Altman v. Third Nat. Bank in Nashville

• Decision Date: 26 April 1947
• Citation: 203 S.W.2d 701,30 Tenn. App. 81
• Parties: ALTMAN v. THIRD NAT. BANK IN NASHVILLE et al.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

203 S.W.2d 701

30 Tenn.App. 81

ALTMAN v. THIRD NAT. BANK IN NASHVILLE et al.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Middle Section.

April 26, 1947

Certiorari Denied by Supreme CourtJune 26, 1947.

Appeal from Chancery Court, Davidson County; William J. Wade Chancellor.

Suit by Mrs. Mattie A. Altman, by the American National Bank as her next friend and guardian, against the Third National Bank in Nashville and Helen Gilbert Reynolds to recover realty and personalty and to have an accounting by the Third National Bank, wherein Helen Gilbert Reynolds filed a cross-bill.From a decree in favor of the complainant, the defendants appeal.

Decree affirmed and cause remanded for further proceedings.

Williams, Cummings & West and Bass, Berry & Sims, all of Nashville, for complainant.

John J Hooker, Walker Casey and E. J. Walsh, all of Nashvill, for defendants.

FELTS Judge.

Mrs Altman, a person of unsound mind suing by the American National Bank as her next friend and guardian, filed the bill herein against the Third National Bank in Nashville and Helen Gilbert Reynolds to recover real and personal property described in the bill and to have an accounting by the Third National Bank, which claimed the legal title to said property under certain trust instruments.

Complainant was an old lady, about 79, and the widow of Dr. Altman, who had died in 1926.She had no children and her nearest relative was her neice, Mrs. Berta Bedford Reynolds.She and Dr. Altman were very fond of Altman Reynolds, a son of Mrs. Berta Bedford Reynolds.They undertook to educate him and he lived a large part of the time in their home.After Dr. Altman's death Altman Reynolds continued to live in the home of Mrs. Altman.She trusted him and in the latter years of her life he took charge of her property.

On May 4, 1940, she deeded him all her real estate, including her home, which consisted of four parcels in Nashville.On May 14, 1940, she turned over to him the personalty in her lock box, consisting of stocks, bonds, and cash, of considerable value.

On June 9, 1941, he and the Third National Bank in Nashville, Trustee, executed a trust agreement under which he delivered this personalty to the Bank as Trustee to hold and manage the property according to the terms of the trust.It provided that the Trustee would pay a monthly sum, to be agreed on by the parties and H. Stone Reynolds, father of Altman Reynolds, for the living expenses of Mrs. Altman during her lifetime, and would pay to Altman Reynolds a monthly sum to be agreed upon.At Mrs. Altman's death the Trustee was to pay the balance of the fund to Altman Reynolds.

On March 21, 1942, the Trustee and Altman Reynolds made a supplemental trust agreement reciting that he had married since making the original trust agreement, and agreeing that the $100 per month being paid him under the former agreement would, in case of his death, be paid to his wife Helen Gilbert Reynolds.Soon thereafter he was inducted into the Army and was killed in an airplane accident August 17, 1942.He left a will giving all his property to his wife Helen Gilbert Reynolds.

Upon a petition of H. Stone Reynolds the County Court of Davidson County, by decree entered October 13, 1942, adjudged that Mrs. Altman was a person of unsound mind and had been of unsound mind since 1937; and on October 14, 1942, the County Court appointed the American National Bank as her guardian.On October 17, 1942, Helen Gilbert Reynolds executed a deed of the real estate to the Third National Bank, Trustee, to hold the property in trust for the benefit of Mrs. Altman for life with remainder to Helen Gilbert Reynolds.

The present bill was filed June 26, 1943.It set out the matters above stated and charged that Altman Reynolds had obtained the property of Mrs. Altman by undue influence and breach of the confidential relation between them, and that she was insane and legally incapable of making any transfer of her property.

The Third National Bank filed its answer admitting the transfers of the property to it under trusts and denying that Mrs. Altman was incapacitated or that the transfers were invalid.This answer also averred that the decree of the County Court adjudging her to be of unsound mind and appointing the American National Bank as her guardian was void for a number of reasons.

Helen Gilbert Reynolds filed an answer and cross bill denying that Mrs. Altman was of unsound mind or that the transfers were invalid.This answer and cross bill charged that H. Stone Reynolds had approved the transfers and the trusts; but that since the death of Altman Reynoldshe had entered into a scheme to defraud Helen Gilbert Reynolds of the property; and that pursuant to such scheme he had procured the County Court to adjudicate that Mrs. Altman was of unsound mind and to appoint the American National Bank as her guardian.It was also alleged that the County Court decree was then under a direct attack in another proceeding to have the decree declared void.The only relief prayed in the cross bill was an injunction to stay further proceedings in the present cause to await the outcome of that proceeding.

In the meantime Helen Gilbert Reynolds and the Third National Bank, Trustee, filed a petition in the County Court attacking the lunacy decree and the appointment of the guardian.That case was finally determined by the Supreme Court on February 5, 1944.The Court dismissed their petition, holding they had no interest to attack the decree.See the Opinion of the Supreme Court in Reynolds v. Reynolds,181 Tenn. 206, 180 S.W.2d 894.

On July 22, 1946, and subsequent days the present suit was tried before the Chancellor and a jury, defendants having demanded a jury.These two issues were submitted to the jury: (1)'Whether Mrs. Altman was of unsound mind on or about May 4, 1940, May 14, 1940, and June 10, 1940'(the date of the transfers), (2)'Whether Altman Reynolds overreached or unduly influenced Mrs. Altman in the making of those transfers.'The jury were insructed that if they found Mrs. Altman was of unsound mind on these dates they need not answer as to the second issue.They found she was of unsound mind on each of the dates and, accordingly, did not respond to the second issue.

Defendants moved to set aside the verdict and for a new trial upon numerous grounds.The Chancellor overruled the motion, approved the verdict, and entered a decree adjudging that Mrs. Altman was of unsound mind, that the transfers were void, and that complainant recover the property of defendants; and he referred the cause to the Master for an accounting.Defendants appealed and have assigned a number of errors.

Through assignment No. 1defendants insist that the Court should have continued the present case because it was shown that a direct attack is being made in the County Court upon the decree which adjudged Mrs. Altman to be of unsound mind and appointed 'complainant' as her guardian.It is said that this continuance should have been granted because, in the event the attack is successful, there would be no guardian for Mrs. Altman and this suit would be without a complainant and would fail.

We think there is no merit in this assignment.This suit had been pending more than three years.It had doubtless been delayed by reason of the first direct attack by defendants upon the County Court decree, which attack, as we have seen, was unsuccessful.If this second attack should prove successful, the consequences suggested would not follow.Mrs. Altman was complainant herself, the guardian merely acting as next friend.SeeStewart v. Sims,112 Tenn. 296, 79 S.W. 385.She would still remain the complainant and would still have the right to prosecute this suit by another next friend even though the appointment of her present guardian turned out to be invalid.

Defendants' assignment No. 2 complains that the Chancellor should not have set the case for trial when it was not at issue as to H. Stone Reynolds.It appears that a motion had been made to strike so much of the cross bill as related to H. Stone Reynolds, and the motion had been taken under advisement by the Chancellor.He sustained this motion on the morning the case was set for trial and before the trial began.We see no impropriety in this action, because H. Stone Reynolds was in no wise related to Mrs. Altman, had no present or prospective interest in the property, and the cross bill did not allege any cause or ask any relief against him.

Defendants' assignment No. 3 complains of the action of the Chancellor in allowing the bill to be amended, just before the beginning of the trial, so as to sue the Third National Bank in its capacity as 'Trustee.'The point was made on the day the trial started that the bank had not been sued as Trustee.The Chancellor allowed complainant to amend, and ordered that the bank's answer should also stand as its answer as Trustee.

We can see no error in this.We think the bank was already before the Court as a defendant in its capacity as Trustee.While the caption of the bill did not describe the bank as 'Trustee,' in its body it alleged a cause against the bank as Trustee.The capacity in which one is sued is to be determined not alone from the caption but also from the allegations in the bill; and where the bill states a cause of action against a defendant in a representative capacity, it is sufficient to charge him as such though the caption fails so to describe him.Rose v. Third National Bank,27 Tenn.App. 553, 564, 565, 183 S.W.2d 1, 5, 6.

Defendants' fourth assignment complains of the action of the Chancellor in dismissing the cross bill and the supplemental cross bill of Helen Reynolds and denying the prayer for an injunction.In support of this assignment it is...