102 Iowa 469 | Iowa | 1897
I. The facts necessary to be noticed are these: O. N. Hull died, testate, December 6, 1889. His will was probated January 4, 1890. The defendants were appointed and qualified as executors January 16, 1890, and notice thereof was duly published for three consecutive weeks, commencing January 19, 1890. The -estate is solvent and still in process of settlement. On the twenty-sixth of January, 1891, the First National Bank, of Ells-worth, Kan., suspended business; and on the eleventh-day of February, 1891, Mr. Wickham was appointed ■receiver of said bank by the comptroller of the currency. On the eleventh day of December, 1891, said-comptroller made an assessment of seventy-six per cent, upon the capital stock of said bank, -and authorized the receiver to enforce the payment of such assessment against the stockholders of the bank. On June 12,1893, the -plaintiff brought -an action against these defendants, as executors in the circuit court of the United-States northern district -of Iowa, -Cedar Rap-ids division, to charge said estate, under the statutes of the United States, with said assessment upon shares of the capital stock of said bank oAvned and held by said deceased at his death, -and then owned by said executors as such. These defendants -appeared, and defended against said action; and on the tenth day -of May, 1894, upon a final hearing, judgment was rendered in said action in favor of the plaintiff for three thousand, four hundred and sixty-five dollars and sixty cents, and for fifty-five dollars and twenty-one cents, costs. See Wickham v. Hull,
II. Section 2420 of the Code divides claims against estates into five classes, as follows: (1) Debts entitled to preference under the laws of the United States; (2) public rates and taxes; (3) claims filed within six months after the first publication of the notice given by the executors of their appointment; (4) all other debts; (5) legacies. Section 2421 is as follows: “All claims of the fourth of the above classes not filed and proved within twelve months of the giving of the notice aforesaid are forever barred, unless the claim is pending in the district dr supreme court, unless peculiar circumstances entitle the claimant to equitable relief.” In Savery v. Sypher, 39 Iowa, 675, this court held that the limitation applies only to claims existing a.t the time of the decedent’s death, and not to debts subsequently incurred by the estate. In Sankey v. Cook, 82 Iowa, 126 (47 N. W. Rep. 1077), we held, in effect, that a claim which is contingent upon the result of litigation will not ■be barred because of a failure to file and approve the same within the twelve months, especially where the estate remained unsettled and was solvent. The liability
III. Appellant’s counsel cite many cases to show -that no claim has been allowed by this court where, through negligence, the claimant has failed to file and prove his claim within the time prescribed in section 2421, but, that limitation not applying to this claim, the cases are not in point. The receiver came into possession of the assets on February 23, 1891; the assessment was made by the comptroller December 11, 1891; and on June 12, 1893, the receiver commenced his action to enforce the same. While, for anything that appears, that action might have been commenced sooner, yet the delay was without prejudice to the- estate. By that action, the defendants were notified of the claim, and, as was their right, appeared and defended against it. The judgment was rendered on the tenth day of May, 1894, filed in the district court for allowance on the twelfth day of May, 1894, and, by the evidence before us, is fully proven to be a legal and valid claim against the estate. We do not think it should be -said in the face of this record that the plaintiff has been so negligent in the presentation and prosecution of this claim as that the same should be held to be barred. — Affirmed.