Citation Numbers: 55 Pa. 335
Judges: Agnew, Read, Strong, Thompson, Woodward
Filed Date: 7/3/1867
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 2/17/2022
The opinion of the court was delivered, July 3d 1867, by
— The judge in the court below committed a clear error in submitting it to the jury to find that a contract was made by the defendants below to pay Mr. Smith the same fee they had agreed to pay Messrs. Amwake & Alricks, without any
The question as to the liability of the trust estate for that portion of the services which had relation to the proceedings against Bickham individually, does not seem to have been raised in the court below; but as the case goes back for a second trial, it is proper to remark, that the trust fund in the hands of the trustees (as such) is not liable for services rendered in defending one of the trustees against a proceeding to declare him a lunatic. His lunacy was a personal matter, and did not involve the execution of the trust except indirectly, in so far as it might lead to his discharge as a trustee in the event of his being found a lunatic.
Bickham cannot charge the trust with the expense of defending his personal rights, and it would not be proper to produce this result by a verdict.
Judgment reversed, and a venire facias de novo, awarded.