Schnipper

These appeals stem from an automobile accident which occurred June 13, 1959. Opal Gwyndola Middleton was the driver of a ear in which Helen Schnipper, Katherine Calori, and Thelma Pederson were passengers. Everyone in the ear was injured when the car struck a concrete wall, the driver so badly she died the same day. On June 8, 1960, in the Superior Court of Alameda County, the passengers sued the estate of Opal Gwyndola Middleton, of which Paul B. Jensen was administrator, to recover damages for their injuries allegedly caused by the gross negligence of the decedent.

On June 10, 1960, plaintiffs Schnipper and Calori filed their creditors’ claims against the Middleton estate, then under probate in San Mateo County. On June 14, 1960, both claims were rejected by the administrator for the reason that first notice to creditors of the estate had been published on October 25, 1959, and plaintiffs’ claims had not been filed within six months of that date, as required by Probate Code, section 707.

On October 28, 1960, the administrator, in his capacity as defendant in the personal injury action, filed a motion for summary judgment against plaintiffs Schnipper and Calori. The sole ground…