Sears v. Vaughan

• Citation: 82 N.E. 881,230 Ill. 572
• Parties: SEARS v. VAUGHAN et al.
• Decision Date: 05 December 1907
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

230 Ill. 572

82 N.E. 881

SEARS

v.VAUGHAN et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 23, 1907.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 5, 1907.

Appeal from Superior Court. Cook County; Theodore Brentano, Judge.

Suit by William H. H. Sears against Margaret C. Vaughan and others. From a decree dismissing the appeal, complainant appeals. Affirmed.Gwynn Garnett, Clarence T. Morse, and Eugene Garnett, for appellant.

Scott, Bancroft, Lord & Stephens (Edgar A. Bancroft and George T. Rogers, of counsel), for appellee Margaret C. Vaughan.

This is a bill in equity filed by appellant in the superior court of Cook county to set aside a deed made by J. Lafayette Curtis, dated August 27, 1902, purporting to convey to appellee Margaret C. Vaughan the premises known as 377 Dearborn street, Chicago. In general the bill alleges three grounds for setting aside the deed: First, mental incapacity of the grantor; second, actual undue influence exerted by the grantee and her agents; third, presumptive undue influence arising out of what is alleged to be the fiduciary relation existing between the grantor and the grantee. The cause was heard below and a decree was entered dismissing the bill for want of equity. Appellant, by his appeal, has brought the record to this court for review.

Numerous witnesses were heard on the trial, and the record is voluminous, consisting of over 2,500 typewritten pages, of which over 2,000 are devoted to the testimony.

J. Lafayette Curtis died November 9, 1903, at about the age of 80 years. His wife, Helen A. Curtis, had died in May, 1902. He had resided in Chicago for 30 years, and had been engaged in loaning money, conducting a private bank, and in the real estate business. Prior to coming to Chicago to reside he had lived in Keokuk, Iowa, where he had been engaged in the patent medicine business. He had no children of his own, and about 1860 took appellee Mrs. Vaughan, then about 2 1/2 years old, from an orphan asylum and raised her, never, however, legally adopting her as his daughter. She was known in her childhood as Maggie Curtis. She was married in 1875 to a man named Vaughan, who shortly thereafter became insame, and was confined in an insane asylum until 1879, when he was discharged as cured. Mrs. Vaughan, soon after her husband's discharge, went with him to Baltimore, Md., when they resided until 1889, when they removed to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where Vaughan died, about 1892. Mrs. Vaughan, with her four children, continued to reside in Ohio until 1902. Two of her children were unfortunate, and are not capable of caring for themselves. From 1891 until the death of Mrs. Curtis, in 1902, Mr. Curtis supported Mrs. Vaughan and her children in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, sending her $100 per month. Mr. Curtis had acquired considerable property in Chicago, and was also the owner of property in Keokuk, Iowa, and farm lands in Iowa and Minnesota. In 1900 he employed H. L. Cowles, a nephew of his wife, at a salary of $125 per month, to attend to his business, such as collecting rents, looking after property, dealing with tenants, etc. Mrs. Curtis at this time requested Cowles to keep Mr. Curtis interested in the business, and to consult with him in regard to the management of affairs. Cowles and his wife, Grace Caroline Cowles, took up their residence in the Curtis home, and remained there until about six weeks after the death of Mrs. Curtis, in May, 1902. During that time Cowles acted as the agent of Curtis in looking after the property, and their personal relations were cordial. At the time of the death of Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Vaughan came to the Curtis home and remained there. Soon after her arrival Cowles and his wife left the house. While Mrs. Curtis was ill, she requested Mr. and Mrs. Cowles to continue to reside with Mr. Curtis, and they agreed to do so. Mr. Curtis was averse to notifying Mrs. Vaughan of the serious illness of her foster mother, saying that she would get there soon enough. The information about the illness of Mrs. Curtis was sent her by a member of the Cowles family, and not by Mr. Curtis. However, when she arrived, Curtis, who had also asked Cowles to remain with him, changed his mind and permitted Mrs. Vaughan to remain. She had difficulties with various members of the Cowles family and other relatives of Mrs. Curtis, and complained of the disposition made by them of her mother's jewels and laces. When informed of her suspicions that certain relatives of Mrs. Curtis were carrying away small articles from the house, Mr. Curtis became angry with them to such an extent that they ceased to visit the house. Mrs. Vaughan remained with Curtis, and no opportunity was given the relatives of Mrs. Curtis to converse with him out of her presence. She slept in the same room with him, and was solicitous as to his wants. On two occasions when H. L. Cowles attempted to secure a private interview with him Mrs. Vaughan interrupted and called Curtis away. On May 20, 1902, about one week after the death of Mrs. Curtis, Curtis made a codicil to his will, making changes that were beneficial to Mrs. Vaughan. On June 6, 1902, Curtis assigned to Mrs. Vaughan his interest in the estate of Henry H. Curtis, of St. Louis, amounting to $5,631.44. She collected this interest. On July 2, 1902, Curtis conveyed, by two deeds, 160 acres of land in Iowa and some lots and land in Minnesota to Mrs. Vaughan. On July 2, 1902, H. L. Cowles received for Curtis a check for $12,995, payable to Curtis' order. This was in payment for real estate sold in Chicago. Curtis told Cowles to take charge of this check, and deposit it next day. Mrs. Vaughan learned about the check, and after a conversation with her Curtis called for and received the check from Cowles. The next day Curtis and Mrs. Vaughan, accompanied by two attorneys, went to the banking house of N. W. Harris & Co., and there Curtis purchased and gave to Mrs. Vaughan $10,850 worth of bonds. Out of the check $1,327 was deposited to Curtis' credit, and the record does not show what became of the balance of the check, amounting to $818. On August 27, 1902, Curtis executed and delivered to Mrs. Vaughan the deed for the property which is in question in this suit. He was 78 years old at the time. The value placed by the appraiser for inheritance tax upon this property was $43,175. On October 29, 1902, he conveyed to her real estate in Keokuk, and a short time before his death he conveyed to her his residence in Chicago and its contents.

The allegation of the bill is that at the time J. Lafayette Curtis signed the deed in question he was not of sound mind and memory, but, on the contrary, was in his dotage, and that his mind and memory were so impaired at that time as to render him wholly incapable of making any proper conveyance of his real estate. The bill also charges that Margaret C. Vaughan used actual undue influence in procuring the deed, and also that a fiduciary relationship existed between Curtis and Mrs. Vaughan. The evidence is conflicting in most, if not all, material matters. A large number of witnesses were produced by each side who had known Curtis for varying numbers of years, and who were themselves engaged in various businesses and who had met him under conditions which surround one in the ordinary affairs of life. Of these, 27 state facts tending to show that grantor's mental faculties were unimpaired for a period of three months before, and at least that long after, the making of the deed. Twenty-eight witnesses state facts tending to show that during this time J. Lafayette Curtis did not possess the sound mind and memory which the law requires one making a valid transfer of property to possess.

Out of this mass of testimony the following facts may be regarded as established by a clear preponderance of the evidence: J. Lafayette Curtis was a successful business man, who had accumulated property worth in the aggregate about $150,000, perhaps more. He was close in his dealings, and it had been said of him that he was as hard as adamant. For many years he cared for his own business without assistance, having an office downtown. About 1898 he began to fail physically, and seemed liable to become confused about business affairs. He would also in the same conversation repeatedly ask the same question over and over again. He became subject to forgetfulness, frequently forgetting that he had collected rent, and in one instance he left the house leaving a receipt on the table while his tenant had gone into another room to get the money. He had great difficulty in counting money, and would ask others to count it for him. He endeavored to take care of his own correspondence, having his wife do the writing for him, and he would dictate a letter over and over again to the same party, making only trifling changes. On one occasion he dictated the same letter 10 times. He lost care about his personal appearance, and his wife dressed him, combed his hair, and brushed his teeth. Mrs. Curtis expressed the greatest solicitude about his being on the streets alone, because he was easily lost, and confused in his mind the streets of Chicago with those of Keokuk. She took great care that he should not go upon the streets alone, but, if occasion demanded that he should do so, she would put his name and address upon a piece of paper in his hatband. He became confused as to the names of relatives, frequently calling them by the wrong name. He was childish in many things, and asked foolish questions. It was difficult for him to keep his mind on any subject, and he frequently walked around talking to himself. He greeted guests repeatedly, apparently not knowing that he had greeted them before. His memory failed about matters of recent date, although he could discuss intelligently matters which had happened many years before. He lost his ability to comprehend simple things; thought that the marriage of a neighbor a was a funeral; that John Brown had signed the Declaration of Independence, and...