Perry v. Carmichael

Citations

• 95 Ill. 519
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 207

Syllabus

<p>1. Parties plaintiff—to recover for death occasioned by negligence—under the statute of Indiana. A married woman, who was a resident of this State, while traveling in the State of Indiana, was killed upon a railroad, the accident causing the death being occasioned, as was alleged, by the negligence of the railroad company. A person was appointed, in this State, administrator of the deceased, such administrator not being the husband. It was held, that under the statute of Indiana in force in 1859, the right of action to sue for and recover the damages against the company for the death was vested in the administrator, and he could be held accountable as such for money received, or which ought to have been received by him in such a suit.</p> <p>2. Administrator—liability for proper custody of funds. Where a right of action is by law vested in an administrator, and in that capacity he brings suit for the recovery of money, but pending the suit a settlement is made in respect thereto, it is his duty to see to it that the proceeds of such settlement are placed in the hands of the persons who are lawfully entitled to them.</p> <p>3. So, where an administrator of a married woman, whose death had been occasioned by the negligence of a railroad company, had brought suit against the company to recover damages on account of such negligence, permitted the surviving husband of the deceased to receive the proceeds of a settlement of the subject matter of the suit, without lawful right on the part of the husband so to do, in a suit by the children and heirs at law of the deceased, to whom the fund belonged, against the administrator to recover the money so received by their father and not accounted for by him, it was held, the administrator was liable. The money so obtained constituted a trust fund for these children, and the administrator, whose duty it was to have received the money in the first instance, was bound to see that it reached the hands of those to whom it belonged,