The Washington times., 1934-04-30
APPEALS COURT DECISIONS

them was released and Cancelled
by the trustees named therein.
This fact, however, was not made
known to the appellee, nor to the
National Savings and Trust Com
pany, both Of whom remained un-
der the belief that the notes i"ere
still obligations Of Wardman and
Bones, the makers, and were Sc
cured by the first trust on the
Carlton property. During this pc
riod the Swartzell Company occu-
pied a prominent piece in the fl
nancial life Of the city Of WASH
ington, possessing high credit and
being generally considered as an
honorable and responsible COM
pany. However, in February,
1881, the company became bank
rupt and was discovered to be
wholly insolvent. The notes in
this case have not been paid, hut
the appellee as the former COM
mittee filed a claim upon them
with the referee in bankruptcy
of the bankrupt company. We
think that these facts do not sils-
tain the allegation Of negligence
by appellee in the management
Of his wards estate.
It appears that In October, 1928,
at a time when the notes were
paid to Swartzell, Rheem and Hen
Sey Company, that company in
formed the appellee that the
notes would be paid at once If
presented at their office, although
they had not yet matured. They
requested the appellee to instruct
the National Savings and Trust
Company to present them for that
purpose. The appellee commune
Gated this with instructions to
the Trust Company to present
the notes for payment and to ar
range under the orders of the
court for the reinvestment Of the
proceeds. However, when the
notes were presented to the
Swartzell Company that COM
pany informed the Trust Com
pany that such prepayment would
not then be made. In consequence
of this the notes remained in
possession of the National Saw
ings and Trust Company until
their maturity on March II, 1880,
and for almost a year thereafter.
During this time the interest
upon the notes was promptly paid
by the Swartzell Company as if
the notes were unpaid, although
payment had in fact been made
to that company.
It may be repeated that the ap-
pellee did not make this invest
ment, nor so far as appears did
he have any part in the purchase
of the notes in the first instance.
He received them as part Of the
estate of his warG, and was not
entitled by their terms to demand
payment Of them until their ma
turity. He had no means Of
knowing that the notes had been
paid by Wardman and Bones to
the Swartzell Company in 1928.
No notice was served upon him
concerning such payment. The
mere statement made to him by
the Swartzell Company that the
notes might be paid before ma
turity if presented did not serve
to put him on notice that they
had already been paid at that
time. The notes were left by him
with the National Savings and
Trust Company in his absence in
order that the interest might be
collected when due, as it was, and
that the principal might be re-
ceived when paid at maturity.
The appellee was under the i'm
preston that the proceeds of the
notes when paid could not be re-
invested without an order of the
court and he applied to the court
for instructions on this point. In
asmuch however as the notes
were not in fact paid to him no
answer was made to his inquiry.
These facts do not sustain the
charge of negligence made against
appellee by his successor as COM
mittee.
The appellant also complains of
the allowance by the lower court
of the sum of $3.50 to the appel
lees attorney for services in con-
nection with the estate, and the
allowance Of $135 to the auditor
for services likewise rendered,
and also that the court ordered
the expenses Of this appeal to be
paid from the assets Of this es-
tate. The appellant complains
that the charges so allowed were
excessive and unreasonable. It is
recognized that such issues are
addressed largely to the discretion
Of the trial court and we see no
reason to believe that the court
failed in this instance to perform
its duty in that particular. We
also approve the courts order
that the costs of this appeal be