difficult to state a general rule that would cover all cases. We believe, however, that the true principle is laid down in Demarest v. Wynkoop, 3 Johns. Ch., 135, 8 Am. Dec., 467. That was a bill brought to redeem a mortgage. It appeared that Daniel Ludlow, the defendant, took a deed in fee May 7, 1788, and went into possession. At that time Hannah Demarest, who afterwards sought to redeem, was an infant of the age of seven years, and entitled to all the equities of redemption which she subsequently claimed by her bill. She was of age in 1802, and her bill was not filed until 1815, thirteen' years after she arrived at majority. So that not only twenty years had elapsed since the mortgagee went in possession, but ten years since the disability of the infancy had ceased. The court continues: “She had then lost her equity of redemption by the lapse of tima It is true she has not had twenty full years free of disability to redeem, but she has had ten years free of disability, and more than twenty years in the whole have elapsed, and this is all the statute allows. . . . The party has, in every
So, in the present case, we are of. the opinion that the complainant was, as to the surety, entitled to the full six years from .the date of the accrual of. his cause of action'; and, as, he was carried forward by the operation of-the time-limited for the cause, of action to a period more extended than the three years of grace allowed to a person under disability, the latter’period did not. apply, but: his case was governed by the general statute of limitations of six years. Of course,'under the statute, if theisix years had expired during his minority, he would have, been entitled to three years additional in any event. The: sanie observation to the ten years’ statute, mutatis mutcindis.
Other phases of the-matter may arise which we do not undertake to dispose: of in this opinion. All we now determine is that, in any event, the person - under disability is entitled to the whole of the time limited; for the particular cause of action; counting from the accrual. of The cause of action, and that The three years allowed by section 2757 (Shannon’s Code,.section 4448)
We are of the opinion that the case of State v. Parker, supra, was erroneously decided in so far as it fixed three years from the date of the removal of the disability as the time within which action might be brought, regardless of whether the time limited for the particular cause of action had expired or not, and to that extent should be overruled. In disposing of the question arising on the statute of limitations in this case we have not considered it necessary to determine the legal effect of the fact that no administrator had been appointed on the estate of the guardian prior to the filing of the bill. We prefer to place the case upon the point previously stated, which was the one presented and discussed in the opinion of the court of chancery appeals and in the briefs of counsel.
It is insisted that the conveyance was made in consideration of an indebtedness which the guardian owed to the father of the vendees, but this is not found as a fact by the court of chancery appeals.
It results that there is no error in the decision of the court of chancery appeals, and it must be affirmed.