Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/267/267mass274.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 10:04:48+00:00

Document:
SARAH G. GARDINER vs. HARLOW H. ROGERS.
Trust, Attachment of trustee's interest, Action against trustee. Attachment. Practice, Civil, Parties. Devise and Legacy, Life estate.
(5) As no valid attachment of the son's interest in the real estate could be made in an action at law, the purported attachment was void, and, the plaintiff having no title under it, the bill properly was dismissed.
BILL IN EQUITY, filed in the Superior Court on August 18, 1928, to enjoin the foreclosure of a mortgage on real estate alleged to be owned by the plaintiff.
In the Superior Court, the suit was heard by Callahan, J., upon an agreed statement of facts. Material facts are stated in the opinion. By order of the judge, a final decree was entered dismissing the bill. The plaintiff appealed. The case was submitted on briefs.
F. H. Harding, Jr., for the plaintiff.
J. P. Fagan, for the defendant.
children of Sylvia F. Cushman, a daughter of the testatrix, such children taking by right of representation.
John Ramsdell was appointed trustee under the will on December 28, 1921. On January 4, 1923, two actions of tort were brought, one by May Southard, the other by Oscar F. Southard, her husband, in which the defendant was described as "John Ramsdell, of Quincy in our County of Norfolk, as he is trustee for John Ramsdell and Sylvia F. Cushman." The action by May Southard was for personal injuries caused by an alleged defect in a platform on premises belonging to the trust estate, alleged to have been owned by the defendant, and of which the plaintiff's husband was a tenant. The action brought by Oscar F. Southard was to recover consequential damages sustained as a result of the injuries received by his wife. On the writs in these cases the deputy sheriff's return states that on January 4, 1923, he made an attachment of "all the right, title and interest the within named defendant John Ramsdell, Trustee has in and to any and all real estate in the County of Norfolk," and that within three days thereafter he deposited attested copies of the writ with so much of the return as related to the attachments in the registry of deeds for said county. The attachments so made were general, without description of the land attached. On February 7, 1927, judgment was entered in each case for the plaintiff, and on February 10, 1927, execution issued in each case against "John Ramsdell, of said Quincy, as he is trustee for John Ramsdell and Sylvia Cushman."
April 23, 1927, the property was sold at sheriff's sale to the plaintiff, and the sheriff's deeds given in connection with the sales were dated and acknowledged on May 2, 1927, and recorded on July 5, 1927. By quitclaim deed dated and acknowledged on September 7, 1927, John Ramsdell, as trustee for John Ramsdell and Sylvia Cushman under the will of Sylvia H. Ramsdell, and individually, conveyed to the plaintiff the premises described in the sheriff's deeds, and released all right to redeem from the sheriffs deeds. No mention was made of any mortgage in this deed. The trial judge ruled that upon these agreed facts the plaintiff could not maintain the bill and a final decree was entered dismissing it, from which the plaintiff appealed.
principal as was necessary for his comfortable support and maintenance, and after his death the remainder was to go to the grandchildren of the testatrix. That a trustee is bound to exercise the utmost good faith in all matters pertaining to the trust and in the use of the trust property itself, and that his acts must be governed by strict fidelity and faithfulness to the terms of the trust and interests of the beneficiaries, are propositions so elementary as not to require the citation of authority. The law will not presume that a trustee will act in bad faith in the administration of the trust. There is nothing to show that the trustee in the present case has or ever will exercise his power to take over any part of the principal. As he does not have an absolute right to a present conveyance of the entire trust estate, it follows that the levies and executions were not authorized under G. L. c. 223, § 42, or G. L. c. 236, § 1. G. L. c. 223, § 67, is not applicable to any question raised on this record.
When the legal title to property is in the name of a trustee, he is individually liable for its defective condition; Shepard v. Creamer, 160 Mass. 496, 498; and an execution in an action at law should run against the trustee as an individual, whether he had a right to indemnity from the trust fund or not. Odd Fellows Hall Association v. McAllister, 153 Mass. 292, 297. Hampton v. Foster, 127 Fed. Rep. 468. The description of John Ramsdell as "trustee," in the writs in the tort actions, was surplusage and should be disregarded. The judgments and executions should have been issued against him personally. Odd Fellows Hall Association v. McAllister, supra. Carr v. Leahy, 217 Mass. 438, 440.
It is the contention of the plaintiff that Cunningham v. Bright, 228 Mass. 385, is decisive of the present case. It there appeared that the trustee was also sole beneficiary, both the legal and the equitable estates being merged in him. Moreover, he was entitled to a present conveyance, and therefore the land was subject to levy and execution for his debts. None of those facts is present here. All of the cases cited by the plaintiff are distinguishable in their facts from the case at bar.
As no valid attachment could be made in an action at law the purported attachments are void. It becomes unnecessary to consider whether the requirements of the statute have been complied with in the attachments and sales on execution.

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