Bank of America National Trust & Savings Ass'n v. Gillett

NOURSE, P. J.

The plaintiff sued upon a rejected claim presented to the executrices of the Estate of James N. Gillett, deceased. The claim was based upon a promissory note, secured by a deed of trust upon real property, payment upon which was long in default. The defendants rejected the claim upon the theory that, since the payee was required to exhaust the security before suing upon the original obligation, the claim presented to the estate was for money not then due. The plaintiff urges that the primary obligation became due upon its due date; that it was therefore necessary to present the claim and sue within three months of its rejection to prevent the running of the statute of limitations. The findings and judgment favored plaintiff, and the pertinent portions of the judgment read: “IT IS HEREBY ORDERED,

[455]

ADJUDGED AND DECREED that plaintiff be, and it is hereby, granted judgment against the said defendants in the sum of $27,510.22, payable in due course of administration upon the estate of said decedent, plaintiff, however, to proceed as provided by law to exhaust the security for said indebtedness and apply the proceeds thereof toward the discharge of said indebtedness.”

These legal principles compel an affirmance of the judgment: (1) Under section 714 of the Probate Code it was necessary, if the debt was then due, for the respondent to commence its suit within three months after notice of rejection of the claim. The claim against the estate was one for money “then due” within the meaning of the foregoing section ; a debt becomes due when it reaches the date upon which payment may be required; such date is usually that named in the instrument which fixes the primary obligation. That such obligation cannot be enforced in a court of law until certain legal processes are followed to exhaust the security for the obligation does not make the obligation a contingent one, and does not make the primary debt unpayable or “undue” at the time of the specified maturity.

(2) A judgment will not be reversed except for error prejudicial to the appellant; i. e., error which substantially affects his legal rights and obligations. The appellants have failed to show such error, because the judgment is nothing more than a judicial declaration of the respective rights and obligations of the respective parties—just such a judgment as might have been entered under section 1060 of the Code of Civil Procedure if the plaintiff had designated his complaint one for “Declaratory Relief.” But forms of pleading are of no importance if the pleading in substance states the facts showing the relief to which the pleader is entitled. In such a ease the pleader may have the relief which the facts established justify, though that relief may not be exactly what he thought he was entitled to.