Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/96197/forrest-vs-jack
Timestamp: 2016-10-26 05:18:13
Document Index: 570492244

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 64', '§ 66', '§ 64', '§ 63', '§ 64', '§ 66', '§ 66', '§ 66', '§ 64', '§ 5918']

Forrest Vs Jack - Citation 96197 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Save as PDF Add a Tag Add a Note Semantics Visualize Forrest Vs. Jack - Court Judgment	LegalCrystal Citationlegalcrystal.com/96197CourtUS Supreme CourtDecided OnFeb-04-1935Case Number294 U.S. 158AppellantForrestRespondentJackExcerpt:.....
march 11, 1920, the court made an order reciting that the estate had been closed, and approved and settled the administrator's final account, and on the next day entered its decree.....Judgment:
Forrest v. Jack - 294 U.S. 158 (1935)
1. The liability of stockholders for the debts of national banks is based on Title 12 U.S.C. § 64. P.
294 U. S. 161
2. As a general rule, the person registered as owner on the books of the bank is liable, but the actual owner may be held though not registered. P.
294 U. S. 162
3. Upon the death of the owner, his personal representative is exempt, but the liability attaches to his estate.
4. No cause of action arises to enforce the liability until assessment has been made by the Comptroller.
5. The acts of the Comptroller may not be trammeled, controlled, or prevented by state laws.
6. In the absence of federal enactment supplying the procedure for enforcing the liability against decedents' estates, the state laws governing claims against such estates are applicable insofar as they are not inconsistent with such enforcement. P.
294 U. S. 163
7. Property that appertained to a decedent's estate is not liable under § 66 on account of assessments made after complete administration, final distribution of all property, and extinguishment of the estate.
8. National bank shares belonging to a decedent's estate in Utah and registered in his name were transferred in the administration to his widow, without change of registration; the administration was completed, all property distributed, and the estate extinguished, according to the Utah laws. Long afterwards, the bank became insolvent, and the shares were assessed by the Comptroller.
(1) That the administrator, before his discharge, was not required by the Utah law to retain or pay into court any money or property in anticipation of the assessment, then but a possible future liability, and was not guilty of
devastavit.
(2) The widow, as actual owner of the shares, became liable to assessment under Title 12 U.S.C. § 64.
(3) Real estate that had belonged to the decedent and passed to the widow, and was conveyed by her, without consideration, before the assessment, never became liable to it.
The complaint asserts
in that the petitioner, as administrator, failed to pay into court or to retain property sufficient to cover the assessment or to transfer the stock to a solvent person, and disposed of the entire estate except the stock. It also alleges that the real property deeded petitioner by his mother, having been conveyed to him without consideration, is subject to a lien for the amount of the assessment. The case was tried without a jury. At the close of the evidence, respondent moved for judgment against petitioner personally and, if that be denied, for transfer of the case to the equity side and a decree against the real property. Petitioner moved for judgment. The court denied respondent's motion and granted that of petitioner. The Circuit Court of Appeals held petitioner had not committed
but that, as the stock stood on the books of the bank in the name of the deceased, his estate remained liable, and that petitioner held the real property subject to the assessment. It remanded the case to the district court, directed its transfer to equity and that decree be entered in conformity with its opinion.
§ 63. Section 66 provides that:
The liability of stockholders is based upon the statute, § 64. [
] As a general rule, the person in whose name the stock stands on the books of the bank is liable, [
] but the actual owner may be held although the stock has not been registered in his name. [
] The liability does not altogether cease on the death of the owner but, as limited and defined by § 66, attaches to his estate. [
] The fiduciaries are exempt, but the property belonging to the estate is liable as would be the deceased, if living. No cause of action arises until the assessment is made by the Comptroller, and, so far as concerns the need and amount, his findings are conclusive. [
] He acts under federal authority, and in respect of determinations, orders, and assessments may not be trammeled, controlled, or prevented by state laws. [
In the absence of federal enactments relating to procedure for enforcement of the liability imposed by § 66, collection is to be made in accordance with state laws governing claims against estates of deceased persons, at least to the extent that such laws are not inconsistent with enforcement of the liability imposed by national authority. [
] There is no suggestion that the laws of the Utah discriminate against or are inadequate for the just and convenient enforcement of liability imposed, § 66, against estates of deceased stockholders. There can be no liability on account of assessments made after complete administration, final distribution of all the property, and the extinguishment of the estate.
In this case, the Comptroller's assessment was made more than eleven years after complete distribution, and long after decedent's widow, as distributee, became the actual, though not the registered, owner of the stock and liable under § 64. The decree of March 11, 1920, closed the estate. The fact that the administrator was not formally discharged until December 1, 1931, about the time the bank failed, is without significance here, as the Comptroller's assessment was not made until March 8, 1932. As the estate had ceased to exist before the bank became insolvent, the Circuit Court of Appeals rightly held that petitioner, as administrator, was not required by Utah law (R.S.1933, 102-9-26) to retain or pay into court any property or money to cover possible future liability in respect of the stock that had been decreed and distributed to the widow. There is nothing to support the allegation of
, relied on by the court below and by respondent, this Court, affirming the Supreme Court of Minnesota (70 Minn. 519, 73 N.W. 416; 73 Minn. 170, 75 N.W. 1041), held the estate not to have been extinguished when the bank became insolvent or when the assessment was made. The facts of that case were similar to those now before us. The estate of a deceased stockholder of a national bank was, after administration, fully distributed without a transfer of the stock on the books of the bank. Later, because of its insolvency, the Comptroller closed the bank and made an assessment against its stockholders. He brought suit and obtained judgment against distributees under and in accordance with the General Statutes of Minnesota, 1894, § 5918, which declares:
201 U. S. 216
201 U. S. 225
United States ex rel. Citizens' Nat. Bank v. Knox,
102 U. S. 424
133 U. S. 151
184 U. S. 261
118 U. S. 660
176 U. S. 530
Early v. Richardson,
280 U. S. 496
280 U. S. 499
204 U. S. 162
204 U. S. 168
Rankin v. Fidelity Insurance, Trust & Safe-Deposit Co.,
189 U. S. 242
189 U. S. 252
111 U. S. 483
Germania National Bank v. Case,
176 U. S. 524
Zimmerman v. Carpenter,
84 F. 747, 751;
Drain v. Stough,
61 F.2d 668, 669.
94 U. S. 677
99 U. S. 634
-635;
102 U. S. 425
184 U. S. 72
184 U. S. 76
197 U. S. 159
Rankin v. Barton,
199 U. S. 228
199 U. S. 232
Cf. Davis v. Elmira Savings Bank,
197 U. S. 158
176 U. S. 528
Davis v. Weed,
7 Fed.Cas. 186, 187.
21 Wall. 276;
187 U. S. 227
et seq.; Williams v. Cobb,
242 U. S. 307