Aldrich v. Steen

• Citation: 98 N.W. 445,71 Neb. 33
• Decision Date: 04 February 1904
• Docket Number: 13,172
• Parties: ELVIRA M. ALDRICH ET AL., APPELLEES, v. MARANDA J. STEEN ET AL., APPELLANTS. [*]
• Court: Supreme Court of Nebraska

98 N.W. 445

71 Neb. 33

ELVIRA M. ALDRICH ET AL., APPELLEES, v. MARANDA J. STEEN ET AL., APPELLANTS. ^[*]

No. 13,172

Supreme Court of Nebraska

February 4, 1904

APPEAL from the district court for Douglas county: CHARLES T DICKINSON, JUDGE. Decree modified.

Affirmed.

W. A Saunders, W. F. Wappich and Smyth & Smith, for appellants.

Thomas & Nolan, contra.

HASTINGS C. AMES and OLDHAM, CC., concur.

OPINION

HASTINGS, C.

This is an appeal from Douglas county. April 21, 1902, plaintiffs, two of whom were daughters and the third a granddaughter of Seth F. Winch, commenced suit, alleging their relationship; that he died February 11, 1899, at the hospital for insane at Council Bluffs, at the age of 77 years; that plaintiffs are his sole heirs; that the defendant Maranda J. Steen claims to have been Winch's wife at the time of his death, and has since married John J. Steen, who is joined as defendant, for that reason; that the other defendants claim to have acquired an interest in the land involved through Maranda J. Steen; alleged that Winch died seized of the real estate described, situated in Douglas county, and also of lots in the city of Chicago, and also of certain lands in Minnesota and of lots in Council Bluffs, Iowa; that on April 22, 1892, Winch conveyed to Mrs. Steen, then known as Maranda J. Mitchell, by warranty deed all of the real estate, except some lots in Council Bluffs and one lot in Chicago; that on April 25, Mrs. Mitchell reconveyed to him by warranty deed the same property, and on May 10, 1892, Winch by warranty deed again conveyed to her the real estate in Douglas county, subsequently caused to be conveyed to her the property in Chicago and in Council Bluffs, and in 1893, through one Foster, conveyed to Mrs. Steen the lands in Minnesota. That in 1900 Mrs. Steen conveyed a portion of the property to Alfred J. Norman, and in 1901 another portion to George F. Morton, who on the same day conveyed to the defendant Gates, and afterwards, in the same year, she conveyed another portion of the property to George F. Morton, who conveyed it to the defendant, Mae L. Rice; that in 1902 Mrs. Steen and her husband conveyed to Mae L. Rice another portion of the property. It is alleged that each of the grantees in these conveyances took them with full knowledge of plaintiffs' rights; it is alleged that no title was conveyed by these several deeds, because the grantees knew of the insanity of Seth F. Winch and of his incapacity to convey, and, consequently, of the invalidity of Mrs. Steen's title. It is also alleged that by a sheriff's deed of December 20, 1894, the east one-fourth of lot 16, in Hawes' addition to the city of Omaha, was conveyed to Mrs. Winch for a consideration paid from the money of Seth F. Winch, procured from him when he was insane and acting under the undue influence of Mrs. Steen. It is alleged that in May, 1888, Maranda J. Mitchell took up her abode in Winch's house, first as a lodger and presently as a housekeeper, and remained with him until his death in 1899, in a state of illicit cohabitation and adultery; that she was 40 years of age when she came and Winch 66; that they lived together as man and wife, and were so reputed; that she was strong mentally and physically and a woman of prepossessing appearance; that Winch was feeble, and of feeble and unsound mind; that she acquired, and always retained, a great influence over him; that he was the owner of property to the value of about $ 100,000 in 1888, almost all of which was from time to time transferred to her; that, during all of the time of their connection, Winch continued in poor health and his mental powers weak; that he remained in this condition until in 1896 a complaint was filed at the instance of Mrs. Steen, charging him with insanity, and in 1898 another, on which the board found he was insane, and he was removed to St. Bernard's hospital in Council Bluffs, where he died, wholly insane; that when the conveyances to Mrs. Steen were made, he was incapable of understanding the nature of the act and of making of deeds; that he was then mentally incapable of remembering the proper objects of his affection; that he was non compos mentis, did not understand the effect of his action and did not have mental capacity to transact ordinary business; that the deeds were induced by undue influence of Mrs. Steen; that, while they were living together in the state of adultery, she procured, besides these conveyances of real estate, mortgages, notes, moneys and securities without any consideration; that Mrs. Steen then had no income or property, and had worked at the trade of dressmaking; that she was assisted in procuring these conveyances by the family physician, Dr. Von Lackum; that, at the time of the first conveyances of real estate, April 25, 1892, there was pending and on trial, in the Cass county district court, a divorce suit, originally instituted by Winch, but in which his wife had filed a cross-bill and was asking alimony; and Mrs. Steen and Dr. Von Lackum procured the conveyance, by representing that it was necessary to prevent the wife from obtaining the property as alimony; that she fraudulently represented that the wife and the lawyers in the case would take the property from him, and he would have nothing left, unless it was conveyed to Mrs. Steen; that, before the making of the conveyances to Mrs. Steen, he had declared his intention to leave his property to his children, that, after the making of the deeds, he declared the property was his as much as it had ever been; that he was, and Mrs. Steen knew he was, easily influenced and deceived, and that Mrs. Steen procured these conveyances with full knowledge of his lack of mental capacity, and designing to defraud plaintiffs; that on May 16, 1892, she procured him to obtain a license and enter into the marriage relation with her; that the decree of divorce was rendered April 30, 1892, and the pretended marriage was therefore bigamous and void, and Winch, at that time, totally incapable of entering into a marriage contract; that the divorce action was filed by Winch in Cass county, Nebraska, against his wife, who resided in Providence, Rhode Island; that neither party to the action had any residence or citizenship in Cass county, and the court acquired no jurisdiction over the person of either of said parties or the matter of said action; that the decree of divorce of April 30, 1892, in Cass county, was wholly void, and the parties never lawfully divorced, and the marriage to Mrs. Steen bigamous; that since January 1, 1897, Mrs. Steen had received all the rents and profits of the premises described in the petition, to the amount of $ 10,000.

Plaintiffs ask that the deeds be canceled and adjudged void; that title to the land be quieted in them, as heirs of Winch, and possession delivered; that the decree of divorce in Cass county be declared void, and the pretended marriage of Winch and Mrs. Steen set aside, and the defendants each enjoined from making any disposition of, or interfering with, the real estate, and that the defendants be required to account for the rents and profits since January 1, 1897.

Maranda and John J. Steen answered, admitting Winch's death on February 11, 1899 admitting the marriage of May 16, 1892, and that the parties lived together as husband and wife until Winch's death, and admitting the marriage to Steen; denied that Winch died seized of any of the property, and denied that in 1888 he owned property of the value of about $ 100,000; admit the making of the deeds of May 10, 1892, to the Omaha property, but deny the conveyance of the property in Chicago and in Council Bluffs; admit the conveyance by Foster and wife to Mrs. Steen of the land in Pine county, Minnesota, and of lot 9, block 4, Hoppe's Bonanza, an addition to the city of South Omaha, and admit the sheriff's deed as alleged to Mrs. Steen of the last described property; admit its conveyance to Norman, and say that she owned lot 22, block 12, in Brown's Park addition, since September 14, 1889, when she bought it from Winch for $ 500; that the deed of April 22, 1892, was never delivered to her, and the deed back of April 25, 1892, was made to reconvey the legal title to Winch, and, by mistake, included lot 22, in block 12, Brown's Park, which was never intended to be conveyed. The conveyance to Morton, and by Morton to Gates, is admitted; the conveyance to Mae L. Rice is also admitted; the defendants say that the deed of May 10, 1892, by Winch to Mrs. Mitchell was in payment of $ 1,250, and as consideration for an agreement between the parties of May 9, 1892, and the further agreement of May 10, that Winch was to transfer his property to Mrs. Mitchell and she was to marry him; that the written agreement was that she should take care of him during the remainder of his life, if she should outlive him, and attend to his burial, he to deed her such property as he wished her to have, in consideration of her services; that she had resided upon two of the lots in Omaha ever since her marriage with Winch, and was the owner and in absolute possession of the unconveyed portions of the real estate described in Douglas county, Nebraska, in Council Bluffs, in Chicago and in Minnesota; that Winch was of sound mind and memory, and in good bodily health, until 1896; that no undue influence was used to induce his making the deeds and delivery of property; admit her taking employment as Winch's housekeeper in 1888, and acting as such until the marriage with him on May 16, 1892, and deny any adulterous cohabitation; they deny the procuring of any complaint of insanity against Winch, and deny any request to reconvey the property; admit that Winch himself commenced the action in Cass county for divorce from his wife,...