Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

87 Mo. 244

Jeffries v. Ferguson

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided October 15, 1885

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1885-10-15

<p>Contribution: probate court. Courts of law have adopted the equitable doctrine of contribution, and relief will be awarded in the probate court to one surety who has paid more than his proportionate share of the debt.</p>

Relies on Van Petten v. Richardson

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1885-10-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently June 1996

5 state decisions

20188518901900191019201930194019501960197019801990decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Black, J.

¶1C. S.‘ Jeffries and james N. Inge were ■sureties on a note given by Chas. R. Jeffries to one Roberts. Before and after judgment on tbe note, C. S. Jeffries paid off the debt, and then presented his demand to the probate court, asking to have the one-half of the amount so paid, first deducting the proceeds of certain securities, allowed against the estate of Inge, the co-surety. The contention that the plaintiff could only sue in a court having full and complete equity jurisdiction is not well taken. Courts of law have adopted the equit.able doctrine of contribution, and award relief to one .surety who has paid more than his share. The surety paying the debt may have his action at law against the other surety for any excess which he has paid over his proportionate share. Van Petten v. Richardson, 68 Mo. 380. The plaintiff’s demand was allowed by the probate court, and he again recovered in the circuit court, to which the case was appealed. We have examined the •evidence and are satisfied the estate received all credits to which it was entitled.

¶2The judgment is affirmed.

All concur.
/87/mo/244 · .json · Public domain