Blankenship v. Rowntree

• Decision Date: 16 February 1955
• Docket Number: No. 4945.,4945.
• Citation: 219 F.2d 597
• Parties: Daisy D. BLANKENSHIP, Appellant, v. Maxwell ROWNTREE, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

219 F.2d 597 (1955)

Daisy D. BLANKENSHIP, Appellant, v. Maxwell ROWNTREE, Appellee.

No. 4945.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

February 16, 1955.

J. B. Dudley, Oklahoma City, Okl. (John B. Dudley, Jr., and Dudley, Duvall & Dudley, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for appellant.

G. F. Rainey, Oklahoma City, Okl. (Rainey, Flynn, Green & Anderson, Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for appellee.

Before BRATTON, HUXMAN and MURRAH, Circuit Judges.

BRATTON, Circuit Judge.

Maxwell Rowntree instituted this action against Daisy B. Blankenship, individually and as executrix of the estate of G. T. Blankenship, deceased, to recover for business services rendered pursuant to an alleged contract of employment. The action was dismissed as to the defendant in her capacity as executrix. By answer, the defendant in her individual capacity denied the making of the alleged contract. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff; judgment was entered upon the verdict; defendant appealed; and for convenience, continued reference will be made to the parties as plaintiff and defendant, respectively.

Defendant urges the contention that the trial court fell into reversible error in permitting plaintiff to testify that the value of the property constituting the Blankenship estate was $6,000,000. The argument is that the evidence could not tend to prove or disprove any justiciable issue in the case; that it was calculated to poison the minds of the jurors in respect to the great wealth of the defendant; that it took the jury far afield from the issues being tried; and that it was prejudicial. In the course of his direct examination, plaintiff testified that during his employment he became familiar with the property of the estate; that the defendant asked him for an estimate of the total value of the estate; and that in response to such request, he gave her an estimate of $6,000,000. It is the general rule that, except where position or wealth is necessarily involved in determining damages sustained, the admission of evidence concerning the wealth of a party litigant constitutes error. Quinette v. Pullman Co., 10 Cir., 229 F. 333; Union Electric Light & Power Co. v. Snyder Estate Co., 8 Cir., 65 F.2d 297; Laidlaw v. Sage, 158 N.Y. 73, 52 N.E. 679, 44 L.R.A. 216. The underlying reason for the rule is that such evidence tends to inject into the case a foreign, diverting, and distracting issue which may effectuate prejudicial results.

But the general rule to which reference has been made does not have application here. When the testimony in question is carefully examined in its true perspective it becomes apparent that it was admissible for a different purpose than that upon which it is challenged. Plaintiff declared in his complaint upon an express oral contract of employment. He testified that the parties entered into the contract. And he further testified that no one else was present at the time it was entered into. In her answer, the defendant denied that she and the plaintiff ever entered into such an agreement; and in her testimony, she denied categorically that she ever employed plaintiff or agreed to pay him anything for services rendered or to be rendered. As circumstances tending to throw light upon the crucial issue whether he had been employed to render services for the defendant, plaintiff offered letters, memoranda, and other evidence tending to show that over a period of approximately eight months he spent a large part of his time in the office of the defendant, devoted a great deal of effort to the business affairs of the defendant, made numerous trips in connection with her business affairs, and was thoroughly familiar with the business affairs of the estate which she represented as executrix. And as a further circumstance tending to throw light upon the crucial issue whether the parties entered into the oral agreement of employment, plaintiff endeavored to show by the testimony in question that defendant sought his judgment in respect to the value of the estate which she was administering as executrix and that he gave it to her. He did not undertake while on the stand to give his then present opinion in respect to the value of the estate. Instead, he merely testified that the defendant asked him for his estimate of the value of the estate and that he gave it to her at $6,000,000. The testimony was admissible, not to establish the value of the estate as a substantive fact or issue but to show a...