Leet

Petitioner, The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, appeals from two orders denying motions to set aside the appointment of Charlotte E. Leet as administratrix of the estate of Ivan R. Miller and of the estate of Frederick Albert Waits. These appeals have been consolidated because they involve substantially the same facts and the same legal question. The petitions for letters of administration were filed in the Superior Court of Alameda County on August 15, 1942. The petition in the Miller estate alleged that Ivan R. Miller was a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he died, and that “it is necessary that an Administratrix be appointed in order to prosecute a claim for damages against said Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Co., for the death of said deceased, under the provisions of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act ( 45 U.S.C.A., sec. 51 et seq.); that under the provisions of said act, such suit, although prosecuted in the name of the Administratrix, is for the benefit of the mother of said decedent, and that any recovery in such action belongs to the mother of said decedent as his heir at law, and is not a part of the estate of said decedent. ...” The…