Case: MARY E. SKELLEY, Administratrix, v. THE UNITED STATES
Abbreviation: Skelley v. United States
Decision Date: 1897-10-12
Docket Number: 
Citation: 33 Ct. Cl. 500
Volume: 33
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Parties: MARY E. SKELLEY, Administratrix, v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Pages: 500–501

Head Matter:
MARY E. SKELLEY, Administratrix, v. THE UNITED STATES.
[32 C. Cls. R., 227.
No opinion in U. S. R.]
On the defendants’ Appeal.
The widow of a deceased letter carrier brings suit as widow to recover a balance of salary due him. The defendants plead- to the merits. After the statute of limitations will bar the bringing of a new action, she seeks to amend by setting up that she is administra-trix.
The court below decides:
1. The inconvenience of requiring a widow to bear the cost and expense of administration as a prerequisite to bringing a suit upon a trivial demand should not be insisted upon by the court.
2. Where the defendants raise no objection to the party claimant but plead to the merits and the statute of limitations will bar a new action, the court will allow an amendment.
3.It is well settled tliat a substitution of parties will be allowed where the suit was instituted in good faith by one having' some interest in the cause of action or some legal relation with the person who should have brought it, and a new suit can not be instituted by him.
October 12, 1897.

Opinion:
The appeal was dismissed on motion of the defendants